James MacDonough

James MacDonough — born in the United States in 1970 — was Iced Earth's bassist across two periods, working in the phase in which the band reached its widest international profile. He was on Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998), Horror Show (2001) and The Glorious Burden (2004), concept albums that defined the group's format: continuous narratives, long tracks and Jon Schaffer's galloping picking technique holding it all up. His function in that repertoire demands a specific discipline. Iced Earth's riffs are built in fast, repetitive triplets, and the bass has to follow them in unison, with the same articulation, across whole tracks. There is no independent line and no room for phrasing of one's own — it is work of physical endurance and absolute rhythmic alignment with the guitarist's right hand. After Iced Earth he joined Megadeth between 2004 and 2006, playing the tours of that period and taking part in the phase in which Dave Mustaine rebuilt the band after his arm injury.