Iced Earth at Progfreak.com

A lot of strong power metal tunes on this one, but boy am I glad they got rid of that vocalist, because he's terrible.

Another power metal milestone by Iced Earth.

There are admittedly a lot of corny elements on this one, but that's what makes good power metal, innit?

Once you get used to the vocals, this is not half bad. While neither as experimental nor as progressively oriented as Mercyful Fate, Iced Earth's effort on this album does remind me a bit of MF - but Iced Earth certainly try, and some of their songs in this album are rather dynamic in structure. The lyrical content, nihilistic and postmodern in nature, offers some interesting perspectives on apocalypse, emotions and reincarnation.

It's larger than life but not pompous. It's melodic but not cheesy. It's powerful but not brutal. It's epic but not longwinded. It's symphonic but not grandiose. It's elegant but not ball-less. It's complex but not mindboggling. It's rock but not roll. It's power metal. It's Iced Earth.

(apologies for sounding like a French perfume advertisement)

Sorry for so many positive reviews, but it's natural to rate one's favorite albums first. This album is from a truly great metal band that very few people know about. I had the priviledge of seeing these guys live in concert. Unfortunately, not many people showed up to the concert, but the band played their hearts out. I think that truly speaks for the quality and passion that these guys put into their music. This album is probably my favorite of theirs, and is considered by many to be their best. I also recommend the album This Glorious Burden to prog fans. It's a concept album about the civil war. If you get the limited edition version, it comes on two discs with a pair of very epic songs on the second. Great band, check these guys out!

As with many IE albums, this is a concept album. THe theme is recurring through out Jon's albums - A man striving to redeem himself from past sins and mistakes he has made (In the Dark Saga this will be featured again). The production is "dirty" and fits the music. It has this 80's metal sound, very fast guitar riffs and  high pitched vocals. THe opening and closing tracks are the best and most emotional tracks. IMHO, this is still their best album to date and it still has the old IE sound that began to change on Burnt Offerings and Dark Saga and completely changed on Something Wicked...