ICED EARTH – Tribute to the Gods
Iced Earth – Tribute to the Gods (2002, Century Media Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Creatures of the Night” [KISS cover] - 4:01
2. “The Number of the Beast” [Iron Maiden cover] – 4:33
3. “Highway to Hell” [AC/DC cover] – 3:23
4. “Burnin’ for You” [Blue Oyster Cult cover] – 4:26
5. “God of Thunder” [KISS cover] – 3:56
6. “Screaming for Vengeance” [Judas Priest cover] – 4:37
7. “Dead Babies” [Alice Cooper cover] – 5:40
8. “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” [Blue Oyster Cult cover] - 3:59
9. “It’s a Long Way to the Top” [AC/DC cover] - 4:42
10. “Black Sabbath” [Black Sabbath cover] – 5:30
11. “Hallowed by Thy Name” [Iron Maiden cover] – 7:08
Band:
Matt Barlow – Vocals
Larry Tarnowski − Lead guitar
Jon Schaffer − Rhythm guitar, Vocals on “God of Thunder”
James MacDonough − Bass
Richard Christy − Drums
Iced Earth has never been a band I could get into. I own the Days of Purgatory compilation and Horror Show and I wasn’t impressed with either one outside of two or three songs. Barlow’s voice is hard for me to listen to. I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t like his singing. So why did I ever bother picking this one up? Well, I guess since it was a cover album, I knew the songs themselves were already great, and the preview clips didn’t sound too bad.
I waited a few years before picking this one up though, because I was still so turned off by Horror Show. I had money to blow one day though, so I got it. I like it a lot and still find myself listening to it every now and then.
Barlow’s voice still bothers me at times and I don’t think it works for a song like AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” or Blue Oyster Cult’s “Burnin’ for You”, but this is about as solid of a cover album as you can find, in my opinion. Iced Earth stays true to the originals with just a bit of extra heaviness thrown in.
Highlights: “Creatures of the Night”, “God of Thunder”, “Dead Babies”, “It’s A Long Way to the Top”
May 7, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Unfortunately, one of your first impressions of Iced Earth was HORROR SHOW, that album was not that great. I’ve been into Iced Earth since BURNT OFFERINGS (1995) and I think they are great up until HORROR SHOW. You should check out SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1998), it’s a superb album.
I passed on this album because it’s a tribute album and I was going to pick it up as part of the DARK GENESIS box set. I never bought that either but I have almost bought TRIBUTE TO THE GODS because I’ve seen it used at decent prices. Good tracklisting though.
Steve
Heavy Metal Addiction
http://hardrockheavymetal.wordpress.com/
May 8, 2008 at 12:03 am
From a non-Iced Earth fan to an Iced Earth fan– you should check this one out.
May 10, 2008 at 11:39 am
Iced Earth has to be one of the coolest (notice I said “ONE OF THE…”) bands around.