No one answered my question, damn it.
The thing about this Popoff guy that burns me is, he's considered one of the world's leading metal critics, and yet he can't write a review that anyone can understand. I have a masters degree in English, and I can't make head nor tail of it! Did he even listen to the album, or did he just rattle this off. The one he did for the new Soilwork album is almost as incomprehensible. Why didn't he write something like:
ICED EARTH: Horror Show (Century Media)
Almost three years since their last epic, Iced Earth returns at last with an album of songs looking at monsters from legend, literature and Hollywood. That might be a stretch for many, but Jon Schaffer and his merry men approach it with grace, power and skill. The introduction of Richard Christy and Steve Digiorgio into the band provides Iced Earth with a rhythm section that, when coupled to Schaffer's watertight, trademark rhythm guitar patterns, is virtually unmatched in history. Matthew Barlow again shows he is one of the best vocalists going around and Larry Tarnowski impresses once more with some fine lead guitar contributions. With this indisputably killer line-up, Iced Earth has produced an album that is less instantly catchy and accessible than the awesome "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as they return to the intricate and technical style that some critics have argued was abandoned on their last two albums. Indeed, the songs on "Horror Show" are almost deliberately complex in comparison to the straight-forward tunes on the majority of "Wicked" and "The Dark Saga". There are still plenty of choice moments, however, from the full-tilt thrash metal assault of Jack' and the multi-dimensional epic Damien', to the solid locked-in groove in parts of Dracula' and Dragon's Child', and again Iced Earth show their mastery of the metal ballad with Ghost of Freedom'. The pinnacle of "Horror Show" however is undoubtedly the dramatic musical saga The Phantom Opera Ghost', wherein Barlow trades vocal lines with unknown Indianapolis pop singer Yunhui Percifield in the role of the song's Christine character, building to an epic climax before subsiding like the best extended pieces in metal. It may take a couple of listens to stick, but "Horror Show" is another great album from Iced Earth.
The thing about this Popoff guy that burns me is, he's considered one of the world's leading metal critics, and yet he can't write a review that anyone can understand. I have a masters degree in English, and I can't make head nor tail of it! Did he even listen to the album, or did he just rattle this off. The one he did for the new Soilwork album is almost as incomprehensible. Why didn't he write something like:
ICED EARTH: Horror Show (Century Media)
Almost three years since their last epic, Iced Earth returns at last with an album of songs looking at monsters from legend, literature and Hollywood. That might be a stretch for many, but Jon Schaffer and his merry men approach it with grace, power and skill. The introduction of Richard Christy and Steve Digiorgio into the band provides Iced Earth with a rhythm section that, when coupled to Schaffer's watertight, trademark rhythm guitar patterns, is virtually unmatched in history. Matthew Barlow again shows he is one of the best vocalists going around and Larry Tarnowski impresses once more with some fine lead guitar contributions. With this indisputably killer line-up, Iced Earth has produced an album that is less instantly catchy and accessible than the awesome "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as they return to the intricate and technical style that some critics have argued was abandoned on their last two albums. Indeed, the songs on "Horror Show" are almost deliberately complex in comparison to the straight-forward tunes on the majority of "Wicked" and "The Dark Saga". There are still plenty of choice moments, however, from the full-tilt thrash metal assault of Jack' and the multi-dimensional epic Damien', to the solid locked-in groove in parts of Dracula' and Dragon's Child', and again Iced Earth show their mastery of the metal ballad with Ghost of Freedom'. The pinnacle of "Horror Show" however is undoubtedly the dramatic musical saga The Phantom Opera Ghost', wherein Barlow trades vocal lines with unknown Indianapolis pop singer Yunhui Percifield in the role of the song's Christine character, building to an epic climax before subsiding like the best extended pieces in metal. It may take a couple of listens to stick, but "Horror Show" is another great album from Iced Earth.
