Audiopocalypse Now, Redux

FoB points out two articles on Rolling Stone regarding compromised sound quality in today's music. The first discusses the Loudness War itself, while the second is an editorial regarding MP3 quality vs. CD and vinyl.

Try to Do Something Nice...

Truth be told, I've felt rather bad for ol' Ripper ever since he got kicked out of Iced Earth. So out of pity I ordered his Beyond Fear CD. Being something of a thrifty individual, I ordered it from Half.com.

So the thing comes today, and it's all wrong. First, it was mailed from the Czech Republic. Hrm, no mention of that on Half. It is not "brand new", as it was advertised. It's not wrapped, the disc is slightly scuffed, and the booklet has obviously been handled. Worse, the CD label looks just wrong due to a poor printing job. Finally, the booklet itself, while glossy and shiny, contains no publishing or copyright information. Yep, I've got myself a bootleg.

I have a message in to the seller demanding an refund. If you look back far enough (I wish I had been this thorough earlier) you will find a person every 20-30 pages who mentions that he thinks he got a "burned copy" of a CD.

A further annoyance is that I'm waiting for a nin CD from another dude on Half.com that should've been here by now. This is all rather frustrating, since I've never had severe problems ordering from them, ebay, or Amazon marketplace.

Let the buyer beware, I suppose.

EDIT: I got a full refund on the Ripper CD. Sounds like the guy has "distributors" all over the place, so every now and then one of them sends out a funky disc. Live and learn. Now on to figuring out what happened to my nin CD single...

EDIT 2: Edited out an anonymous post by someone with a similar experience with the buyer. Names were named, so I've decided to remove all references to the buyer. I do appreciate the story, but I don't want to turn this into a Frankenstein monster style torch mob. There are other places for that (eBay feedback, resellerratings.com, etc.).

EDIT 3: After a full month and much complaining (five emails), I got Vendor Number Two to refund my money for the nin single. Apparently even though it was listed as shipped, they never had it to send to me. I'll file this experience in the "I've got a bridge to sell you" department.

Barlow Comments On His Return to the Earth

Yeah, I know it's been IE Chat around here lately, but I can't help myself. Linky and more linky!

More On Barlow's Return to Iced Earth

There is now more information on Matt's return to IE on the official home page. Schaffer is still contending that Tim's voice is the one he "hears" when writing the music...yet he's being fired? Does this mean in another few years when he regrets that Barlow isn't "the voice", no matter how much he's a "brother", that he'll get canned again?

And apparently Barlow still works for the government (and is still in Pyramaze), so now we'll get even less output. It remains to be seen how much worse it can get, since putting out negative albums is tough. But considering Barlow's heavy work schedule, I imagine it'll get to be about -343.

Just as long as I can see these two sometime before I'm dead and they completely suck.

Matt Barlow Back In Iced Earth; Hell Freezes Over

In news that makes me too excited for words, Jon Schaffer has announced on the IE web page that Matt Barlow is back in Iced Earth. Holy crap. It sounds like we're going to be fortunate enough to have Matt singing on the next Framing Armageddon record, on the USA tour next year, and a Schaffer approved live DVD. R0x0rz.

Interestingly enough, Blabbermouth is reporting that he is also remaining in Pyramaze. How this will work out is anyone's guess.

Alas, poor Ripper. Shafted again. The whole thing is bizarre because recently Schaffer has been quoted as saying that Owens is the best singer for his band, and that Barlow never really complemented the music properly. I didn't agree, I didn't get it, and now I really don't get it.

But I'm choosing to ignore all of this, and simply say I agree with a fan on Blabbermouth that he's something of a good luck charm. If you're a band that wants your recently departed (and fan favorite) singer back, just hire Owens. Worked for Judas Priest too!

New Anthrax Singer Revealed

Read about it here from Blabbermouth. The clip of the new guy singing the Devilsize song "Taken" isn't bad. He's got something John Bush about him in the chorus.

The New U2

Thanks to FoB for pointing out this article on U2's yet-to-be-released album. Hardcore guitar? "Real molten metal"? I'm intrigued. I'm ready for anything, considering how I now bona fide like their k00ky Pop album.