Burnt Offerings

Jon Schaffer hates Burnt Offerings. I have no idea where this hate stems from, since BO is a grade A record and some of IE's best stuff. Somewhere between the crazed riffage of Stormrider and Dark Saga's innate accessibility, Burnt Offerings carries a dour vibe, and contains Schaffer's heaviest material.

An excorcist style piano intro segues into the title track, a flawless display of songwriting and talent. Somehow Jon picked a perfect lineup... no name drummer whose name i do not know rips his fuckin kit apart, and the double bass is dead on. Matt Barlow was new to IE at the time and gives an inspired performance that pales in comparison to later albums. Still, a spotty Matt Barlow is better than 90% of vocalists, and he scores major points for cool falsetto usage on Burning Oasis.

As mentioned earlier, there are mad fucking riffs everywhere. Brainwashed, Creator Failure and Schaffer's magnum opus Dante's Inferno, are non stop feasts for the headbanger's ears. Iced Earth is spelled M-E-T-A-L, dude. Fortunately, Burnt Offerings was before they learned what a ballad was, and there are no vagina-fests. Last December starts off that way but quickly turns thrash, and ends up one of their finest moments.

Dante's Inferno however IS their finest moment... 16 minutes of relentess metallic furor without a fucking second of filler. Instead of a long winded intro, they spend only a minute getting you ready, then bash your fucking skull in. There are 3 such quiet to brutal moments, each of which tops the other. Come on man, if you don't like this you have no business on this site. www.vengaboys.com should suit you well

My only complaint is that Creator Failure is a little not memorable. Asides from that a rockin CD from a rockin band. Possibly my 3rd highest ranked Iced Earth album.