Iced Earth: The Dark Saga (1996)

That's Spawn on the cover isn't it?  I am no big comic book fan, and certainly not of most superheroes, but even I can recognize Spawn when I see him.  The major reason for that is that I have actually seen the live-action movie with Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen and John Leguizamo.  It was bad.  The name of the album does not really give much away, but listening to the album it becomes pretty clear that this is a concept album revolving around the Spawn comic storyline.  At least I am pretty sure, based on my limited knowledge.

Well, let's not waste any more time talking about the concept.  It is what it is and I have no problem with an album covering that storyline.  It is admittedly somewhat compelling.  Let's talk instead about Iced Earth, a band I have enjoyed for something like 20 years.  Yet, I have not done much looking into their works prior to Something Wicked This Way Comes, which is an album I love.  Recently, I picked up second album Night of the Stormrider, but the Iced Earth on that album bears only a passing resemblance even to this album.  The biggest change is the inclusion of vocalist Matt Barlow who joined for Burnt Offerings, the album preceding this one and the most popular vocalist of Iced Earth's tenure.  His rough-edged, deeper-voiced vocals fit well with bandleader Jon Schaeffer's Iron Maiden-esque galloping riffing style.  That style is in fairly short supply on this album however, which is kind of odd.

This album really feels like one drawn-out song with very little variance in the riffing or vocal styles.  Most of the songs are somewhat mid-paced with crunching riffs and Barlow's captivating vocals.  There is one ballad on the release that stands out quite a bit because of how different it is to the rest of the album.  It is really the storyline that drives this album moreso than the music.  Schaeffer sought more to create a cohesive story with music to match than to write anything groundbreaking musically.  Thus, the album comes across as cinematic, but not terribly interesting from a musical standpoint.

Ultimately, I would not recommend this album to someone looking at getting into Iced Earth.  There are some interesting ideas present, but it is not overly representative of the band's general musical style.  I like the album and Barlow's vocals are great, if a little overwrought, but a lot of the other elements that I have come to expect in an Iced Earth album are simply not present.  I am curious to know what Spawn fans think about it though.