Iced Earth

Horror Show

One of the best albums of 2001

Review Score:

(10/10)
Iced Earth's 2001 effort, Horror Show, is actually quite different than their last two efforts, which were both great, but also sounded pretty similar to each other. In addition to a couple of new guests, the experimentation with female guest vocals, twelve string guitar, and fretless bass, is great. First off, the new guests are in the rhythm section: ex-Death/Testament/Sadus bassist Steve DiGiorgio and ex-Death drummer Richard Christy. Each song, with one exception is based on classic horror movie and literature personae. Some of the songs are straight out speed metal tunes, others are eerie, epic tracks, some are mid-tempo heavy rockers. Let's review.

1. "Wolf"; This is a new method of opening an Iced Earth album: instead of a mid-tempo heavy rocker, we get what starts as a slow bass lead over drums and guitar in the background, then, BOOM! Matt lets out a wail like he never did before and the song kicks you right in the face! A great opener!

2. "Damien"; Very interesting. It opens with yet another slow bass lead. It turns out to be a slow heavy rocker. It starts with a really creepy acoustic passage, then the distortion kicks in. A good epic track.

3. "Jack"; Very fast, insanely heavy, pummeling double bass. The bridge is really quite interesting; it's a slow, eerie acoustic passage with Matt whispering something, then, just as you think it's over, Matt screams out in fright! One of the heaviest songs on the album.

4. "Ghost Of Freedom"; Abandoning the horror theme briefly, we go onto this ballad. It's about a soldier who is killed in the war. Very similar to the ballad on Something Wicked, "Watching Over Me."

5. "Im-Ho-Tep (The Pharaoh's Curse)"; Kind of a creepy intro; the lead is actually playing a stereotypical Egyptian melody, very cool! In spite of a rather slow intro, the song becomes another mid-tempo heavy rocker.

6. "Jeckyl and Hyde"; On this track, Steve experiments with a fretless bass, and lead guitarist Larry experiments with some twelve string guitar. Another creepy intro, but yet again becomes a mid-tempo heavy rocker. Check out the little fight between Matt and John in the middle!

7. "Dragon's Child"; Damn, this song's creepy! But it's very heavy, even for a mid-tempo heavy rocker. Great bass work.

8. "Frankenstein"; The heaviest mid-tempo heavy rocker Iced Earth has ever done. Awesome guitar solo, and great bass work underneath the solo.

9. "Dracula"; Man, is this song heavy! You might not think that when you hear the intro, which is very reminiscent of the classic Queensryche number "Take Hold Of The Flame," but just when you think, "BOOOOOOORING!" you're kicked in the face by a punishing assault of pummeling double bass, unsane twin guitar harmonies, and Matt screaming at the top of his lungs. During the acoustic section, Steve does more fretless bass work, very cool!

10. "Phantom Opera Ghost"; A dialogue, the first track by Iced Earth to experiment with female guest vocals. Very epic, overall, another example of why metal albums always close in the best ways. Cool mandolin work by John in the intro and outro.

In addition to the ten songs contained on this album, there is a bonus disc, which features a sweet cover of the classic Iron Maiden instrumental "Transylvania," as well as an interview with John. In it, he gives a song-by-song overview of the album, and then gives a full chronology of Iced Earth, from the bands formation under the name Purgatory (January 1985) to the time of the interview and release of this album (June 2001). Overall, I highly recommend this to fans of Iced Earth and other such bands.

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