The Glorious Burden: Power Metal Part 1

Nana, my grandmother, used to take me shopping when I was younger.

She always wanted to make sure that I was dressed well, that I had the proper suit for the appropriate occasion.  We would go in the more hip stores that I wanted to go into like Abercrombie or Banana Republic so that I could dress with the times while I was in high school in the 90’s.  After I was satisfied that I now had some cool new clothes I could wear in everyday life, I would go where Nana wanted to go.  Belk and Dillards were her go-to-spots where she could dress me up in a blazer with slacks so that I would always be presentable at church on Sundays.  Years later, Nana would buy me a very nice Ralph Lauren black suit that she said I would wear to her funeral one day.  I did.  I knew she would have wanted that.

So, after we did all the clothes-shopping-thing that I agreed to do with her, I always managed to convince her to take me to the book store or the game store or the music store.  These stores would change over the years.  I remember there used to be a Walden Books in Hanes Mall before it changed to Scribners and then to Borders and then moved out of the mall and then got bankrupt or whatever and we ended up with only Barnes & Nobles.  The first game store I remember was Babbages; I don’t even remember what its name changed to.  And the music stores?  There was the Record Bar, Camelot Music, Peaches, FYE…a bunch of them.

And then all that stuff went away.

America was essentially done with shopping malls.  Don’t get me wrong, there are still a few out there, but it is nothing like it used to be.

Anyway, there became this big movement of stores to leave the mall.  It’s pretty much like that still to this day.  (It’s not like it is in present-day Japan.  I can promise you that as of November 2024 the malls are booming there and they are packed with shoppers.  It reminded me of how shopping with Nana had been when I was growing up.)  The bigger chain stores are not within the confines of a shopping mall.  Barnes & Noble and Best Buy became my new go-to stores that I just HAD to go to when I was shopping with Nana.  I knew that she would get me a book or a cd and very occasionally a video game.  The key to getting the extra gift was to pick out something that she would like as well.  For instance, during my Junior year in high school I became a big fan of Frank Sinatra.  If I picked up a Sinatra cd and presented it to Nana in the store, she would always buy it for me.  It got trickier to convince her as the years went by and my music tastes began to lean on the heavier side.

Flashforward to January of the year 2004.  Nana would die in March of this year.

Nana had suggested that she wanted to take me and my two-year-old daughter shopping.  

I always enjoyed spending time with my grandparents and miss them very much to this day.  I was the oldest of their grandchildren and therefore had more time to spend with them than any of my siblings and cousins.  I do not regret any of this time and wish I could have had more.  So, even though I was older I still tried to spend as much time as I could with Nana and Goggy.  And I wanted my daughter to have a relationship with them as well.  

Of course I went shopping with Nana!

It was like old times.  We went into all the clothing stores that she wanted to take me.  We bought this and that for both me and my daughter.

And then I did it again.

I managed to convince Nana to take us into Best Buy.

So, we walked into Best Buy in 2004, when Best Buy was the ultimate cd superstore.  Pretty much all of the old school record stores disappeared when Best Buy broke the scene because Best Buy was bigger and cheaper and they had EVERYTHING.  You wanted an old Frank Sinatra album from the 60’s?  Best Buy had it!  You wanted that unheard of Spaghetti Incident by Guns N’ Roses?  Best Buy had it!  Best Buy had new music blaring out of its speakers so you could get all excited and buy something you had just heard for the first time.  Best Buy even had its Top 10 Current Picks.

So, guess what I heard right then when Nana and I walked into Best Buy?

That’s right!  I heard my very first introduction to Power Metal!  

I had listened to heavy metal for years in the form of Metallica and Iron Maiden, but music wasn’t like it was then as it is now.  You couldn’t just listen to whatever you wanted to.  Napster had already come and gone and Amazon was just beginning to blossom from an online bookstore to what it is now.  Sometimes you MIGHT be able to hear a 10 second clip of a song or two.  It’s nothing like it is now thanks to Spotify.  But back then, you often would have to buy a cd without hearing any of it beforehand.

Anyway, picture it!  The year is 2004!  I walk into the massive Best Buy store in Winston-Salem with my 78-year-old grandmother!  And over the speakers a light guitar intro followed by the high pitch of Tim Ripper Owens blaring:

Destiny’s called us

It’s the reckoning

This time it’s for blood

Don’t tread on me

Revenge is not justice

It’s the reckoning

This time it’s for blood

Don’t tread on me

I was blown away.  And for whatever reason, I looked over at Nana and she said, “That boy can sure sing!”  What WAS that I had just heard?  I had to go ask one of the people working there what song had just been played in the store.  Fortunately, they were able to tell me that it was the newest album by a band called Iced Earth.  The song was “The Reckoning (Don’t Tread On Me)”, their first single off their new album The Glorious Burden.  And with their new singer, Tim Ripper Owens.  My life would be forever changed.

Nana bought me the cd, the very last album of music she would ever get me.

Iced Earth's The Glorious Burden

It immediately became a classic and still is to this day for me.  I became the biggest Tim Ripper Owens and Iced Earth fan on the planet.  After I had thoroughly listened to The Glorious Burden over and over again, I would explore more albums by Iced Earth and everything that Ripper sang.  I discovered Demons & Wizards, Blind Guardian, and Judas Priest in my search for more and more Power Metal.  I followed “for fans of this or that” down so many rabbit holes that what I listen to now is so much more obscure Power Metal that I rarely find others that listen to the same bands I listen to.

I find Power Metal to be very dramatic and uplifting.  Is it cheesy?  Yes!  Very much so!  Not all of it, but some of it sure is.  Get past that.  Hear the music for what it is.

Every now and again, someone busts me watching Flash Gordon again.  Personally, I believe it’s a masterpiece.  Is it cheesy?  Yes!  Very much so!  But it’s fun, and you can’t beat fun.  Plus, Queen plays the soundtrack.  And Queen is pretty much the beginning of Power Metal…

ds

April 7, 2025