ICED EARTH – Tribute To The Gods

I don’t feel like giving points to this release, as it is, like you guessed from the title, simply a tribute to a few bands that have inspired Jon Schaffer and Iced Earth throughout the years. Some are represented with one song, but others are more likely so important that two tracks are recorded; Kiss, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Blue Oyster Cult.

Now “Creatures Of The Night” with Kiss, which is the first one out, is simply brilliant. Matt Barlow’s voice is incredibly similar to Paul Stanley’s, as first proven on Iced Earth’s “Blessed Are You” from Something Wicked This Way Comes. I have never heard anyone come that close to Stanley, not even any of the cover bands have managed to dig out a guy that that similar. Remember that the Starchild reported earlier this year that Kiss is bigger than life and bigger than any of its members, and that Kiss could carry on without any of its originals. Well Matt, a see a huge paycheck down the road there for ya…

Next up is Iron Maiden’s most trademark song, “The Number Of The Beast”. It’s a bit weird to hear this one without the spoken intro, but it works, and so does the Iced Earth version of the song. Without trying to do anything special with the material Iced Earth have chosen, Jon’s sharper-than-a-razor riffs and Matt’s voice make them all sound like Iced Earth, still the numbers are very true to the original versions. What am I trying to say? Hm, simply that Iced Earth have a strong identity as a band, and can cover songs their own way and be true to the original and put that identity on them at the same time. That’s a compliment, isn’t it?

AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” next, and this one is not as impressive as the first two. Maybe the Rock ’n Roll aspect doesn’t fit that identity of Iced Earth I just described. Then there’s a Blue Oyster Cult song, “Burnin’ For You”, and frankly, that’s a band I never heard much of. They have their die hard fans, I am aware of that, but I was never let in on the secret.

Back to Kiss, this time another Paul Stanley composition, though originally sung be Gene $immons. Kiss fans know instantly, it’s “God Of Thunder”. I think Jon Schaffer must be the singer here, and it sounds cool as hell. Judas Priest’s “Screaming For Vengeance” is all right, but doesn’t stand out. Again, fast riffs and vocals that are high pitched, I like it.

The master of horror is represented with the greatest song the band could pick from his catalogue; “Dead Babies”. Although this a slow number, the whole atmosphere fits Iced Earth superbly.

Without going into details about every song, I’ll leave you here. The rest you’ll have to figure out yourself. I didn’t like this disc very much to start with, but after a few spins I dig and respect it. Maybe you just have to be in Iced Earth mode to hear it? Maybe it’s that strong identity I tried to tell you about? Whatever… If you have the box-set released earlier this year, stay away, if not, you might as well stay away from that box and buy this – unless you are a useless collector, like me…