Iced Earth's Reviews
The Dark Saga (Average Rating: 9.32 out of 10)
Sleek and stripped-down--and wonderful for it! (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Brady Eskilson
from Purgatory
This was my first Iced Earth album, and it's definitely a great place to start with this band.After the financial failures of his first three masterpieces 'Iced Earth,' 'Night of the Stormrider,' and 'Burnt Offerings,' it would seem Jon Schaffer took a simpler, more commercial approach to songwriting, akin to Metallica's Black Album. HOWEVER--this isn't a bad thing! The result was a beautifully sleek concept album that is every bit as heavy as its predecessors. If you don't already know, this album takes you through the story of the comic-book character Spawn. Here we go... Dark Saga: There is beauty in simplicity. Heavy as f***. A good part of this song consists simply of 3 power chords, but power chords are what Jon Schaffer knows how to do right. 9/10 I Died For You: A great heartfelt rocker about tragic love (I think I've heard that somewhere before...), if a bit forced. 8/10 Violate: Here's where you catch the Slayer influence. This is the most aggressive song on the album. Iced Earth actually pulls off that aggression-thrash stuff quite well. The instrumental passage at the end r0x my s0x. 9/10 The Hunter: I think the words I'm looking for are "F***ing cool". Again, very sleek and simple in its principle structure, but this is an absolutely amazing IE track. One of my all-time favorites. 10/10 The Last Laugh: Another aggressive track. Lyrics could be a bit better, but this track is so great that they can easily be overlooked. 8/10 Depths of Hell: Great song, but there's simply something... missing. Got a very heavy feeling to it. 7/10 Vengeance Is Mine: WOW. Extremely aggressive, yet extremely beautiful. Might be the best track on the album. 10/10 Scarred: Decent, this is the first song of the three-part "Suffering". Drags a bit. 7/10 Slave to the Dark: An improvement over "Scarred," but still a little awkward. 8/10. The album really starts to drag up until the finale... A Question of Heaven: Beautiful, simply beautiful. The lyrics are moving, the angelic voices are haunting, the song structure is as progressive as it is pummelling... just great. I absolutely love this song, and it finishes the album with a sense of overwhelming greatness. 10/10 So... in conclusion, while I may have been a bit harsh on the particulars of this album, I absolutely love it, and would recommend it to any fan of old-school metal, especially those already familiar with IE or looking to get acquainted with them.
Buy this album on Amazon at $13.99
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