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Rating: Surely, when it comes to live-recorded CDs, it is quite difficult to find one that even comes close to perfection. Difficult but not impossible, as we have been accustomed to encountering the cornerstones of metal such as "Live After Death," "Live Shit," and "Decade Of Aggression." However, I would like to add another live masterpiece to this list, namely "Alive In Athens" by the great Iced Earth, a very unique band that has managed to unite Thrash, Heavy, and Power into one, giving great satisfaction to the Metal scene. I do not want to go on for too long, so I will make one thing clear right away: this live is truly a blast!!! Perfect from every point of view, where the songs (taken from all the band’s works without underestimating any album) are played so well that the live seems like a fake studio recording, given also the excellent mixing by Jim Morris, who couldn’t have done any better. Another point of strength is the exceptional line-up, which, besides the leader John Schaffer on rhythm guitar and the incredible Matthew Barlow on vocals, included Larry Tarnowski on lead guitar, James McDonough on bass, Brent Smedley on drums, and Rick Risemberg on keyboards, capable of bringing to life three truly unforgettable hours of live performance.
The first CD opens with the screams of the Athenian fans who can’t contain themselves and are impatiently waiting for the concert to start, when at last the band takes the stage with "Burning Times", the opener from the latest album "Something Wicked This Way Comes", which indeed presents itself well as an opening song thanks to its monumental riffs, making way for "Vengeance Is Mine" from the other masterpiece "The Dark Saga", very compelling like the following "Pure Evil", taken from "Night Of The Stormrider".
It seems the head-banging period is not yet over, as "My Own Saviour" still keeps the fans on their toes, but it’s only for almost four minutes since finally comes the sensational "Melancholy (Holy Martyr)", a ballad where the audience sings along with Barlow...Unmissable! Unmissable like the next song, in fact, from "Burnt Offerings" comes the great "Dante's Inferno", massive in all its 16 and a half minutes, played really very well. "The Hunter" and the sensational "Travel in Stygian" increase the number of monumental songs on the first disc, which closes very well with "Slave to The Dark" and "A Question Of Heaven"...
Unfortunately, the first CD has concluded, but we still have two more to explore for a total of another two hours that surely will not disappoint our demanding expectations. "Dark Saga" opens the second disc, a very nice song that serves as a prelude to the powerful "Last Laugh" and "Last December" but which are overshadowed by the next song, that poignant ballad-masterpiece that is "Watching Over Me", written by Schaffer for a dear friend who died in a car accident... Our boys perform it excellently, so much that the Athenian audience sings the whole song at the top of their lungs with Barlow... Once this splendid interlude is closed, our friends return to playing hard with three tracks from "Night Of The Stormrider", namely "Angels Holocaust", "Stormrider", and "Path I Choose" which keep the level of the live performance high.
We now return to calm with "I Died For You", which does nothing but pass the baton to the monumental "Something Wicked Trilogy", formed by the trio "Prophecy"-"Birth Of The Wicked"-"The Coming Course", which however leaves the honor of closing the disc to "Iced Earth", somewhat the band's anthem, which is the only one presented a bit differently from the studio version, but still turns out to be very beautiful.
We continue with our review by describing the last CD, opened with the powerful "Stand Alone" which makes way for the downpour of sixteenth notes in "Cast In Stone" and then another heavyweight like "Desert Rain", true gems. We could probably say that the last disc presents itself as the most violent of the three, since we subsequently find other uncontrollable songs like "Brainwashed", the great "Disciples Of The Lie", "When The Night Falls", and "Diary", which only serve to confirm the good technical skills of Iced Earth.
Finally, with "Blessed Are You" the waters are calmed again, although the closing of the CD and the live performance is entrusted to another rocky song which is "Violate", a great song to end a splendid concert and, as the cherry on top, at the end of the song our guys offer as an outro the first riff of "The Trooper" (do I need to say whose it is?)...
Unfortunately, the live performance has ended, and I must admit that after its 180 minutes of duration, it is always tough to return to real life, knowing you are lying on a bed instead of being among the crowd of mad fans near the Athenian stage, moshing under the notes of a great band! Finally, I repeat my convictions: in my opinion, this is one of the best metal live performances of all time, capable of competing with many more well-known ones and maybe emerging victorious, but these are personal opinions. Three hours of intense, compelling, and captivating music that have brought Iced Earth to the Olympus of metal...
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Burning Times (04:07)
Yesterday is gone forever
No turning back the clock
In the end, all is sinful
No need to bear the pain
The end, is coming soon
You can't hold out forever
Repent your sins to me
Before you pass this world
In this time I am law
I know you've been betrayed
From man's word, I'm given life
Through loss, I only gain
For you, I feel no sympathy
No sorrow, no remorse
Confess your sins to me
They'll be taken by force
Chorus:
It doesn't matter what you've done
In my words you are a sinner
For every word you say to me
In every way, you are a sinner
Question me not
I am the one that binds this world
You follow without sight
I grow stronger every day
Take the souls I have damned
Burn them in my name
These are the burning times
The years of pain
04 My Own Savior (03:43)
My only comfort is in death
My only solace, my dying breath
For release, I have prayed
Thrown past life, not afraid
Life's a bitch, life's a whore
Nothing less, nothing more
There is nothing she would do for me
I will end this suffering
Chorus:
Existence of one man
Hatred with no end
My madness, my sadness
I am my own savior
The voices are calling
Out of this life, I'm falling
There is one choice, that I see
In raging flames, The Dark One awaits
Existence of one man
Hatred with no end
My madness, my sadness
I am my own savior
05 Melancholy (Holy Martyr) (04:55)
Make the sadness go away
Come back another day
For years I've tried to teach
But their eyes are empty
Empty too I have become
For them I must die
A sad and troubled race
An ungrateful troubled place
Chorus:
I see the sadness in their eyes
Melancholy in their cries
Devoid of all the passion
The human spirit cannot die
Look at the pain around me
This is what I cry for
Look at the pain around me
This is what I'll die for
Make the sadness go away
Come back another day
The things I've said and done
Don't matter to anyone
But still, you push me to see
Something, I can never be
Why am I their shattered king?
I don't mean anything
I see the sadness in their eyes
Melancholy in their cries
Devoid of all the passion
The human spirit cannot die
Look at the pain around me
This is what I cry for
Look at the pain around me
This is what I'll die for
06 Dante's Inferno (16:23)
Through the fiery caverns we sail
Virgil at my side my guide and master
Questing through the nine plains of hell
Infernal wisdom shall fill my soul
Slowly now the days departing
The darkened air releases me
Frightening visions of my journey
Entrance me to limbo I'm not
Free
Abandon all hope who enter here
Enter the gates, Charon awaits
Abandon all hope who enter here
For this is where all things are left behind
Every doubt and every cowardice must die
Souls of rage and anger whipping in despair
The souls that wail on this plain pray for death
Denial is the reason for their suffering
Forever being stung by wasps and demons breath
The blood and tears that fall serve the maggots need
Descention, thrusting to the second plain
Minos judges as his tail twines
Lustful thoughts and greed whip these wretched souls
A hurricane of hate mocks their helpless pleas
Drifting now down deeper, into eternal flames
Awake at the third circle, the cold and filthy rain
Punished for their gluttony, languid for all time
The earth it stinks of corpses, damned for all time
The vicious beast Cerebus, three heads, blooded eyes
Tears his talons through the air, all the sinners cry
Down, be still thy cursed wolf
The master scorns its name
Dive to the next plain
The sullen and the vain
Suffer for their greed
The prodigal they bleed
For all eternity
Plutus holds the key
Damned, the wrathful and the vain
Suffer the fifth plain
Cross the river Styx
Heed your crucifix
The mudded corpses cry
Howling to the sky
Reach the other side
Open wide the gate
Enter the sixth circle of barren land and flames
Passing through the gate of dis the furies scream her name
Belching forth in agony invoking her to rise
The spirit's rage consuming us the evil in their cries
Queen of vipers, queen of serpents
Cast their souls to stone
Spread to wealth of Gorgon's power
Medusa's inner soul
We're drawing ever closer to the seventh hell
They violate their neighbors, their god and themselves
We're sailing slowly through the boiling river of blood
Immersed in the depths below souls scream in agony
The twisted beast he laughs, he draws his arrow back
His sights on anyone exposing of their flesh
He impales their hearts with ease
And shrugs their piercing screams
Pity is they'll never die
They'll suffer here eternally
Imagine a place where every horror comes to life
Where every torture is real and time stands still
Eight fiery steps and we're closer to the end
In a cold and timeless grave buried head first in shit
Praying all the while for a quick & painless death
Scratching furiously at scabbed and oozing wounds
Lucifer ... angel of light
Cast below god of ice
Ruling hell unholy trinity
The traitors freeze for all eternity
Lucifer ... betrayer of god
Tormentor ruthless and cold
Judas' screaming here in agony
The traitors freeze for all eternity
07 The Hunter (04:17)
A force of light an angel
Sent through time to destroy
Avenging the dark ones
Descending angelic force
Heaven sent the hunter
Her mission to crucify
Slay the hellborn
His offspring demonic force
Descending from heaven
The angel sworn to bring him down
The hunter the thunder
The wrath of heavens comin' down
She swore an oath, an allegiance
Armageddon is in sight
To be the thorn in the devils back
To make him weak, the final fight
Descending from heaven
The angel sworn to bring him down
The hunter the thunder
The wrath of heavens comin' down
08 Travel in Stygian (08:54)
Through the flames I watch
As you plead on your knees
The reaper awaits
The ride that you take
Through the lake, lake of flames
Will decide your fate
Was all of it worth eternal pain
The path you chose to live in vain
The river Styx is calling your number
The hot winds of Hell breathe your name
Bridge:
On the night that it came to me
It was like nothing I'd ever seen
A vision darker than death itself
A violent cloud straight from the depths of hell
And that's when I saw my destiny
As it approached I was frozen still
I couldn't move, couldn't scream for help
Out of the darkness it reached for me
And that's when it planted the evil seed
And that's when I saw my destiny
Chorus:
Travel in Stygian
The damned scream my name
Travel in Stygian
I can't repent it's too late
Travel in Stygian
Hot winds blow upon me
Travel in Stygian
No remorse it's too late
Bridge
The henchman awaits you
Yes that's right, step aboard
We have a very long journey
You owe us
You got what you wanted
In your mortal life
Now your soul is in our grasp
It's time
Riding on the hot winds of hell
Traveling down in the ship of pain
I chose this fate no turning back
The river Styx has called for me.
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