20 Best Metal Albums Of Summer 2017
14. Iced Earth - Incorruptible
The second entry on this list to fuse the sub-genres of thrash and power metal (the first being Accept's The Rise of Chaos), the hotly anticipated twelfth album by the beloved American five-piece Iced Earth, Incorruptible, is a fantastically heavy yet captivating journey.
Diverse but always awe-inspiring and engaging, the album marks an immense improvement over its hit-and-miss predecessor Plagues of Babylon (2014), transcending Accept's power/thrash offering by adding in doses of progressive songwriting (as notable in the gigantic "Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)"), vocal perfection from the powerhouse that is Stu Block, sombre cleans, as well as compositions mighty enough to level mountains.
Returning to the brilliant heights of the acclaimed Dystopia (2011), Incorruptible is just as its name suggests, and offers an honest, unyielding slice of what has made Iced Earth great for over two-and-a-half decades: aggression mixed with addictive harmonies in a fantastically unique, blast-beat-laden manner.
For fans of Ice Earth at their most versatile (which should be everybody), Incorruptible is a sure-fire treat, feeling expansive and guttural beyond its hour-long runtime.
It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it certainly gives that wheel a decent polish and some new, deep, enormous treads.