Iced Earth's Reviews

Burnt Offerings

Iced Earth

Though this album is a metal album, as with all of their stuff, the sub-genre of metal that is displayed here is a bit complex. It's basically progressive power-thrash with small flourishes of Death and Goth Metal. Thus, the rhythm guitar is quite heavy and thick-sounding, with the tempo generally being fairly fast(though it's still got plenty of dynamics), with some more complex song structures, some fairly intense drumming with plenty of bass, the occasional use of some highly aggressive vocals alongside Barlow's trademark Hetfield shout/growl combined with NWOBHM range and theatricality all topped off by surprisingly liberal use of haunting, dreary keyboard work and eerie, shrieking and somewhat discordant leads. This results in this album being IE's darkest work so far, with the dreary gothic underpinnings extending to the strange lyrics, which seem obsessed with condemnation and the supernatural. The variety of influences, however minor some of them might be, means that this album ought to have a very broad appeal within the heavy metal fanbase All in all, is is quite different from the rest of their work, though they are all distinctive, and this cd probably would've been quite a surprise at the time it was released to anyone who had heard their previous albums, especially considering the great difference between the singers.

It's always difficult to say what makes an album great, and I am finding it no easier to describe why this time. It's simply extremely solid from beginning to end, with some of the stand-out tracks being among the best metal ever recorded by any band. The first half of this cd is pure perfection. The title track is my favorite IE song of all. It's a classic metal epic, with a great combination of demonic growling vocals and angelic singing overlayed with keyboards. The gentle, melodic bridge fits it perfectly, with some astounding drum work through out, and typically vicious and lightning fast rhythm guitar from Schaffer.(It's a crime that this track isn't on Alive In Athens) Last December is a bit of a red herring on this cd, only 3 1/2 minutes long and very straight-forward. It's another excellent song, however, and it has one of the strongest primary riffs on the album. Diary is another exceptional track, and is probably my second favorite IE song. The keyboards are used as well here as you will ever here in a metal song, and it has tons of dynamics, and some great vocal role-playing by Barlow. Brainwashed is similar to Diary, with Schaffer creating some more outstanding riffs and an excellent chorus. The second half if weaker, though still very strong. It's moodier, with the slow brooding, Burning Oasis, followed by the dark, Creator Failure, which contains some hellish, bass heavy, pseudo-death metal riffs. After a brief acoustic interlude comes another acknowledged masterpiece, called Dante's Inferno. It's another one of IE's strongest tracks, and is a truly astonishing composition. Mood and tempo changes aboud the 16+ minute masterpiece, with vocals ranging from gentle, near whispers to violent roars to a gothic choir singing in Latin(I presume), with the instrumentation being similarly schizophrenic, with brief acoustic flourishes and un-distorted electric work giving way to lumbering, Sabbath-esque power riffing and hyper-speed thrash mayhem. This is yet another song that simply must be heard.

Recently, this album was re-released with new art work and remastering and mixing.(I do not have this version, but I've heard it.) The art work doesn't matter much(though its cool), but the mastering and mixing makes a bit of difference. Though the original sound quality was good, it is all clearer now, especially the sharper sounding guitars and clearer vocals that seem to rise above the instruments rather than cutting through them. Interestingly, some vocal effects have been changed. The angelic voices from the opener are much different, as well some of the vocals from Diary being darker and eviler sounding. The sound isn't massively different, but it has definitely improved. Whether or not you would want to buy the remastered version even though you already own the regular version is just a matter of how much you really like the album. I intend on buying the new version sometime, though I wouldn't consider the improvements to be sufficient for me to buy most of my lesser cds agains.

My review has done this album no justice. Just buy it.

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