Iced Earth – Melancholy (Holy Martyr)

Heavy metal band Iced Earth, formerly known as both The Rose and Purgatory, formed in 1984 by frontman and songwriter John Schaffer and original drummer Greg Seymour.  They released thirteen studio albums (including one cover album), two live albums, three compilation albums, and four EP’s.  See Iced Earth Releases for their entire listing.  I do not know if Iced Earth’s members are Christian or not; However, Melancholy (Holy Martyr) seems to draw from Christianity.  Perhaps that is why it was requested for review?

I am not aware of any awards associated with this act.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Iced-earth-melancholy-holy-martyr-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

A “shattered king” means nothing to those around him.  He attempted for many years to instruct an unknown, unappreciative, problematic group of individuals.  They did not receive his teaching, saddening him.  He requests separation from his sorrow, understanding that he must cry and die for them and their deep pain.  He speaks to another unknown individual, understanding that this person pushes him to be something he could never do on his own, namely, to die for undeserving wretches.  He understands spirits can never die.

Iced earth intended this to be Jesus’ thoughts before his crucifixion. I cannot see a better interpretation of these lyrics. This is a dangerous prospect, as if Schaffer can know the mind of our Lord and Savior. It is on par with the Old Testament prophets who spoke for God. Those who misspoke were goners; the Law calling for their execution (Deuteronomy 18:15-22).

Having said that, Iced Earth speculates on Christ’s thinking, some of which is factually inconsistent with Scripture.  Jesus would likely not consciously think thoughts contrary to His word.  He is perfect, after all (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, and 1 Peter 2:21-22)!  I will expand on the following errors in section 2:

• The human spirit can die.
• Jesus believed He could never die for others.

Iced Earth is correct about the following:

• Jesus’ teachings were routinely ignored.
• Jesus became empty for undeserving sinners.
• Jesus died to remove pain.

The following are unsupported by Scripture:

• Jesus saw deep sadness in Israel’s collective eyeballs.
• Jesus asked the Father to remove His sadness from Israel’s betrayal.
• Jesus weeps for the pain of others after His arrest and before His crucifixion.
• Those who called for Jesus’ execution had sad spirits.

Score: 4/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

As mentioned in Section 1, some statements are Biblical, some are false, and some are unsupported by Scripture.

Since this song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge format, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1 and 2: These statements are unsupported by Scripture.  Yes, Christ asked three times for the cup of His Father’s wrath to be removed from Him (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46); However, He was not sad.  He was in anguish!

Lines 3 and 4: As demonstrated by Israel’s collective call to crucify Jesus (Matthew 27:16-26, Mark 15:7-15, Luke 23:18-25, and John 19:4-16).

Lines 5 and 6: Christ emptied Himself to die for our sins (Philippians 2:5-8).

Line 7: He died for undeserving sinners (Romans 5:6-8).

Line 8: Crucifixion is certainly a troubling place!  Especially when ungrateful wretched Israelites mocked Jesus as he suffers (Matthew 27:32-44, Mark 15:21-32, and Luke 23:32-38).

[Stanza 2]

Lines 1-3: The antecedent of “their” still refers to the ones to whom Jesus attempted to teach. It is unsupported in Scripture that Jesus saw deep, uncaused, emotionless sadness within their pupils. He exemplified His teaching in Matthew 5:44, asking the Father to forgive them (Luke 23:34); However, this shows compassion, not knowledge of their sorrow.

Line 4: This is incorrect.  The human spirit can experience the second death, that is, eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 20:14-15, and Revelation 21:8).  This might be a reference to reincarnation.

Lines 5 and 6: Scripture does not support that Jesus wept for the pain of those who rejected Him.  Yes, God desires from us a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17) when we break His laws and indeed, Jesus gives rest to those who are willing to receive it (Matthew 11:28-30); However, there are only two places in Scripture where Jesus wept:

• Lazarus’ death (John 11:30-36)
• Jerusalem’s eventual destruction (Luke 19:41-44)

Lines 7 and 8: That is, He died to remove the sting of sin that causes us pain; to trade our sorrows for joy (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

[Stanza 3]

Lines 1 and 2: Essentially repeats Stanza 1, lines 1 and 2.

Lines 3 and 4: Though unsupported in Scripture, it seems reasonable given that His teachings were often ignored (Stanza 1, lines 3 and 4).

Lines 5-8: This is a misunderstanding of the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46.  The Father was not attempting to convince Jesus that He could die for their sins.  Jesus asked the Father if there was another way, knowing that the answer is “no” and expressing His humanity.  It is correct that Jesus would become their “shattered King” (Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38, and John 19:19).

[Stanza 4]

Lines 1-8: Repeats Stanza 2, lines 1-8.

Score: 4/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

I cannot imagine that those outside the camp of Christ will walk away thinking that a king who died for the pain of others would be someone other than Jesus.  However, the statements that are erroneous and Scriptually unsupported adds much confusion to unbelievers.

Score: 3/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Given my earlier commentary, It’s hard to justify that this song inherently glorifies God.  Still, Iced Earth is correct about some things.  That must count for something!

Score: 3/10

Closing Comments

Iced Earth’s Melancholy (Holy Martyr) is a hot mess. Though it does have its moments, accurately describing Christ’s rejected teachings, His emptying Himself for those who are unworthy, and the “great exchange”, the rest is either unbiblical or Biblically unsupported. Though I give Iced Earth credit for his poetic usage of language, its errors confound unbelievers and does not glorify God.

I cannot recommend this for corporate worship.

Final Score: 3.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Melancholy (Holy Martyr) (listen to the song)

Artist: Iced Earth

Album: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Genre: Classic Heavy Metal

Release Year: 1998

Duration: 4:47

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

03/24/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.