Vewy Good

Nation: United States

Album Genre: Power Metal/Thrash Metal

Pros: Creative, combined with the trademark Iced Earth sound consisting of Jon Schaffer's rapid triplet action, and Matt Barlow's larger than life vocal performance that would make most male Broadway vocalists shudder in their booties. While Horror Show is far from being a great album from the band, it meets the minimum requirements of being an Iced Earth album (which usually equates to quality to work). Two of Iced Earth's best songs appear on this album, which are "Damien" and "The Phantom Opera Ghost", which are from The Omen and The Phantom Opera stories respectively. Yes, every song on this album, except for "Ghosts of Freedom" are odes to classic horror stories, including "Frankenstein" and "Dracula." Jon Schaffer, founder of the band, has never fallen into the stereotypical heavy metal story telling fashion of nihilism, political movements, or anti-Christian doctrine, Schaffer tends to take alternate routes with his lyrics, and it pays off.

Cons: This is just a watered down Iced Earth album, plain and simple. The lyrics are good, the storytelling is original, but what fans really want to hear is Schaffer and company ripping it up like they used to. This is the first album that really doesn't have alot of bite to it. There is way too much emphasis placed on the story without edgy guitars. Interestingly enough, the highlight of the album is "The Phantom Opera Ghost" which provides a phenomal duet between Matt Barlow, and a female vocalist tellingg the story very well in both melody and aggression. If this album happens to be your first exposure to Iced Earth, please go back into their discography and pick any other album, it will be better than this one.