Iced Earth's Reviews
Tribute to the Gods (Average Rating: 9.20 out of 10)
The gods pay tribute to the gods. (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
the_wickerman
from Purgatory
Seeing as how I'd already bought Iced Earth's first three albums, and wasn't really willing to buy them again in the box set, I've been waiting for this for some time. Well, it was certainly worth the wait. I'm generally not a big fan of cover albums, but I always think it's cool when one of my favorite bands does it. Up till now, Metallica's "Garage Inc." has been far and away my favorite cover album, but I think it's safe to say that this has dethroned it.Now, if you're expecting this to sound like your average Iced Earth album, you might be a bit surprised. The boys have mostly stayed true to the original versions, meaning the familiar "Iced Earth Crunch" doesn't show up here too often. Jon rarely gets the chance to work out his nearly bionic right hand, but there's still plenty of excellent riffage here. The AC/DC and KISS covers are a great example of this. These bands were already on the threshold of metal, but not quite there. Jon gave them just the right amount of distortion to push them into full-on metal tracks. "God of Thunder" is especially thunderous (pun intended), and "Highway to Hell" just plain rips. Most of the songs here are of the hard rock/metal fare, but you gotta mix em with a few laid-back tracks as well. The cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Burning for You" is a bit of a break from the full-on rock, and Matt's vocals here are, as to be expected, just unbelievable. I'm always amazed at how he can dwarf an otherwise excellent vocalist in covering their song. This dude can really sing. The slow, creepy "Dead Babies" (by Alice Cooper) benefits from Matt's mighty pipes as well. Oh man. Here's the good part. Two covers of Iron Maiden. For a guy like me, Iced Earth covering Iron Maiden is almost too good to be true. Their nearly perfect versions of "Number of the Beast" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name" nearly sent me to the hospital. Matt doesn't try to outdo Bruce (but then, it's not possible anyway, even for him), he just does his own thing, and it works. And I gotta say, he really nailed that scream at the beginning of NOTB. Bruce himself couldn't even do it that perfectly on "Rock in Rio". Man. Frightenly good. As with any Iced Earth album, I could likely go on forever, but I think I've said enough. If you love Iced Earth, "Tribute to the Gods" is unquestionably a must.
Buy this album on Amazon at $15.98
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