Horror Show [LIMITED EDITION] [IMPORT]

Iced Earth

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Original Release Date: June 26, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition, Import
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B00005LANP
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #561,364 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars There be monsters ahead, August 12, 2006

By	Justin Gaines "Corporate Rocker" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Horror Show, Iced Earth's 2001 follow-up to their career defining Something Wicked This Way Comes, was originally viewed as a fun one-off project before the band got back to work making "serious" albums. Little did we know that it would be the last time we would hear Iced Earth with Matt Barlow on vocals. Barlow's dynamic voice was every bit as important to Iced Earth's sound as Jon Schaffer's blazing riffs, so for many of us, Horror Show has to serve as his swansong.

I don't think anyone really expected Horror Show to be as good as its predecessor. Schaffer wanted to have a bit of fun and pay tribute to the classic movie monsters, and I think Iced Earth fans understood that. Horror Show is a fun album, but it is also a bit uneven. Some of the songs work very well. Album-opener Wolf is a perfect example. It is a pure Iced Earth song, complete with lightning fast riffs, powerful vocals, and supernatural subject matter. For obvious reasons it reminds me quite a bit of Metallica's ode to lycanthropy Of Wolf and Man. Dragon's Child and Frankenstein are also among the album's better songs, the latter stomping along just like the movie monster might. The real highlight is Dracula, which is easily the album's best song. It has great subject matter and lyrics, and a perfect song arrangement, starting slowly and building to a ferocious conclusion.
Other tracks, while decent, are not as noteworthy. Damien is packed full of the same cheesy pseudo-Satanism we've seen on other Iced Earth albums, and the Phantom Opera Ghost, while ambitious, seems just a bit too silly to be taken seriously.
The album's odd moment is the patriotic ballad Ghost of Freedom. It just seemed out of place on a "monster album", though it did serve as a preview of the direction Schaffer would take on the band's flag-waving follow-up album the Glorious Burden.

If Horror Show had turned out to be a "project" album like Tribute to the Gods, I would probably look at it more favorably. But since it served as the final Iced Earth album with Matt Barlow (I'm not counting the Tribute to the Gods compilation), I tend to judge it a bit harder than it probably deserves. I think I would have been happier if Something Wicked This Way Comes was his final album with the band. That way he could have gone out on a much higher note.

NOTE - Early pressings of Horror Show came with a bonus disc that featured a by-the-numbers cover of the Iron Maiden instrumental Transylvania (an appropriate addition to this album) and an audio interview with Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer. The interview is interesting enough. If you're in the "Jon Schaffer is God" camp, then it will probably reinforce your opinion. If you tend to think Schaffer is more than a little arrogant, the interview will reinforce that opinion as well.