Iced Earth

Horror Show

Fair, but rather flat and repetitive, in spite of Barlow.

Review Score:

(6/10)
Well... without any doubt Matthew Barlow is a great singer, and he is probably the best part of this "show". But in addition to enjoying his voice, I don't think you'll find something else worthy in this release. Jon Schaffer's riffs are fairly good, but they're starting to be a tad repetitive. Not to mention the introductory arpeggios in more than a half of the tracks: why is this resource so abusively used? I'm rather disappointed with the guitar work of this CD, in spite of its quality. In few words: although good, it offers nothing new.

I've found however two positive points in this CD: the production and the presentation. The booklet is great as well as the equilibrium of the musical instruments and the vocals. And just another good point: the band performs greatly, and this is absolutely certain. They are undoubtedly very good musicians.

The problem with this release is that I don't see any transcendent work art here. I think that "Dark Saga" was better, even more open and sincere. In this release everything sounds in some way familiar, and the intended atmosphere never caught me. I could even tolerate the kitschy themes, but what I couldn't really stand was the monotonic sound along the entire album.

So, I guess that three stars is a fair score: this is not a bad album, but it'll pass by -at least for me. I'll be looking forward to hearing more from this band. 'Till then!

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