Iced Earth have long been brushed under the red carpet my the metal media, not for reasons unknown but more likely becouse Iced Earth came on to the scene and were perceived to be copy-cat idols playing out of date unfashionable 80's style thrash, which of course is absolute nonsense! however though in the end great music is great music, and i can say with a solid certainty that "Burnt Offerings" is definately worth your time and money.
This and the spellbinding "Something wicked this way comes" are in my opinion the two best albums from this great florida band, in Burnt Offerings you'll find a 9set strong of diverse and competant metal songs, excellent metal riffs are all over the place, intertwined also with rapid guitar shredding especially the excellent "Burning Oasis" and "Late December"
Now i no this might seem like a skull crushing affair, but actually even though it's undeniably heavy, it's very melodic and tuneful, solos are in galore and a blinder in "creator failiure" should be enough to convince the doubtful listener that this is certainly not simple craftmanship! At the end we are treated to the beautiful "Dante's Inferno" a 16 minute epic very leaningful to the progressive side of things and cut this out with expert precision.
The musical landscapes that are explored in "Burnt Offerings" are done to such a high standard and so convincingly that i simply can't do this album an ounce less justice and award less than 5stars.
As you can tell i love this album and would highly recommend it to the informed and open minded metal fan, any Iced Earth fans who don't own this should put this on their list next...
However in this Limited Edition do not be deceived by the extra disc inside it's only a rough mix of the standard album and contain nothing extra like for example say (Videos, B-sides or Bonus tracks) If your looking for true quality metal taking a little of the flavour of the true greats like Maiden, Sabbath and Metallica you can't be without this.
One of the best metal albums of the 90's, and quite underated in my opinion!...