Iced Earth – Horror Show

If we have in mind that I consider ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ as one of the finest moments in nineties´ metal, it is easy to understand why, for me, ‘Horror Show’ was a little bit of a let-down.
Released in 2001, I´d say it saw Iced Earth at its prime and best moment, after the jackpot of the above mentioned magnificent studio album, the release of the behemoth of a live album that was ‘Alive In Athens’, the release of the first album of Demons & Wizards, and the tour ing Blind Guardian.
Therefore, big things were expected from Jon Schaffer & Co.
And there are really GREAT songs in ‘Horror Show’, though the overall feeling is of non- consistency.
The album was somehow a conceptual one, not because of having a central story unfolding along its songs, but rather because all songs were inspired/ themed in classic horror stories or movies.
‘Wolf’ opened the album in grand fashion, at full speed and aggression that, even sometimes feels a little too linear, leaves you with a grin in your face after such a blast of energy.
Then, one of the best songs out of the album, and out of the band´s catalogue, ‘Damien’, kicks in with a sick bass line and a spine chilling choir, building tension to tell us the tale of the antichrist, through one of the most smartly structured songs ever written by Schaffer, with an amazing sense of theatricality, as it will also happen with the other two truly great songs of the album: ‘The Ghost Of The Opera’ and, mostly, this absolutely amazing ‘Dracula’, based in the great movie by Francis Ford Coppola about the myth of the Transylvanian vampire.
The power, grief and hate that Matt Barlow puts in his performance in this last one is just from another dimension, truly becoming the character he is portraying, and I seldom have come across a singer that puts a percentage of his guts in his or her performance as Barlow does here.
Absolutely amazing and one of these songs that make you scream “HEAVY FUCKIN’ METAL!”
The rest of the songs are far from being bad songs or even average, but it´s true that I don´t feel them to match the level of the above mentioned songs that, as the band´s two previous albums, settled the bar really high.
As such, songs like ‘Jack’, ‘Jeckyll & Hyde’, ‘Frankenstein’ or ‘Im- Ho- Tep’ are powerful but I don´t feel they take you anywhere in particular as the aforementioned ones, though the later one has a really cool Egyptian vibe and powerful drumming at its first section. ‘Ghost Of Freedom’, though beautifully crafted and performed, and skilfully driven through its crescendo, doesn´t move me as other Iced Earth´s more emotively charged songs as, say, ‘A Question Of Heaven’.
Overall, an album that has some absolutely great songs, among the absolutely best from the band, but also has some less inspired songs that drag the total effect, being also the last Iced Earth album I really enjoyed, and the last one before Matt Barlow left the band in order to become a policeman.
But that´s another story.