Iced Earth

This is Iced Earth's most solid release, showcasing Schaffer's talent at the early stages of the band before everything became centered around Barlow. If you want to hear a great mix of thrash and power metal riffs and solos, this is the album for you. If you'd rather hear Barlow's melodramatic singing, then get one of the later albums.Schaffer is purely and simply a thrash guitarist, and this album shows off his talent. The opener is reminiscent of early Slayer, later Death, with some Maiden-like hooks and solos. The singing is terrible. I may have to pick up the album where Barlow is singing some of the tracks off this album, but seeing as the music was written with Adam in mind...I figured I'd start here. But "Iced Earth" is not the best song on this album, and is, as another reviewer agrees, a bit of a let down as the song the band is named after.However, all the other songs are amazing in terms of the guitar-work. The singing, again, is horrible (the best tracks are probably the two instrumentals, "Solitude," and "Funeral." John Greely was definitely a step in the right direction.What makes this album worthy of the title of "best album" is the fact that there is ABSOLUTELY NO FILLER. This surprises me, because Iced Earth tends to enjoy putting the listener through as much filler as anyone can bear. And when they don't, the albums have been somewhat lackluster in terms of the guitar-work (I think Barlow pushed Schaffer to the side when he joined...you hear a lot more creativity in the guitar on the first three albums).This is a solid release for fans of thrash and power metal, and the most enjoyable album by Iced Earth. All the songs are good or great if you can get past the average vocals (the singer actually does a good job at the opening of "Life and Death," so I hesitate to call him absolutely terrible). But if it takes this kind of vocalist to allow Schaffer free reign, then so be it. Great album.

I avoided purchasing this album for years due to the fact that Gene Adam was my least favorite Iced Earth vocalist, preferring to listen to the Days of Purgatory and Live versions of these songs with Matt Barlow on vocals instead. Finally, I decided to go ahead and buy it just for the sake of completing my collection of Iced Earth. I am really glad that I did. It had been a long time since I had listened to these original versions, and hearing them again was like hearing them for the first time. This album is a classic. The songs are vibrant and alive with a rawness that has long since been refined by John Schaffer (probably a little too much so). The unconventional arrangements on this album really stand out compared to the much more conventional song writing that has been adopted in later years. That is not a negative criticism because I love all of their albums, just an observation. Although Gene Adam will never be Matt Barlow or Stu Block or Tim Owens, I have come to realize that he did a fine job on this album, infusing it with a level of 80's thrashiness not prevalent on later albums. All in all, this is a classic metal album that holds its own in the Iced Earth catalog.

Es mejor la versión 2016 del disco que venía en funda tipo carpeta, es muy básico para el precio, es la versión negra, la están vendiendo a precio de edición especial

Great remastering of a classic IE album, unfortunately it still has the horrible vocals by Gene Adams, but all in all the sound is amazing

This is an excellent album, given not so good reviews by other fans, but having listened to it at the gym a few times, I really like it and the new singer Stu Brock. He is a good bridge from Owens and Barlow's styles of vocal performance.

I like this music group. Listen to the music.

This cd is one of my favs from iced earth! Yes i know it's not barlow or Ripper but its just as good. I don't know why most people really don't like his voice. i think it's cool! when i first heard the original version i honestly thought it was a young barlow. He sounds younger and more reckless which i think is a very cool sound for that time. but yea whatever.. love it or hate it.. just give it a try with an open mind you'll see how awesome it is.

I prefer Matt Barlow on vocals, but the new guy, Stu Block is incredible

As a relatively long term Iced Earth (IE) fan (from Something Wicked, the original album), their first album was ironically and regrettably the last I bought. Being aware of the earlier material of the band, having acquired Night of the Stormrider (NOTS) and Burnt Offerings some years ago, I was pretty certain what the debut would sound like. And I wasn't wrong. It is similar to NOTS in almost every conceivable way. It is a concept album of sorts, is power chord happy and disposes with melody, a little like a watered down death metal band. IE are more trad-metal focussed and, on the evidence of this, always have been. It is rawer and less commercial (for IE) than their more recent albums but debut albums, especially metal ones, usually are. That said, I found it a good addition to their back catalogue but not a great one. They definitely have seasoned with age and these days (2012) always seem to deliver the goods. Their debut has moments of brilliance but also a lot of mediocre slabs of metal that seem superfluous.Title track and eponymous opener is not the best introduction to the band. It is a good song but no more. It is not particularly memorable but does have a driving, now trademark IE galloping rhythm (itself slightly pilfered from Iron Maiden) and a decent chorus. Follower, 'Written on the Walls' is equally as good but no better. The riffs are chunky and aplenty but the nuance and delicacy are absent. 'Colors' follows suit but in a lesser fashion; it is average at best. And 'Curse the Sky', while a nice ballad (of sorts) is still a merely passable track. 'Life and Death' is better but only in comparison to the opening 2 tracks.The real heart of the album, and where we see the band begin to mature, is from tracks 6 - 8. 'Solitude' is a soothing 2 minutes of acoustic dark beauty that segues wonderfully into the instrumental (except for a few bars of spoken word) and brilliant 'Funeral'. However these are not perfect and IE have produced far more rousing and 'classic' songs later on in their career, but they are diamonds sparkling out of the pit so to speak. 'When the Night Falls' is equally as good, slightly too long at 8+ minutes, but has a great chorus and is structured near perfectly.Despite a wonky first half the album pulls itself out of the mire and produces a great mini saga to finish on and whet the appetite for NOTS. This is not great but if you are a fan then it is a definite must, as I personally prefer this to the over-egged Burnt Offerings. But if you are new to IE it would probably be better to start with something newer, either Something Wicked, Horror Show or The Glorious Burden (which has the career best Gettysberg opus tacked on).

Iced Earth | Iced Earth (30th Anniversary Edition) | 18.12.20 | Erst-VÖ: 11/1990 | Mit AutoRipDer selbstbetitelte Erstling von Iced Earth feiert 30. Geburtstag. Grund genug für die Band und die Plattenfirma das Debüt in einer neuen, remasterten Version zu veröffentlichen. Doch wer erwartet, hier noch einige Extras zu bekommen wird bitter enttäuscht. Die einzigen Extras sind der Remaster und die Verwendung des ursprünglichen Covers. Minimalistischer kann man einen so bedeutenden Geburtstag kaum feiern. Null Komma Null Mehrwert. Da ich den 2001er Remasterd mit dem damals neu erstellten Cover in meiner Sammlung habe, habe ich mir das Album mehr aus Nostalgie zugelegt. Dennoch habe ich mich mehr als geärgert über diese Abzocke und dem Preis eines regulären, neuen Studio-Albums.Der Remaster bietet kaum Pluspunkte für einen Mehrwert und hätte man sich auch gleich schenken können. Selbst für Komplettisten ist dieses Release nicht empfehlenswert. Das gute Album an sich rettet den zweiten Stern. Drei Sterne Abzug für diese lustlose Abzocke. Es wird auch nirgends erwähnt, dass es sich um die „Limited 30th Anniversary Edition“ handelt. Wobei wohl „limited“ sich auf den sehr limitierten Inhalt beziehen muss. Leider ist dieses Release auch noch unter dem Original Album bei Amazon eingebunden, so dass man nicht separat bewerten kann. Das wird dem Original Album nicht gerecht, denn dieser Mogelpackung kann man bestenfalls die zwei genannten Sterne geben, statt fünf für die Musik.Anniversary geht anders liebe Iced Earth. Schämt euch und ab die Ecke.

Excellent album. The cover has a cool satin finish to it with original album art on the sleeve inside

Already showed all thge bands potencials. Interesting album, specially if you are a Iced Earth fan. I recommend it. Good album!

husband loved it