Alright, having given very extensive listens to all the albums by now, and finally being pretty familiar with the band overall, ..and since I know how much everyone here gives a shit, I'll lay down my thoughts
My favorite song would have to be
'Dante's Inferno' ..brilliant.
The best album for me is easily
'Night of the Stormrider'
Second would be their self titled,
'Iced Earth', if I were to put aside the fact that it's old and it sounds like it ..and the strange vocals at times
Third, I would put either of these 3 albums:
'Burnt Offerings', which has two of my favorite songs, the first and the last.
'Something Wicked..' took me a while to get into, but then I did find many great songs in it, more than in BO and TDS.
'The Dark Saga' A great album through and through, but nothing outrageously outstanding. I like the song 'The Last Laugh' a lot for some reason.. even though it's simple. And, naturally, I love the theme.
In fourth place would be their latest
'The Glorious Burden' though it might grow on me some more. I'm not a big fan of power metal, but I do find some things in that album ..'catchy'.
Lastly,
'Horror Show' I just can't get into to save my life.. None of the songs hold my attention.
As far as singers are concerned.. I don't find one 'much better' than the next..
I must say their original singer did do some ..weird things (in the self titled)
Their second was alright.
Barlow was fine in the next several albums.
and Owens' vocals were produced nicely in the last album.. I never much cared for power metal vocals, but I must say some of the things he pulls throughout the album get stuck in my head, call attention to the song, and have a big impact on the music overall.
No big complains of any of them, they each had strength and weaknesses. I'd say their original singer was my least favorite, but then again I don't particularly like better the way Barlow remade the old songs.
Overall, like I've said before, I really like the band and their work, and there are many many songs throughout their discography that are truly superb.
Alive in Athens is an awesome live album.
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