Post by Reno on Mar 2, 2006 19:48:52 GMT -5
Well, I picked this one up today. Now, except for their live cd and their greatest hits cd, I have every Iced Earth album.
As I mentioned in my post about Tribute to the Gods, the singer on this album, Gene Adam, is horrible. He has no business being on a professionaly released cd. With that said, I'll give a song-by-song breakdown on what I think of this album other than the singing.
1. Iced Earth - For being the song named after the band, this song is a bit of a disappointment. It's not bad (other than the singing), but it's still far from their best. The music is pretty solid, but the singing here is the worst on the whole cd.
2. Written on the Walls - This is easily the second best song on the album. The guitars are fantastic, and everything about the song is good, except for the singing of course. It's unfortunate that this song didn't get rerecorded on Days of Purgatory along with most of the rest of this album.
3. Colors - This version isn't too good, because the singing ruins it. But it's one of the most well-written songs Iced Earth has ever done. The Days of Purgatory version is INSANELY good. While the lyrics and subject matter are far from the Iced Earth norm (it's about being attacked in a subway for wearing the wrong gang colors), I think that adds to the coolness of the song.
4. Curse the Sky - This one's not bad. Again, it suffers from horrible singing, but the rest of the band did a solid job on this one.
5. Life and Death - This song really drags in the beginning. And by the time it finally picks up halfway into the song, it's too late. This song is the weak point of the album.
6. Solitude - This is barely a song at all. It's an instrumental, which is a plus when their singer is so bad, but it's less than two minutes long, and functions mostly as a bridge between the songs on either side of it. Kind of like "Casting Shade" on the Shadows Fall album The Art of Balance.
7. The Funeral - Another instrumental, this is nonetheless the best song on the cd. Actually, that's why it's the best song on the cd. I would go as far as to say it's the best instrumental Iced Earth has ever done, easily surpassing "1776" and their cover of "Transylvania" by Iron Maiden.
8. When the Night Falls - Another song with a slow build, but this one is better than Life and Death because it doesn't take as long to build, and it's a longer song as well. Still, pretty average fare for this album.
All in all, this was alright for a debut album, but thanks to the awful singing and a couple weak songs, it's definitely the least in Iced Earth's collection, even weaker than Tribute to the Gods.
As I mentioned in my post about Tribute to the Gods, the singer on this album, Gene Adam, is horrible. He has no business being on a professionaly released cd. With that said, I'll give a song-by-song breakdown on what I think of this album other than the singing.
1. Iced Earth - For being the song named after the band, this song is a bit of a disappointment. It's not bad (other than the singing), but it's still far from their best. The music is pretty solid, but the singing here is the worst on the whole cd.
2. Written on the Walls - This is easily the second best song on the album. The guitars are fantastic, and everything about the song is good, except for the singing of course. It's unfortunate that this song didn't get rerecorded on Days of Purgatory along with most of the rest of this album.
3. Colors - This version isn't too good, because the singing ruins it. But it's one of the most well-written songs Iced Earth has ever done. The Days of Purgatory version is INSANELY good. While the lyrics and subject matter are far from the Iced Earth norm (it's about being attacked in a subway for wearing the wrong gang colors), I think that adds to the coolness of the song.
4. Curse the Sky - This one's not bad. Again, it suffers from horrible singing, but the rest of the band did a solid job on this one.
5. Life and Death - This song really drags in the beginning. And by the time it finally picks up halfway into the song, it's too late. This song is the weak point of the album.
6. Solitude - This is barely a song at all. It's an instrumental, which is a plus when their singer is so bad, but it's less than two minutes long, and functions mostly as a bridge between the songs on either side of it. Kind of like "Casting Shade" on the Shadows Fall album The Art of Balance.
7. The Funeral - Another instrumental, this is nonetheless the best song on the cd. Actually, that's why it's the best song on the cd. I would go as far as to say it's the best instrumental Iced Earth has ever done, easily surpassing "1776" and their cover of "Transylvania" by Iron Maiden.
8. When the Night Falls - Another song with a slow build, but this one is better than Life and Death because it doesn't take as long to build, and it's a longer song as well. Still, pretty average fare for this album.
All in all, this was alright for a debut album, but thanks to the awful singing and a couple weak songs, it's definitely the least in Iced Earth's collection, even weaker than Tribute to the Gods.