History, by definition, is an effort to reconstruct the past to discover what people thought, what they did, and how their beliefs and actions continue to influence human life. We learn from the events of the past; the successes and the failures, working towards a more cohesive evolution as a species. Indiana’s ICED EARTH operates in a similar manner. Having over 11 releases in the span of their near 20-year existence, the band is consumed by a will to painstakingly progress and succeed. "The Glorious Burden" is ICED EARTH's next step into the Heavy Metal history books.
Joining band leader Jon Schaffer on this historic journey are former Death drummer Richard Christy, longtime bassist James MacDonough, guitarist Ralph Santolla, and the latest addition to the ICED EARTH family, former Judas Priest vocalist Tim Owens.
Not only focusing on American history, but historical struggle in general, the album also features track about France's Napoleon ("Waterloo"), WW1 ("Red Baron/Blue Max") and the struggle between the Roman army and the Huns of Eastern Europe ("Attila"). The album closer, “Gettysburg (1863)”, is a 32-minute epic comprised of three sections that represent specific events that happened on each of the 3 days of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War (the struggle of General Buford, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s defending of Little Round Top, and Pickett’s charge). Schaffer hired the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to enhance the theatrical atmosphere of the project and give it a true epic sensation.
