Today, folks, I'm listening to...
Iced Earth- The Dark Saga (1996)
I don't know who was responsible for my brother getting heavily into Iced Earth not long after we moved back to Texas in 1997, but they deserve a handshake. While never groundbreaking, Iced Earth was (and still is, at least the last time I heard them) a solid metal band with roots in traditional American metal. Their endless parade of band members has, vocalists aside, never seemed to hurt the band, because sole original member Jon Schaffer has always stuck to his guns.
Anyway, The Dark Saga is Iced Earth's fourth album, and second with Matt Barlow, who's been the best singer they've ever had. It's a strong album- again, there are no great surprises- until the last three songs, which are components of a greater song called "The Suffering." This trio of songs packs less punch than the rest of the album ("The Hunter," where I really dig the drumwork, and "Vengeance is Mine" stand out) and things lose some steam. It's a shame, because the first seven songs keep up a good pace. "The Suffering" strikes me as a forerunner to some of IE's later multi-song concept pieces, none of which really worked that well for me. Don't think I'm saying the last 30% of The Dark Saga sucks, because it definitely doesn't- it's just not as good as the rest of the album.
All in all, this is a metal album you can throw on without being blown away or disappointed by. Better than background music, but nothing you really need to wrap your head around. Dependable records like this aren't exactly rare, but there never seem to be enough of 'em.
P.S. The whole album is a concept album, really- or maybe I should call it a thematic record. What's the theme? Spawn. As in "Todd McFarlane's," "Image Comics," "parodied in the pages of Cerebus," "made into a shitty movie" Spawn. Don't sweat it too much. It works well enough, and this is heavy metal, after all.
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