Rank the Iced Earth albums

My favorites from best to worst:

Alive in Athens
Dark Saga
Something Wicked.....
Glorious Burden
Days of Purgatory
Horror Show
Night of the Stormrider
Burnt Offerings
Iced Earth
 
Iced Earth=One of the greatest live acts I've ever seen (just not anymore).

1) Something Wicked This Way Comes
2) The Dark Saga
3) Days Of Purgatory
4) Burnt Offerings
5) Horror Show

And not ranked because it's a live album, but Alive In Athens is a monumental live accomplishment. That Greek crowd gives me chills how they sing as a whole with such conviction.

After those, the rest really aren't too memorable.
 
It's interesting looking at which albums people choose to rank and which some choose to leave out.
I haven't seen one person mention the "Tribute to the Gods" album, but I sorta understand that because it's not stuff written by Iced Earth. (Yeah, I know they're covers, but they are an awesome set of covers.)
I also see the live album (Alive in Athens) and the best of (The Blessed & the Damned) getting left off lots of lists. Do people choose not to rank these because they pull from previous albums or do they not know they exists? What's the deal?
 
Walter_Langkowski said:
1) The singing on NOTS is bad and IE is worse...

2) Barlow re-sings a lot of those songs on DOP and completely rules them.

1) Greely is a shitty power metal singer, but he's an excellent thrash singer, and NotS is practically 100% thrash. In fact, it's one of the best thrash albums ever.

2) As awesome as Barlow is, the Greely versions of those songs crush the Barlow versions.

BlackRoseMetalHeart said:
It's interesting looking at which albums people choose to rank and which some choose to leave out.
I haven't seen one person mention the "Tribute to the Gods" album, but I sorta understand that because it's not stuff written by Iced Earth. (Yeah, I know they're covers, but they are an awesome set of covers.)
I also see the live album (Alive in Athens) and the best of (The Blessed & the Damned) getting left off lots of lists. Do people choose not to rank these because they pull from previous albums or do they not know they exists? What's the deal?

I was just counting the studio albums, which is why I omitted Alive in Athens (but see my comment below). I did forget about Tribute to the Gods, but if I ranked it, I'd put it at the bottom of my list; I didn't think the covers were very interesting at all. However, your post DOES remind me that I forgot to rate the Melancholy EP... I'd put it between #3 and #4 on my list (Burnt Offferings/Days of Purgatory). The cover of "Electric Funeral" by Sabbath is one of the best covers I've ever heard, and they made it cooler by not sticking too close to the original; style-wise.

Braxil said:
It too hard for me to rank the albums, Alive in Athens is just way too awesome compared to the studio work.

Alive in Athens was studio work, pretty much... it's severely overdubbed for vocal clarity. Believe me, IE sounds even better than that in the live show.
 
booB said:
1) Greely is a shitty power metal singer, but he's an excellent thrash singer, and NotS is practically 100% thrash. In fact, it's one of the best thrash albums ever.

2) As awesome as Barlow is, the Greely versions of those songs crush the Barlow versions.


I have to agree with you on this. Although I like Barlow overall more as a singer, when I hear the NOTS songs I like hearing Greely doing them better. Part of this may be due to the fact that NOTS was the first IE album I heard and what made me a fan in the first place. Now, Barlow did do WAY better versions of all Gene Adam's songs.
 
Slightly off topic, but....BlackRoseMetalHeart's avatar is smokin' hot! (see above, left) I approve...:heh: Sorry...it had to be said...

Back on topic....I only have "Alive in Athens" after numerous recommendations from this board. Only spun through once or twice, a little rough for me but I have not given up hope yet....I will try again soon.
 
booB said:
1) Greely is a shitty power metal singer.


Have to agree with ya on that one.:kickass:


booB said:
...but he's an excellent thrash singer.


I know your average Thrash singer is not usually the most gifted singer in general...but still, can't agree with you at all on that one. I think he's a below-adequate vocalist IN GENERAL. (IMO)


booB said:
and NotS is practically 100% thrash. In fact, it's one of the best thrash albums ever.

I'm with you on that one as well. Those songs musically are strained-neck anthems. I have no problem with the songwriting by Schaeffer on that one AT ALL.

:rock:


booB said:
2) As awesome as Barlow is, the Greely versions of those songs crush the Barlow versions.


I respect your opinion, but in mine particular, nothing will EVER be superior than anything Barlow-fronted in IE terms. Even studio-wise, he added so much depth in simply a vocal sense that enhanced the quality of the end product.

And live, that's just a historical given.
 
The list for albums that I've listened to in recent memory:

Dark Saga
Something Wicked
Horrorshow
Burnt Offerings
Glorious Burden - just didn't do it for me.

It's hard to rank Alive in Athens anywhere since it's a highlight of all their albums prior to Horrorshow and TGB. It's one of the best live production I've ever heard.

Nate
 
BlackRoseMetalHeart said:
Do people choose not to rank these because they pull from previous albums or do they not know they exists? What's the deal?

For me, it's more a choice of not to buy "best of" or live albums. If there was new work on them, they might be worth picking up, but it's just a replay of the same stuff. I do have Days of Purgatory though. I didn't know it was a "best of" when I bought it.

Walter_Langkowski said:
I respect your opinion, but in mine particular, nothing will EVER be superior than anything Barlow-fronted in IE terms. Even studio-wise, he added so much depth in simply a vocal sense that enhanced the quality of the end product.

IMHO, Barlowe was the best metal singer I've ever heard. He could scream, and he could do clean, and with more emotion than most vocalists.
 
One of my favorite bands...here is how I rank their studio albums:

1. Night of the Stormrider - One of the best metal albums of all time. Definitely in my top 10 of all time. Its heavy, its epic, its thrashy, and its a wicked cool concept album. Imagine mixing Powerslave and Master of Puppets and you have an idea of how great this album is. Many dislike Greely's vocals but I think he is perfect for the style of the album.

2. Burnt Offerings - Another IE masterpiece and probably in my top 20 of all time. This one is a bit less thrashier and introduces the great Matt Barlow to the IE fold. But what it loses in thrash, it gains in the epic department. The title track and Dantes Inferno alone make this album a must.

3. Horror Show - Very close to being a masterpiece. I think this album is quite underrated by the metal community and for silly reasons like 'the monster theme is cheesy'. Thats kind of stupid but oh well...this album is ferocious and has some of the best IE songs of all time in Dracula and Damien. The theme of the album is awesome, IMO, and I love the take that Jon took on some of the point of views of the monsters. I only have 2 complaints about this album: 1) Not enough guitar leads/solos. Jon could have let Larry a bit more loose on this and add some wicked leads to such kick ass songs. 2) The song Ghosts of Freedom. A good song but thematically, does not fit the album. It would be perfect for The Glorious Burden though.

4. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Another almost masterpiece by IE. This album contains one of the greatest works in metal history, the Wicked Trilogy. Its what metal is all about in every aspect. Its perfect. The album also contains one of the most kick ass IE songs in Burning Times and one of their better ballads, Melancholy. The downside of this album is that there are one too many ballads and a couple of filler type tracks. But still, a must buy just for the Wicked Trilogy alone.

5. The Glorious Burden - This is probably a minority opinion but this album is very good and Tim Owens shines on this album (as he usually does). While not Jon's best songwriting (some riffs we heard before), Tim makes up for it with his singing. The Gettyburg trilogy is a bit tedious and self indulgent at times but Tim's vocals and the melody lines by Jon are outstanding.

6. The Dark Saga - A good album but this is where IE started down the more simple path of songwriting. Out went the complex tunes on NOTS and BO and in came the more straight forward riffing and the decrease of guitar leads and solos. Some brilliant songs on here anyway in Violate and A Question of Heaven but also some filler.

7/ Iced Earth - Musically, the debut is fantastic. A bit Maideny at times but some great licks on this one. One major problem though - the vocals. Gene Adams is downright awful. He is out of tune and his vocals make it tough to get through some of the songs.


As for the Alive in Athens, the 3 cd version is the GREATEST LIVE METAL ALBUM OF ALL TIME, IMHO. And its a great way for someone to get introduced to the band.
 
1. Alive in Athens (3cds)
2. Horror Show
3. Something Wicked
4. Glorious Burden
5. The Dark Saga
6. Days of Purgatory
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Night Of the Stormrider
9. Tribute to the Gods
10. Iced Earth