Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes Review

Iced Earth Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Tracklist:
1. Burning Times
2. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
3. Disciples of the Lie
4. Watching Over Me
5. Stand Alone
6. Consequences
7. My Own Savior
8. Reaping Stone
9. 1776 [Instrumental]
10. Blessed Are You
11. Prophecy
12. Birth of the Wicked
13. Coming Curse

Ranking: #40 for 1998

user rating

4
excellent

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Jorn van Schaïk CONTRIBUTOR (4.5)
...

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On 8 Lists

4.0
excellent

Kit Brown CONTRIBUTOR (89 Reviews)

2005-08-18 | 24 comments | 3,180 views

3 of 3 thought this review was well written

This would be Iced Earth's sixth album, and is also considered to be their best. The band members in this album are:

Brent Smedly: Drums
Jon Schaffer: Guitar, Vocals
James MacDonough: Bass
Larry Tarnowski: Guitar
Matthew Barlow: Vocals

1. Burning Times
This is considered by many to be Iced Earth's greatest song. It starts off the album with a bang, quickly accompanied by Barlow's wonderful vocals. This song has one of the coolest choruses Iced Earth has ever written, and also contains a pretty decent guitar solo. Overall, a great opening track. It grabs you by the neck and refuses to let go.
5/5

2. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
This song is yet another great track, but starts off rather slowly. Barlow signs with plenty of emotion and sadness, which is then interrupted by some heavy guitars and a rather catchy drum beat. At about three minutes into the song, there is also another great guitar solo. This is Barlow's vocal highlight in this album.
4.5/5

3. Disciples of the Lie
Another *** kicking track, coming your way. This is a great headbanging track because the brutality never lets up. The dual guitars play some really cool riffs, accompanied by a simple but cool drum beat in the back. Barlow didn't impress me as much in this track as he did in the last two tracks. There is also a rather cool keyboard interlude in this song.
4.5/5

4. Watching Over Me
This song was written about Jon Schaffer's best friend who died. This is probably one of the most emotional and depressing songs I have ever listened to. Barlow really floors you with his vocal abilities in this song. There is also another really cool guitar solo in this song, the best one so far. If you ask me, this is the best track on the album.
5/5

5. Stand Alone
A quick brutal track to follow the last slower track. Clocking in at under three minutes, this song contains some really cool and fast guitar riffs, some fast double bass drumming, and a decent solo. This song is pretty cool as a filler track, but isn't really anything special.
3.5/5

6. Consequences
This track once again starts out slow and with acoustic guitars. It stays this way for almost two minutes until an awesome guitar solo comes in, and then the song starts to get interesting. This solo goes on for about 50 seconds, and then is continued with more acoustic guitars and cool vocals. Afterwards, there is another solo that wasn't as impressive as the first one, but is still entertaining and fun to listen to. This solo continues on until the track closes
4.5/5

7. My Own Savior
This song starts off nice and fast, and has some cool bass work in the middle. There is also yet another guitar solo, but they all start to sound the same by this point. Overall a pretty average track, nothing too cool or crazy happens here.
3/5

8. Reaping Stone
The verse of this song is slow and creepy, and then kicks in to the heavier chorus, which is much cooler than the verse. Some of the pinch harmonics in the heavy parts sound very cool and fit the song well. Barlow doesn�t really blow you away like he normally does with his vocal work until later in the song, where he gives you some Judas Priest like screams. The guitars during the interlude are awesome, and the coolest part of the track, in my opinion.
4/5

9. 1776
The instrumental song on the album, and one, if not my favorite song on the album. The song starts off with some good old Iced Earth riffs and then more impressive guitar work starts to happen. The solos aren�t really fast, but they sound great and do the song justice. The drums are always pounding hard with some cool double bass fills and such. Later on in the song there is a break in the heaviness where there is some flute playing and snare drums, like in colonial times. Definitely a tremendous song from these patriots.
5/5

10. Blessed Are You
Starts out with clean guitars and Barlow�s great voice. Like the other songs, you expect some heavy riffs to come out pretty soon, and they do about a minute in the song. This song sounds too much like Reaping Stone, so I usually just skip this track when I listen to this album. This is the weakest track on the album.
2.5/5

11. Prophecy
A really cool bass intro, which isn�t what Iced Earth normally does. It�s always good to hear something new, because the album was starting to get repetitive. This is a pretty long song, clocking at over six minutes. The song really starts getting cool at about 2:50, where the band plays some of the coolest riffs on the album. The guitar solo in this album is also a lot better than the other ones on the album, so you can really enjoy this one. After the solo the song stays the same and then there is a sample of a clock ticking at the end. A really awesome song.
4.5/5

12. Birth of the Wicked
This song reminds me a whole lot of Iron Maiden. The vocal style in this song just makes me think back to Piece of Mind and the like. This track is your typical Iced Earth track: fantasy lyrics, heavy riffs, and double bass drums. You can listen to Burning Times and save yourself the trouble of listening to this if you want, Burning Times is a much better track anyways.
3/5

13. Coming Curse
This nine and a half minute epic starts out with a beautiful piano intro that is much cooler than most other intros on the album (except Prophecy). This goes on for about a minute and a half and then you hear what is one of the heaviest riffs on the album. There is also some insanely fast double bass drumming during the chorus, so drummers can appreciate this song. There is a mediocre guitar solo that is just like lots of the others on the CD. There are also some time changes on this, so it shows that they are talented musicians. After that, there is a clean guitar interlude, and then the brutality continues until the end where there is a choir singing, which is a great way to end the album. A tremendous track to end the album.
4.5/5

This album is great for power metal fans who love brutal riffs and fantasy based lyrics. Iced Earth is America�s best power metal band, and this album definitely proves that. The only problems that I have with this CD is that a few of the songs are redundant, but the tracks that aren�t are insanely awesome. I can understand why people call this Iced Earth�s masterpiece.

Overall score: 4/5

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