Iced Earth is a bonafide heavy metal institution, and part of their long staying power and general widespread appeal has got to be attributed to their fearless leader and head riff master Jon Schaffer, whose strong work ethic, unwavering live free or die attitude, and keen sense of aesthetics, has kept this machine rolling for over the last two decades. With his tried and true formula of power, thrash, and lyrical armageddon, Schaffer has churned out a number of genre leading staples, ranging from 1995’s Burnt Offerings, with all of its dark imagery and heavy riffing, to 1998’s Something Wicked this Way Comes, whose last three songs became the basis for the multi-record Something Wicked Saga, an epic fantasy about the rise and fall of man.
