Bruce_Bitenfils wrote:
Caligula_K wrote:
I heard Days of Rage a couple months ago and thought it was pretty bad and wasn't a fan of the new singer, so I wrote this album off, since you know, Iced Earth hasn't released an album that's better than mediocre in... 15 years now? Very interested to see now though that it's gotten some positive reviews. I'll have to check it out.
Be sure to give it a few spins. For me, it clicked after 3 listens. A very solid effort, with only 3 tracks I could do without. Also, be sure to hear the bonus tracks.
I took your advice and got the bonus track version. Definitely a very good release, and I take back everything bad I said about this new singer- he's fantastic (though not on Days of Rage, which along with Boiling Point is the worst song of the album). Excellent range and versatility. Dystopia, Anthem, V, Dark City and Equilibrium are all great songs and among the best Iced Earth have released in the past decade and a half. Soylent Green is a very good bonus track. End of Innocence is cheesy as hell, sure, but so is every single Iced Earth ballad that's ever been released, and it's a lot better than most of them- definitely better than songs like Watching Over Me and I Died For You and (shudder) When the Eagle Cries.
The only song I'm really unsure of is Tragedy and Triumph. It basically sounds like an Iced Earth ode to a traditional European power metal song with some Invictus era Virgin Steele thrown in, and I'm not sure how well it works. I'll have to see how it holds up on future listens.
Overall though, very happy with this one. I never expected to really enjoy another Iced Earth album, so this is one of the most pleasant surprises in the metal scene in a while. Somewhere between 80-85/100 is exactly the right score.
