Ah, Iced Earth.
After Iron Maiden and Blaze, they are my third-favourite metal band. This is mostly thanks to Jon Schaffer's composing skills and his playing. This should be kept in mind because later in this post, some of my criticism may seem a bit harsh - it's mostly criticism on an extremely high level.
Iced Earth is a good debut. No, let's say it is a great debut: it has some excellent tracks, mostly When the Night Falls, which is still one of their most enduring tracks. I'm not a big fan of Gene Adam's vocals, but he does a good job here, given his capabilities. It's still got a very amateurish and not too professional feel to it, which is a good thing.
Night of the Stormrider is one thrashing album, from the beginning to the end. The songwriting is already borderline superb, especially on Desert Rain, Pure Evil and Travel in Stygian. And did I mention it is one thrashing motherf'cker? The only let-down for me is once again the vocals. I don't think John Greely has a particularly good singing voice, although he can shriek like a nutter. Also, the lyrics are a bit dodgy, which is unfortunately more or less an Iced Earth trademark for me.
Burnt Offerings - now here's an uber-album if there ever was one. It's brilliant from start to finish, and I could headbang to it all day and all night if I wouldn't have to sleep at some point. It's one that has only great songs on it, and it is so full of pure anger and honest emotion that I can't help but be awed by it every single time. Whenever I've got some aggressions to get rid of, this is what I put on. I can't even pick a highlight (no, not even Dante's Inferno), because everything is so mercilessly great.
Dark Saga actually manages to keep the high standard of the predecessor. Yes, there are some let-downs on it in my opinion, mostly The Last Laugh, Depths of Hell and, I will get crucified for this, Violate (which isn't bad, just not as great as everybody makes it to be), but A Question of Heaven alone puts this album above most others for me. What a song! And then of course, there's the title track, I Died for You (cheesy and whiny yes, but still damn good), The Hunter, Vengeance is Mine and Slave to the Dark.
Something Wicked this way Comes is a bit of a hit-and-miss, although still on a very high level. And still, the hits by far outweigh the misses, which in my opinion aren't bad songs, just not special - Stand Alone, Reaping Stone and My Own Savior, mostly. Then again, it has some of the best moments of heavy metal, such as Watching Over Me, Melancholy (Holy Martyr) and the entire Something Wicked Trilogy. If you can sit still to these tracks, then maybe you should ask yourself if you are really a heavy metal fan.
Horror Show unfortunately has the hit-and-miss average more evenly balanced. It has some tracks I don't really care about, but also again some of their greatest: Dracula and Damien. It's a nice album with a tight atmosphere, but you can tell the band was beginning to stagnate in their creativity. There's just a lot of songs on it that are good while listening to, but are forgotten shortly afterward, which is a bit of a shame.
The Glorious Burden has a couple of good tracks on it: Declaration Day, Attila, Valley Forge and the Gettysburg trilogy. Other than that, it's best described with When the Eagle Pukes. And I will never understand nor forgive the fact that they managed to write a bad song about air combat.
Framing Armageddon is a return to form, better than both predecessors. You can tell that Schaffer's creativity has returned, and he has managed to write some songs that are reminiscent of the good old days. This album is best enjoyed by listening to it in its entirety while engaging yourself in the storyline. It's a worthwhile listen and a good album, no matter what everybody says (mostly because the latest album of a band is their worst anyway, according to everybody...).
The Crucible of Man could have been so much more. It could have been a blast, it could have been a juggernaught that would have blown everything away... but it is only a very good album. It could have been so much more because you have great songwriting on it, a Matthew Barlow who hasn't lost an ounce of what made him so great, and an amazing solo guitarist (Troy Seele) who should have been allowed to do more. The storyline is also continued in a good way, and the tension is there from the beginning on, but it is never resolved in a climax. Sure, there are great epics in the last part of the album (Divide and Devour, which incidentally sounds a lot like Blind Guardian in the chorus, and Come What May), but somehow you would have expected a big -bang at the end. As much as I like and perhaps even love the album, I do confess I was a bit disappointed by it.
Honourary mention: Alive in Athens, one of the best live albums of all times.
