Iced Earth's Reviews
Dark Genesis (Average Rating: 9.82 out of 10)
A must-have boxed set. (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Lord Chimp
from Monkey World
I strongly recommend this outstanding boxed set to Iced Earth fans new and old. The package is very affordable and offers a lot of material. There's five CDs, a detailed history of the band, outstanding artwork, and some cool pictures. Heck, the 32-page hardcover book is nice just to hold and look at.The first disc is a reissue of the band's rare demo, Enter the Realm, which got them signed with Century Media Records back in 1990. (Only 1000 copies were originally created.) Hardcore fans will value this little treat. The songs are: 1. Enter the Realm
2. Colors
3. Nightmares
4. Curse the Sky
5. Solitude
6. Iced Earth Also included are reissues of the band's first three studio albums, Iced Earth, Night of the Stormrider, and Burnt Offerings. Sounds great for a newer fan, but why would anyone else want these? Because not only has Jim Morris remastered them, but he's REMIXED them too. The improvement in sound quality is tremendous, far beyond what could have been done with a simple remaster job. I find the originals completely unlistenable now. Let me try and explain how good these albums now sound. The guitars on Iced Earth no longer buzz impotently...they crunch! And gone is that cheese-grater piccolo snare that drove me crazy. When the drummer hit the snare on Night of the Stormrider, it sounded like he was smacking a stack of paper. Now the drums hit with all the visceral power you expect from a metal record. Gone are those cheesy keyboard effects on "Pure Evil". Burnt Offerings benefits the most, however, and now it just might be my favorite album by these guys. The mix no longer suffocates the heavy guitars under exceedingly loud drums. Crystal clear riffs mean you can actually identify individual notes with no difficulty. Even the little touches add a great deal, like the new spooky echoes on the song "Burnt Offerings". To hear these albums has they deserve to be heard, Dark Genesis has your ticket! Finally, something completely new...Iced Earth's Tribute to the Gods, a collection of cover songs recorded in Jon Schaffer's own studio. Schaffer picked some of his most important influences and honors them with this great collection. The songs are: 1. Creatures of the Night - KISS
2. Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
3. Highway to Hell - AC/DC
4. Burnin' For You - Blue Oyster Cult
5. God of Thunder - KISS
6. Screaming For Vengeance - Judas Priest
7. Dead Babies - Alice Cooper
8. Cities On Flame - Blue Oyster Cult
9. It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n' Roll) - AC/DC
10. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
11. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Iron Maiden Disappointingly, there is no Metallica cover! Schaffer talks about James Hetfield as an influence often. How cool would it be to hear Iced Earth tackle "Master of Puppets" or "Battery"? (Barlow would kick azz on both.) Oh well, heh. This is a completely fun album. The songs are very faithful to the originals, but since Matt Barlow is such an awesome vocalist, they seem better here. It's too cool hearing Barlow sing, "I'm burnin' I'm burnin' I'm burnin' for you." I can't help but smile listening to this disc, just because it sounds like the band is having lots of fun. The high point for me is Maiden's "Hallowed By Thy Name", which is an unquestionable metal classic. Hearing Barlow sing this song is an awesome experience. His voice is much deeper than Bruce Dickinson's and it really heightens the tension in the song's opening section. Cool take on BOC's "Cities on Flame" too. And I guess that's all you need to know.
Buy this album on Amazon at $59.98
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