Iced Earth – Days of Purgatory
After not listening to this album in about 7 years, I randomly pulled this one out of my collection the other day. I used to be quite fanatical about this band, annd even though that’s not the case any more I can still enjoy their material. If you like bands like old school Metallica, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden then I highly suggest you check this band out. This particular record is unique in that iit features songs off their first two albums reworked with then then-new singer Matt Barlow and fresh rythm section track provided by Brent Smedley and James MacDonough.
The opening song is decent enough, and at times it sounds like it could have come straight off “Ride the Lightning”. Angel’s Holocaust is where it really starts to pick up with some operatic vocal work and a galloping midsection. The one thing I can say about this band that I can’t about others is the rythem work of guitarist Jon Schaffer. Aside from being an excellent songwriter, he is one hell of a rhythm player! The highlights of this album however are Storm rider, Pure Evil and Travel in Stygian. Stromrider (featuring vocals by Jon Schaffer) and Pure Evil have some pretty cool riffage involved, and Travel in Stygian features some Rob Halford-esque vocals with a real creepy, melodic bridge. Don’t forget about Desert Rain and Iced Earth though, as both tunes are solid tunes.
The rest of this album is kind of mediocre, and I almost always find myself skipping over or falling asleep during the rest of the songs. I’m not a big fan of the production on this album though – It tends to come across a little muddled and dry. It’s still a decent album though and if youre curious about how Matt Barlow can rework some old tunes and believe me, he sounds about 20x better than the previous singers) then you might enjoy this album. Not exactly an amazing album but enjoyable nonetheless.
Rating – 7/10
Review by Bluto
1. Enter the Realm
2. Colors
3. Angels Holocaust
4. Stormrider
5. Winter Nights
6. Nightmares
7. Solitude
8. The Funeral
9. When the Night Falls
10. Cast in Stone
11. Desert Rain
12. Life and Death
13. Reaching the End
14. Travel in Stygian
15. Iced Earth
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