Second album with new singer Stu Block (who gets eight co-writing credits), with new bassist Luke Appleton and drummer Raphael Saini who just played on the album, join original mainman/guitarist John Schaffer for the band’s 11th studio release. “Plagues” musically compliments the last album “Dystopia”, with half of the songs focused on the "Something Wicked" concept, while the other half are individual songs.

The slow plod of the opening title track builds to a classic Iced Earth arrangement for this rocker that utilizes a couple tempo/gallop changes. ‘Democide’ is another builder before launching into tried and true Schaffer riffs and aggressive galloping rhythm. A little slide guitar works in the Iced Earth musical landscape for the rampaging ‘Among The Living Dead’ which sees a guest backing vocal by Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch, and the change between quick to slower beat within the song benefits its flow especially for the solo section. ‘If I Could See You’ is the standard ballad, not bad. ‘Cthulhu’ follows in that balladish sense but don’t let your guard down cause Stu belts out a blood curdling scream signaling the monster’s arrival. One of my favs with a smooth melodic chorus. ‘Peacemaker’ brings down the energy level again at its start then kicks in, but has a different feel to the delivery of the riffs, think I hear more of a classic rock vibe. ‘Highwayman’ is a cover with Russell Allen (Symphony X) and Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen on vocals.

Overall again solid. No complaints, nothing out of the ordinary.