Iced Earth

For the band’s more than 20 years of existence, guitarist-keyboardist-mandolinist-vocalist Jon Schaffer has been the only consistent member of Tampa, Florida heavy metal institution Iced Earth. But given that Schaffer’s galloping, Steve Harris-influenced guitar rhythms have come to define Iced Earth’s sound, you probably never even noticed the rotating parts of the lineup. On the band’s latest, 2011’s Dystopia, Iced Earth works through another dock of dystopian-themed, bombastic metal anthems. And now the band is taking the tunes all over the world on the World Dystopia Tour—a nod to Iron Maiden’s seminal World Slavery Tour, maybe?—its most wide-ranging and ambitious run of shows to date. 

Updated 01/24/2012