#jon schaffer

now, i know what you're thinking, "Alex and Jones are super common names" and i know this because that's exactly what my sister said. but i have another picture for you

that's Jon Schaffer! at Jan 6th! wearing an oath keepers hat! while the leader of oath keepers swears they have nothing to do with him which is incredibly funny.

Iced Earth: Night of the Stormrider (1991)

Nearly 30 years before this traitorous jackass named Jon Schaffer and his insurrectionist accomplices shamefully and violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, his band, Iced Earth, was defending a rather more noble cause: the honor and survival of American heavy metal itself!

And I can’t even say I was very surprised -- disgusted, yes, surprised, no -- because I’d suspected Schaffer to be a misinformed imperialist zealot ever since Iced Earth traded songs about myths and monsters for jingoistic propaganda on 2004’s The Glorious Burden. 

What a tool ... 

Back in ‘91, a time when Seattle-centric alt-rock was putting hundreds of metal bands out of business, Night of the Stormrider’s stubborn and uncompromising power metal sound (luckily more thrashy than cheesy) was just about as unfashionable as it got!

As if this weren’t challenging enough, this was a full-blown concept album, loosely based on a man's rejection of a higher power and religion, both organized and disorganized (must ... resist ... drawing comical parallels to Schaffer’s current predicament).

But outstanding cuts like “Angel’s Holocaust,” “Before the Vision,” “Pure Evil,” and “Desert Rain” still rank amongst the best of Iced Earth’s career, as Schaffer and lead guitarist Randy Shawver worked hard to diversify the band's metallic sonic palette with acoustic guitars and atmospheric keyboards.

All this ambition inevitably demanded a suitably epic nine-minute finale like “Travel in Stygian,” which accompanied listeners on their final travel down the river Styx, and reinforced Iced Earth’s massive inspirational debt to Iron Maiden (as much as Slayer or Helloween).

Vocalist John Greely also had a decent set of lungs and usually managed to keep up with the manic pace, but he was clearly the weak link in the band's equation, and was duly replaced by the redoubtable Matthew Barlow, who re-recorded many of his parts for 1997’s Days of Purgatory re-do collection.

(Shaffer’s willingness to erase or recast the past as he saw fit also manifested in the revised artwork gracing this Century Media reissue, which at least saw fit to replicate the low-budget original within its gatefold sleeve.)

All in all, Night of the Stormrider was a very solid power metal album that simply arrived at the wrong time, and four whole years would pass before Iced Earth could muster the resources to mount a career comeback via 1995’s excellent Burnt Offerings.

As for Schaffer’s disgraceful, non-musical activities of late, I hope he pays for all his crimes, and I was happy to see that most all of his present-day Iced Earth bandmates resigned as soon as they learned of his treasonous acts.

p.s. -- Some of these words were adapted from my All-Music Guide review of Iced Earth’s Night of the Stormrider.

(via Metal Guitarist Capitol Rioter Will Be First Insurrectionist To Reach Plea Deal With Gov’t | Talking Points Memo)