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Rating:
The Iced Earth.
It would be very difficult, indeed, I believe impossible to assign a well-defined genre to this band, capable of merging Heavy, Thrash, and Power metal, creating a very pleasant style all their own.
Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates Schaffer's band, which, however, in fifteen years of activity has managed to produce great works like "The Dark Saga", the monumental triple live CD "Alive in Athens", but above all, the splendid "Something Wicked This Way Comes".
I would like to introduce you specifically to this last one, released in 1998 and recorded by a band that, besides the absolute leader John Schaffer and the now fixed point Mattew Barlow, included the new entry James McDonough.
We are facing an album that pleasantly alternates between sustained songs and poignant ballads, culminating in the splendid final trilogy, which gives the album its name.
The festivities open with "Burning Times", a song about the Spanish Inquisition which, thanks to its strong riffs, presents itself as an excellent opener and gives way to the next "Melancholy (Holy Martyr)", the first ballad of the record, considered by many as one of the band's masterpieces due to its melancholy, also created by the lyrics talking about the last hours of suffering experienced by Jesus Christ... There's not even time to recover as "Disciples Of The Lie" is ready to transport us back to the circle of aggression, only to return to the sadness of the splendid "Watching Over Me", written by Schaffer in memory of a friend of his who died in a car accident and which I believe presents itself as the best song on this work.
With the fifth song, "Stand Alone", the grit of Iced Earth returns (although briefly), but as usual, the moment of the ballad arrives with "Consequences", capable of calming you with its poignant melodies and a Barlow who delivers an extraordinary performance, leading to the aggressiveness of "My Own Saviour", probably the most violent piece on the album that continues the alternation of calm and more sustained songs with the good "Reaping Stone", the sensational instrumental "1776", and then "Blessed Are You", characterized by a slow start, only to explode into the usual distorted choruses...
Once again, the conclusion of the album is given to a trilogy, starting with the alternation of melodic parts and distorted parts of "Prophecy", quickly followed by "Birth Of The Wicked", and ending with the ten minutes of "The Coming Curse", with which this grand album concludes...
Probably this "Something Wicked This Way Comes", at least in my opinion, can be considered the peak of Iced Earth's career, also due to the extraordinary form of its members where we find an incredibly inspired John Schaffer and a Barlow who, with his voice, offers truly sensational performances that have ensured this album was classified among the classics of metal, even if many do not consider it as such.
In conclusion, a great work, recommended to all those who want to approach new styles far from the usual patterns or who perhaps want to discover this great band...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Burning Times (03:43)
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
02 Melancholy (Holy Martyr) (04:47)
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
03 Disciples of the Lie (04:03)
You abuse and you victimize
But you're dignified, so you justify
It's in your eyes where deception lies
So you criticize with cruel eyes
Father in black, black as sin
Pure hypocrisy to no end
Condemnning me and my fellow man
I live my life among the damned
Chorus:
I've gotta do as you say, not as you do
You're a man of the cloth, I'm comin' for you
You say you can save me, cleanse me of my sin
A holy predator, the wolf in sheepskin
Disciples of the lie
Breeding fear in your twisted smile
Pedophile, in denial
I taste revenge when I think of you
A life of hell you put me through
When I find you I'll take you out
No remorse, you're going down
You see satisfaction in my eyes
I vindicate, now you die
I've gotta do as you say, not as you do
You're a man of the cloth, I'm comin' for you
You say you can save me, cleanse me of my sin
A holy predator, the wolf in sheepskin
Disciples of the lie
The blackness inside overwhelms me
The pain engulfs and turns to rage in me
Trapped so deep in my mental hell
Release the demons, set me free
I've gotta do as you say, not as you do
You're a man of the cloth, I'm comin' for you
You say you can save me, cleanse me of my sin
A holy predator, the wolf in sheepskin
04 Watching Over Me (04:28)
I had a friend many years ago
One tragic night he died
The saddest time of my life
For weeks and weeks I cried
Through the anger and through the tears
I've felt his spirit through the years
I'd swear, He's watching me
Guiding me through hard times
(chorus)
I feel it once again
It's overwhelming me
His spirit's like the wind
The angel guarding me
Oh, I know, oh, I know
He's watching over me
Oh, I know, oh, I know
He's watching over me
We shared dreams like all best friends
Blood brothers at the age of ten
We lived reckless, he paid the price
But why? Why did he have to die?
It still hurts me to this day
Am I selfish for feeling this way?
I know he's an angel now
Together we'll be someday
I feel it once again
It's overwhelming me
His spirit's like the wind
The angel guarding me
Oh, I know, oh, I know
He's watching over me
Oh, I know, oh, I know
He's watching over me
06 Consequences (05:37)
As human beings, we're a complex thing
Sometimes so beautiful, other times so vain
We've built an empire, the blood is on our hands
Genocide and the chains that bind
The consequence ahead
Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know
Wrote about in history as if it's all O.K.
A race of people murdered another one enslaved
Now our world crumbles, it's happening within
Open your eyes and realize
The world we're living in
Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know
If we could focus on important things
Live and let live - True freedom, not everyone's the same
No more war for your god, no more war for your race
It's our world, it's what we make it
Make it a better place
Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know
We can change the world that we're living in
Live and let live true freedom
Let the reign begin
07 My Own Savior (03:39)
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
10 Blessed Are You (05:05)
Pure ambition burns in me
It's a beast, never to be tamed
And the only peace I can find
Is when I'm here with you
You are the ones that keep me high
You are the ones for which I'll die
Forever we will be
Standing tall, side by side
We're the children of the night
Chorus:
Blessed are you
Blessed am I
Children of the night
So this song is for all of you
By my side, through and through
We'll roam that world true and free
Feeding you the inner beast
You are the ones that keep me high
You are the ones for which I'll die
Forever we will be
Standing tall, side by side
We're children of the night
Blessed are you
Blessed am I
Children of the night
The storm we ride
Side by side
You keep me high
For you I'll die
Through the storm we ride
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