Customer Reviews

Incurable Tragedy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is another superb album from a band that is on the forefront of a new generation of metal. Much like The Scattering of Ashes, it features shorter, faster songs compared to their older albums. As a concept album, it explores the horrifying depths of terminal cancer both lyrically and musically. The compositions are much more frantic than on previous releases, with frequent time changes and particularly complex arrangements. It is without a doubt their fastest album yet. This helps to capture the feelings of terror, confusion and anger that are attached to terminal illness. It also shows off the incredible musicianship off the band. They have abandoned the metalcore elements that they used to lean on from time to time, developing a sound all their own. Stu Block delivers a superior performance this time around, taking full advantage of a vocal range that might rival even King Diamond. If you liked his singing on "Timeless Winter" from the last album, there's plenty to like here. At 38 minutes, The Incurable Tragedy is a short album, but highly addictive. The standout tracks are Diagnosis Terminal and Time Immemorial.

This album is simply amazing. I bought it a couple weeks ago and hasn't left my cd player yet. The songs are very well written, as always, especially the three interludes dubbed "The Incurable Tragedy I, II, and III". They give me the shivers. Not just the music is excellent, but the lyrics as well. It's actually a very sad album to listen to, but amazing because you can feel the emotion through the music. Everything is well put together. The vocals are outstanding, as is the guitar work and drums. Definitely IE's best album so far.

Knowing that Jim Austin just left the band I was a little skeptical about what this disk was going to be like. Jim is a bad dude on the skins and he has been with IE since day one. I also knew a concept album was in the works and what the "concept" itself was about. My first thought when Tides of Blood kicks in was, What happened to their production? Scattering was their best "sounding" disk and this disk sounds more like half the songs on Dead or Dreaming. Musically, I think this disk is flat out awesome. You have to listen to it a couple of times because of the production to catch all of the little things that's going on. I agree with a previous review about the vocals. Nowhere near as good as Scattering and Tim seemed to really push it at times, but you know what... it's METAL and damn good metal. Oh, and the new drummer, Steve B. Well,he kicks a&&! It amazes me that Jim had to lend him a set to tour with and the guy is this good. I've played for many years myself and this guy has the goods. IE is coming with another IE - Iced Earth, to the Norva in Newport News in two weeks... I'll be there, hope to see you there as well!!!

I'm not a musician so I can't comment on the difficulty factor here. It sounds hard, that's for sure. But the emotion put into this album pours out of every track and I think it's an incredible tribute to the folks to whom it was dedicated. This is a brutal, beautiful piece of music and I often come back to this album to get perspective. Great piece and very moving commentary on the frailty of life.

Compared to their last album this is abosolutly DEPRESSING pretty much 4 songs are good--tides of blood, diagnosis terminal, idignation, and Symptoms. The rest are average....Scattering of Ashes has been their best so far as far as muturity of sound and recording quality.

Into Eternity's Buried in Oblivion album was met with much appraise when it was unleashed onto the world of metal. The album was ground-breaking: loaded with tempo shifts, blazing guitar work, and vocals that could either savagely brutalize the listener, or make them croon along. When listening to Into Eternity, it is pretty easy to assume they have at least 7 vocalists and 29 guitarists. Okay, so I'm exaggerating, but not *that* much.

The Incurable Tragedy continues this trend. The album is absolutely schizophrenic. And I mean that in a good way. Vocals and tempos change on the drop of a dime. The vocals range anywhere from guttural death growls, to shrieks, screeches, and screams all the way through to the halford-esque choruses. Probably the best example of this is "One Funeral Hymn for Three". It kicks off with ferocity before shifting abruptly to the melodic. The entire song is full of dime-drop tempo changes. Even during the breakdown with a melodic chorus. No one this side of Scar Symmetry or Opeth (that I've heard) can pull this off this well.

The trilogy of title songs, "The Incurable Tragey" parts 1, 2, and 3 are all very well-done and beautiful songs. "Diagnosis Terminal" is an absolutely savage lesson in Into Eternity's patented brand of metal. The entire album is simply amazing, but somehow after listening to it, the songs don't manage to stick out from one another. Is it possible the songs suffer from some monotony? I'd like to think not because Into Eternity is one of my favorite bands. Regardless, the album is still an exceptionally good outing that shows Into Eternity is still producing cutting edge metal. Along with the likes of Mercenary, Opeth, and Scar Symmetry they are forging the frontiers of metal.

Fans of Judas Priest, Opeth, Scar symmetry, Mercenary, Cynic, In Flames, Dream Theater, or Arch Enemy should give these guys a whirl.

I've read a couple of the other reviews and have to agree with a common point: the drumming is a little faded. Other than that, this is the best release of 2008. When I first heard of IE doing a concept album, I was grinding my teeth anticipating something sub par of what they are capable of. I was sorely, but happily, proven very wrong. This is one the best progressive albums conceived. Seeing how Tim is the only original member anymore, I can only really keep track of how far he has 'matured' when it comes to technicality, speed, composition, and in the case of The Incurable Tragedy: soul, in the music he's written since day one. And the concept is one that has affected many people elsewhere: cancer. Tim's two best friends died a month from each other in late 2006 and his father died days before Christmas in 2007; all their lives claimed by cancer. Granted this album is much different from IE's other work and if this album doesn't do you right or if you just want more of Into Eternity goodness, then I can always recommend Buried In Oblivion.

Well let's start from the beggining, the band is a group of amazing player's, met them once, and mix great sound qualities. This band is a great pick of progressive far and wide, and death metal fans as well. For me it was a little weak(because I play in a blackened death metal band) but in all aspects it's a good album for the most part. For the four star explination- It REALLY has quality music on the disc, the players have grown together in an awsome way of playing, but the singer has gone a litle to "clean vocalie" for me this time. He has kept an awsome balance before this album but he decided for a change up and I respect him for that. But if you havn't given this a listen to you might want to try it out.

Theme sorta ruined the album IMO. It doesn't fit with IE's style. Doesn't fit with a metal album in general. Other than that, solid release. Everything you'd expect from IE - speed, over the top vocals, and ridiculous tempo changes. Also, the drums are weak!!

I've been a big fan of IE from the beginning. Apparently they wrote/recorded this album as a concept to memorialize 3 people that the lead guitarist, Tim Roth, lost recently. While I'm sad for Tim's losses, the album is totally contrived around the deaths of his friends and father. In fact, the album ends with a EKG flatline. WTF? The singing is way too falsetto, even compared to their normal style. The lyrics are extra-cheesy, and are forced into whatever the song is doing. Much of the singing is dissonant, and generally unpleasant to hear. The drums are toned down a lot since their last album (Scattering of Ashes), which is a pity because that CD has one of the best drum tracks ever. The guitars are solid as usual, but also toned down. So, with guitar and drums toned down (remember, this is a prog metal band for god's sake!), unfortunately that means the focus is on the lyrics and the vocals which are not this band's strengths.

UPDATE: Ok, I have had a few listens through at this point and it has grown on me a little. I agree with some of the other reviews in that it is prog metal, and it is descent-quality metal compared to a lot of crap out there. It would have been a good release if it was before Dead or Dreaming. The problem is that every other album they have put out is better. And you can't let them off the hook because they switched drummers, or because it is a concept album. So why the poor production quality of the album then? We may never know. Finally, I know that Stu can lay down some sweet vocals, so why the over-the-top-even-for-Stu vocals?

The bottom line is: if you want to buy IE's worst album, buy this one.