Iced Earth: Recommended Albums

[Dante Nostradamus]

I've been to many sites and everyone seems to believe that the Iced Earth standards have fallen thanks to their rectent album the Glorius Burden. However, I'm here to simply paint a simple picture, then, i let you decide what you think.

Purgatory: Iced Earth's first demo disc is not widely attaiable but it is considerably good for a demo. However, i wouldn't go out of my way to get it, but it gives you a good insight into what to expect for the next few coming albums.

Iced Earth: The first production lacks punch mainly due to the singer. It seems a little rushed but when we look at the bigger picture, there wasn't a lot of time for the album to be produced and the budget was something like $5000. However, if you do see it on offer i would think about it as the title track is pretty good.!

Travel in Stygian: If anything this is the best Iced Earth album out there! Despite a moderately bigger budget ($15,000) the album was almost a million times bigger than it predocessor with so many awesome tracks. From the opening with Angels Holocaust to the closing with the unbelievably powerful Travel in Stygian the album pours out most of Iced Earth's classics. This is definately the album you want!

Burnt Offerings: Many say that this album is the best but i must dissagree. I found this album quite difficult to get and when i got it i was seriously upset at it's lack of atmosphere and power. From the opening track it just drags on through out the album. The only killer track on here is the last one Dante's Inferno which is a truly immense 16 minutes of heavy metal mayhem. In all honesty though it's not worth the effort.

Dark Saga: Another bummer but it's saved being brought down to the rubbish level of Burnt offerings by little gem tracks like Vengeance is Mine and The HUnter. It quite a dark album and struggles to keep the listener interested. Dissapointing.

Something Wicked Comes This Way: Probably the second best album. It's a tour de force with an exhausting array of songs that will leave you screaming for more. It's not as fast and powerful as Travel in Stygian but the riffs and final three cascading heavy metal story songs are well worth paying for!

Horror Show: Not bad actually but lacking anything special. There's a treat for Maiden fans here with a cover of Transylvania but that's probably the only thing to get excited about to be honest.

Alive in Athens: I strongly adivse getting the albums before this, or at least the albums you want because this is one of the best recorded and performed music sets I've ever heard! Even some of the crappy songs are pulled off immensely on this Cheap 3-Disc set! Well worth the money!

Tributwe to the Gods: Some pretty good covers here such as God of Thunder by KISS and Hallowed be thy Name by Maiden but nothing completely special. Get it if you like covers, but otherwise don't bother.

Glorious Burden: Exciting, fantastic and deeply atmospheric. This is a grand master of an album. It has been deeply criticised and i knew during listening that this was unike anything Iced Earth had done before but what i heard, I thought, was particularly incredible. Being a musician I've always enjoyed the mixture of an orchestra into heavy metal. KISS did it and very well. Metallica did it, spectacularly. People wouldn't give it a thought but i advise this album if you're the kind of person who deeply appreciates music for what it is, something we do for ourselves, and for the enjoyment of those who want it.

I hope some of you guys liked reading this and would consider buying the albums i adivised, or even those i didn't!

Cheers!

[pinsher6]

maybe i will try

[Black Core]

You forgot the bonus disk on the glorious burden: gettysburg (1863)
I think that is the best album. It's recorded with a symphonic orchestra and sounds real good. It tells the whole history of gettysburg (july 1-2-3 1863).

[AsModEe]

It's Night of the Stormrider, not Travel in Stygian, though it would have been a cool title too. I would recommend to get this one, then Burnt Offerings, then Horror Show, then stop. SWtWC is a "hard-soft-hard-soft" album and all the soft songs sound exactly the same (GG Schaffer) and seriously, buying an album only because of the 3 songs is fucking retarded. Don't get this album. Same with TGB, don't get it. Alive in Athen is an excellent live album and the Dark Saga isn't so bad so you can get it too. The first album would have been excellent with another vocalist.

[Death Delirium]

Night of The Stormrider by far. I do not get 'something wicked this way comes'. Does the band want to make metal songs or ballads. The whole album is metal song/ballad/metal song/ballad till the end. It's annoying & prevents me from enjoying the album.

[AsModEe]

^same

[Grave Digger]

Iced Earth is by far, one of my favorite bands. The main reason I didn't like TGB was because of the vocals. I don't like Tim Owens. Compared to Matt Barlow, Tim Owens is a nobody. Horror Show and Night Of The Stormrider are my favorite albums. Iced Earth was one of the first bands that got be into metal. Thier ballads are great. If it was'nt for Iced Earth, I might not be into metal. ICED FUCKING EARTH!!!!!!

[AsModEe]

their ballads are great, but once you listened to one of them, you listened to them all.

[Helspyre]

Originally Posted by The Greys

Night of The Stormrider by far. I do not get 'something wicked this way comes'. Does the band want to make metal songs or ballads. The whole album is metal song/ballad/metal song/ballad till the end. It's annoying & prevents me from enjoying the album.

I agree for the most part. However, I think it's worth getting just for the 21 minute trilogy at the end. Plus Burning Times and My Own Savior are pretty bad ass as well.

NOTS is my fav album though followed by Burnt Offerings. The remastered discs sound fantastic.

[AsModEe]

21 minutes = not worth my money. Plus, birth of the wicked is nothing out of the ordinary so it's more like 17 minutes.