SONS OF LIBERTY – Brush-Fires Of The Mind

“The Sons of Liberty was a political group made up of American Patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies.” Sons Of Liberty is also the name of the latest project of Iced Earth main man Jon Schaffer who took some time off and put together this album in question. Jon, motivated and inspired by the current global economical crisis, put together this project in an attempt to ‘awaken’ his countrymen and stand strong against the political web that is trying to tie them down.

Although, mixing politics and Metal is not the right way to go, no one can say no to some truly inspired music. And in the case of Schaffer the music in this album sounds exactly like that and in fact carries more energy than the last, and kind of ‘weak’, Iced Earth album (despite Barlow’s return).

So, the music here is written and performed by Schaffer himself who also took over the vocal duties, something that has not been forgotten from the prime days of Iced Earth. All the compositions in the album are pumped with anger and attitude elements that nowadays are hard to find in Jon’s full time band. Musically, the unaware listener shouldn’t expect something way too different for the previous works of this charismatic rhythm guitarist. Jon uses familiar recipes from the galloping rhythms and the melodic riffs that all the fans like to sing along to in concerts. The new thing found here, is the lead parts where Jon reveals a clear Heavy Metal character giving the album the diversity that is needed since there is no Iced Earth logo in the cover artwork. There is no surprise that in the album credits there are guest appearances from Jim Morris, Troy Seele and Ruben Drake who have already worked with Jon.

Jon does great behind the microphone and not just in the fast tracks but in the slower ones like “Our Dying Republic.” This track is a classic Iced Earth ballad (“Where The Eagles Cry” or “Melancholy”) but yet again Jon’s input brings a more personal character onto the table. The only element that can be a turn off, especially after additional CD spins, is the samples and intros that sometimes are longer than one can afford the time to spend when listening to music. But this is the price that one has to pay for having a concept album in the CD player.

Many are the Metalheads who do not like their Metal served with politics and consequently they will erase Sons Of Liberty from the albums to check list. In the long run, this will be their loss since there are very good tracks here and after all, listening to the music does not mean that one embraces the ideas of the composer. This album is recommended to all the Iced Earth fans who have felt at least once that Jon has lost some of his initial motivation and inspiration.