Iced Earth's Reviews

Night of the Stormrider

(Average Rating: 9.50 out of 10)

An underground metal classic.

(Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by Nathan D. Brown from Jacksonville, NC United States

This, Iced Earth's second album, is in my opinion the best American metal album produced in the 1990's. That's right, not only is it American, it's power/thrash metal, something most people probably think died here in the 80's. That said, it compares favorably with the best of this decade's European power metal scene, bands such as Blind Guardian, Stratovarius, etc. About the music: Jon Schaffer is an amazing rhythm guitar player, and Randy Shawver's leads are technically proficient without being self-indulgent. While most Iced Earth fans consider Matthew Barlow (who sings on all their albums released after this one) to be the best Iced Earth vocalist, I actually prefer John Greely's higher-pitched, more traditional metal-ish singing found here--I think it fits the framework of this album better. About the lyrics: this is a concept album, about some guy named the Stormrider, and it describes a quest he makes, until, in the final song, he dies. It's a little hard to explain here, but the lyrics are excellent. You won't find any lyrical clunkers (a la Priest's "Hot Rockin'" or most of Helloween's Keeper part II album) here.

The bottom line: if you consider yourself a fan of heavy metal, this is a CD you need to hear. Iced Earth is one of the top metal acts around nowadays, and this album epitomizes their sound.

Buy this album on Amazon at $14.99