I will probably check out the new Iced Earth - mainly out of curiosity really. Probably will spin it one or two times - be bored to hell by the plastic as fuck production and go back to old Stormrider. Those were the riffs!
Yeah "plastic" production, that's what it should be called. Sometimes the guitar tone is so "processed", the riffs, no matter how intricate, sound horrible. The choruses here save the day, to be honest.