Iced Earth
Horror Show (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff
The cool thing about Iced Earth has, as of late, been the tag-team serious metalness of the long-locked duo locking devil horns up front with your inner headbanger. Yes, make the sign of the hammer for Matt Barlow and Jon Schaffer, a pair of unreal(istic) rock stars (God luv ’em) who can deliver a grand flourish with suburban metalfest panache. Iced Earth’s form of power metal, something they were doing long before it became hip, always sounds like a struggle to get out, like there’s tension, friction. Jon and Matt pour it out for you, like Nevermore, like Virgin Steele, like Manowar, really, more metal than any of those bands because they live in the brown pigpen muck of a derided and chided metal sub-genre, a power metal that’s not pretty.
(1453-A 14th St. #324 Santa Monica, CA 90404)