By Martin Popoff

Stu Bock, that is, new Canuck frontman for Jon Schaffer’s vision of traditional metal iciness, a starkly steely metal that aligns nicely and quite alone in the world – top of the food chain, really – with the original definition of power metal as it existed as something purely American in the mid to late ‘80s.

The latest record is called Dystopia, and the band has been firing on all sixes, taking it to metalheads across North America.

“I think it’s focused,” says the tattooed and richly grey-maned Schaffer, these days as much an “awakened” political freedom fighter as he is the man with the razor-sharp, riffing right hand. “The band is back, the spirit of ICED EARTH is back – which resides in me obviously – but the last decade was really difficult. A lot of shit, man, going on, and a lot of instability – and behind the scenes more so than what was obvious to people. But the band is back, and with really good energy behind this record.”

“I think it’s just more straight-ahead,” agrees guitarist Troy Seele. “There are touches on the storyline, a little bit, Something Wicked This Way Comes, but it’s not about that, and so a lot of the large production and everything is stripped down, and it’s just a straight-ahead metal album – and it was recorded that way, in a sense. And so I just really like the raw feel of it.”

Asked for a contrast between himself and Jon as axemen, Troy ventures that, “Jon, just as a guitar player – and I’ve known him long before I played in the band – Jon has his own thing. He’s one of those guitar players that is lucky enough – I don’t think lucky enough is the word – but you hear him, and you know it’s Jon Schaffer. And that’s hard to do these days. And I think he would do that no matter what he did. If he played bass or if he played drums, he would have his own sound. Because to me, it’s a personality thing with him. It doesn’t really matter what vehicle he uses to get his art out, it’s going to be Jon Schaffer all the way. And me, I’m a guitar player’s guitar player, while he’s a songwriter. But he has his great… you know, he has tons of technique and tons of tone and all that, but it’s two different things. I like going out and listening to a guitar lead. I’m the guy, I’ll go get the new VAN HALEN album and I’ll be fast-forwarding and listening to the guitar breaks and stuff, and he’s a songwriter.

It’s always been a percussive band, almost a jackhammering thing… “I’ve heard Jon say before, he’s basically a drummer on guitar. Because he is. He attacks the guitar; that’s part of his personality and his own thing coming through. I mean, he is very percussive, and as far as the speed with which he can do it at – fucking amazing.”

Big change has been the adoption of baby – and on this day, hung-over – Block into the ranks, the man proving himself as a pure metal force through his helmsmanship of Saskatchewan’s INTO ETERNITY, and now so beautifully aligned with a band that… well, if Stu’s vocals and frontman style WERE a band, it would be Iced Earth – it’s that copasetic, athletic and prophetic.

“Stu is a positive force in my life, in general, which is a really good thing,” reflects Jon. “He’s a guy who was really happy to be here, and appreciates all of it, and it’s awesome. To me, it’s a really good thing. Stu, actually, in a funny way, brings a lot of balance to me, you know what I mean? Because I’m a heavy guy. You know, I’m the guy who deals with all the shit, and I’ve got all this weight and stuff, and Stu comes in, and he realizes that and he’s just always in a good mood. He’s always upbeat, and it’s nice to have that. It just brings balance; it’s really cool. And writing… we have a really great writing chemistry.”

And there’s the rub. Ripper… love the guy, but you didn’t get the sense he was engaged. Matt is like family, but he’s got family and police work to do. Stu on the other hand, he’s co-lyricist and repeatedly even sole lyricist all over this astringent, percussive (in other words, gloriously typical) Iced Earth pageant of power to the people.

“The cool thing about Dystopia is that it deals with real-world issues,” says Jon of the lyrical bent-out-of-shape of the new record. “And it’s kind of in a way that’s veiled. So it isn’t like a direct roundhouse kick to the skull like SONS OF LIBERTY is. It’s obvious what that is about, and its goals. This album has, I guess a way of hopefully reaching more people simply because, for one, it’s Iced Earth, number two, it’s done it in a way that, without being too obvious, hopefully will inspire people to think. You can’t make somebody think, but I hope on some level it will do that.”

And will Schaffer continue with Sons Of Liberty? I mean, one look at his commitment to the politics of the Constitution, and it wouldn’t seem out of step if that band took over this one. “I probably will for the rest my life, because it’s a big deal,” says John. “It’s like my passion, my activist coming out. So I’m sure I will always do Sons Of Liberty stuff, whenever I have time.”

Back to Block at the monitors, we pushed Jon for a comparison of Stu and what he does, versus past Iced Earth mouthpieces…

“He is his own guy, completely,” muses Jon, offering a last Iced Earth sentiment, before we close out our chat with a half hour of new world disorder. “There is no question of that, and that’s why I hired Stu. Because he has the vocal abilities to do the things with his voice that those guys were asked to do. I mean, it was very easy to produce Stu, but from the standpoint of just being a force, he’s got his own thing going completely. He’s genuine, he’s powerful, he’s involved and he’s energetic, and he wants to do this. He wants to be here. With Stu, what you see is what you get, and he’s happy to be here. There is no like, well, I’m going to use this as a launching pad for my solo career, or have other ulterior moments, or I’m halfway committed. He’s 100% in, and that’s what the band needs, and that’s what the fans want. This is a band now; we have a group of guys now who are there for each other. Everybody wants to be here and there are no ulterior motives. It’s just about… we’re in this for the right reasons, and people can see that. They can feel it.”