After the magnificent Something Wicked This Way Comes,
Iced Earth has this time around engaged in a theme-based album about classical horror figures, and the band's style fits this dark adventure extremely well.
An important player on Horror Show is the fantastic sound; the rhythm guitars are mean and heavy and the bass is very deep. Overall all instruments are bent in just the right way resulting in a very dark and atmospheric sound.
Wolf starts out nice and calm but suddenly we've in the middle of one of the fastest and most brutal songs in
Iced Earth's history. The aggressive guitar riffs from Jon Schaffer are just incredible and Matt Barlow's dark and raw vocals work brilliantly with the story.
Damian is another clear favourite, capturing the essence of the Omen movies nicely. This extensive monster has the most grooving drive that is broken down by a chorus that is put together in great melodic way. The dark acoustic guitar and huge chanting chorus gives the song just the right wrapping.
Jack has a very aggressive profile in its high grooving rhythm section; the dark atmospheric middle part sets a fantastic eerie mood.
The one song that isn't a classical horror story is
Ghost Of Freedom, an important tale about a ghost who died fighting for freedom and the relatives he left behind. A great ballad with deep bass lines and a fitting harder mid-section with a calm guitar solo by producer Jim Morris.
With
Im-Ho-Tep (The Pharaoh's Curse) we take the journey into mythological Egypt, nicely captured by the eastern ringing guitar lead from lead guitarist Larry Tarnowski.
Jekyll And Hyde manages to create the feelings of despair and frustration in great style due to a fascination lyric and Matt's extremely powerful and diverse singing. A very innovative track with many layers and shifts in tempo.
The only thing I can come up with that isn't that capturing on this Horror Show is some aspects of
Dragon's Child: the chorus and supporting riff just hasn't the interesting and dynamic flow as elsewhere. The gloomy atmosphere in the beginning and the harmonious guitar leads in the middle are splendid though.
Some of the slower parts in
Frankenstein aren't that mind-blowing either but the song's special mood and gloomy vocal parts win a lot. When adding the magnificent and detailed drumming from Richard Cristy and pounding bass delivered by Steve DiGiorgio we have yet another great song.
The albums two last songs are without any doubt some of the best I have ever listened to. The passionate love story told in this very tragic tale about
Dracula gives it an interesting angle. The emotional beginning that explodes into a fast paced aggressive riff attack is really a phenomenal passage.
In the almost 9-minute
The Phantom Opera Ghost things get even wilder and heavier, but the track also features some slower parts with fantastic duet singing from Matt and Yunhui Percifield. The underlying keyboard arrangements set the perfect stage for this epic drama and the acoustic break with subsequently fast paced double bass drumming and ultra heavy guitar riff's comes out very vigorous.
To put it in one word this album simply works, it's intensely thrilling, involving musical technicality, eerie moods and pure power of the most spectacular kind.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, December 23, 2003
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