Oh boy, here we go. Reviewing one of my favorite bands of all time this Monday. Is it really much of a review if I like them though? At this point, it’s starting to feel like more “Advertisement” than anything. Especially since every review I’ve done I’ve heavily recommended the band and even started taking advantage of the new WordPress blocks to link them.
Ahh well. I digress! This week, as a way to get away from some of the Doom and Gloom metal that I’ve been listening to I’ve decided to hit up some classic heavy metal known for blistering lyrics, and heavy guitar and bass backups.
In fact, Iced Earth: Horror Show, is an album that I love to listen to when I’m getting pumped up, just because of how varied the musical stylings are. Some songs are sad, some play more as ballads, while some are heavy, and in your face.
Personally, what I love about this album is the characterization of each song. Horror Show, at its core, is all about classical Cinematic Monsters, such as Frankenstein, the Mummy, Wolfman, Dracula, and more. Instead of the stereotypical “oh no, monsters!” that typically come with seeing these sort of creatures, it turns the tropes around and humanizes them.
Well, in some cases. Some of them play up to the horrific strength of the monsters themselves, but in a lot of cases it adds a sort of dimension to the characters and makes them feel a little bit more rounded as a character, rather than as a trope.
The first song, Wolf, is alright. I felt for an opening song it was a little lackluster and, to be honest, I find myself tuning it out. It’s really not until track 2, Damien, that it really starts to pick up. The song, of course, being about Damien – the son of Satan. Which, if you’ve ever watched the movies, is still pretty scary even by today’s standards.
From there, Jack, Ghost Freedom, Imhotep, Jekyll & Hyde are… ehhh. They’re in the same vein as Wolf in that they’re really not that memorable in any way. In fact, if you weren’t actively listening you probably wouldn’t even really notice what, or who the song was about.
It’s not until Dragon’s Child that things finally pick back up. Though as nice as Dragons Child is (Which is a song dedicated to the Creature of the Black Lagoon), it’s Dracula that stands out on the album and is the definitive best song on it.
The thing about “Dracula” is that it follows in the footsteps of what a lot of writers and artists have been doing with the character for the last few years. The story itself really humanizes the Vampiric Creature, and refocuses him into a tragic figure who served God and the Catholic church faithfully until the love of his life died, and he cursed them all in his grief.
Sound familiar? It’s a familiar trope that’s been done in pop culture lately (Most notably Netflix’s “Castlevania” series), and I think it works extremely well, especially in the song.
The next best song that I feel makes this album stand out is “Phantom Opera Ghost”, which is an 8 minute song that details the entire plot of Phantom of the Opera. While it doesn’t decontextualize the villain as a tragic figure, it does wonderfully put the entire plot into a condensed, musical form. Plus the part near the end with the Opera Ghost, and Christine singing works extremely well and makes it a nice package.
Over all, I’d say the whole thing is a nice listen to. While there are a lot of better Iced Earth album’s out there, especially the later Albums that I’ll be covering, it’s interesting to see and listen to the bands earlier works. Plus, for some reason Matt Barlow doesn’t sound as deep and gruff as he does in later albums.
But, if you’re a fan, you can sort of see where they started
to set up the Set Abominae character that they introduced in the Framing
Armageddon album, and how they carry him through The Crucible of Man (which I’ll
be covering eventually!)
Over all, while not the best that Iced Earth has
to offer, it’s certainly a great listen. Even if you just stick with Damien,
Dracula, Dragon’s Child, and Phantom of the Opera
Rease's Home of Writing 