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”
http://www.icedearth.com
http://www.myspace.com/icedearth
Posted on May 6, 2008, in Collection, Iced Earth and tagged AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, Music, Power Metal, Rock, Rock 'N' Roll, Tribute. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
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/
From a non-Iced Earth fan to an Iced Earth fan– you should check this one out.
Iced Earth has to be one of the coolest (notice I said “ONE OF THE…”) bands around.
My friend recently made my a CD-R copy of this album.
Great songs! The original versions are better, I think…but this album is still fun.