Iced Earth - The Blessed and the Damned

[circus_brimstone]

Iced Earth – The Blessed and the Damned
Century Media Records – July 27th, 2004
By Jason Jordan

Iced Earth has had quite the illustrious career, and The Blessed and the Damned explores the higher points in their discography. This two-disc set encompasses material from 1991’s Iced Earth all the way up to 2001’s Horror Show. At twenty-three tracks, the album houses a lot of music. Although, noticeably absent from this compilation are compositions from the cover album Tribute to the Gods and their latest opus The Glorious Burden. Nevertheless, there aren’t many faults within this release.

The presentation here is top-notch. The liner notes delve into Schaffer’s personal history, as well as an in-depth biography of the group. Schaffer is quoted numerous times about the various albums in his discography, and the lyrics to every included song made it onto this compendium also. No doubt about it: this is a professional package. “Burning Times” begins the first disc and “Angels Holocaust” commences the second. Required listening such as “Burnt Offerings,” “Damien,” and “When the Night Falls” naturally made the cut. In addition to a cornucopia of studio offerings, selected tracks from Alive in Athens were chosen to compliment. “Travel in Stygian,” “Pure Evil,” and “Violate” were all superbly recorded and don’t fail to represent the Americans in a live setting.

Chances are that, if you’re already fanatical about this band, you have this release. Completists aside, The Blessed and the Damned is a “greatest hits” worth owning. Moreover, the aforementioned may serve as a welcome piece to new fans. And, casual listeners of Iced Earth might find this to be the band’s only essential album. Whatever purpose this output fulfills, its overall quality and length make it a worthwhile purchase…even if you only remotely like the band in question.

8/10

Official Iced Earth website
Official Century Media Records website

 

[AsModEe]

They have already released Days of Purgatory in the past... they didn't really need that one.

 

[Overlord Purple Rainbow]

It's a good release.

However, some of their best stuff is absent. Understandably, "Dante's Inferno" is not there, simply because of length. It's also understandable that tunes from THE GLORIOUS BURDEN are out because Century Media had enough songs from the archives to make this CD. However, the absence of "A Question Of Heaven" is a big question mark, no pun intended. "The Coming Curse?" Where???

 

[IcedEarthguy]

Just a shameless way for Century Media to make money off a band that they no longer have signed because of how shitty they fucked Iced Earth out of money, but still own the song rights for. Alive in Athens and Days of Purgatory are both essential in their own right, but this..........shameless Century Media cash-in. The reason why nothing from Glorious Burden is on there is because Iced Earth got signed with SPV during that release, which has done much better in promoting the band.