ICED EARTH — The Blessed and the Damned (review)

ICED EARTH — The Blessed and the Damned album cover Boxset / Compilation · 2004 · US Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
martindavey87
‘The Blessed and the Damned’ is a 2004 compilation album by American power metal band Iced Earth, and was compiled by their former record label, Century Media, after the band had left to sign with SPV. Consisting of highlights from all the bands albums between 1990 and 2001, including the ‘Alive in Athens’ live album, this is a solid release which still holds up pretty well today, and is a great summary of the bands first eleven years, serving as a great starting point for newcomers.

As is always the case with these types of collections, there’s always going to be a couple of tracks missing and a few I’d have excluded, but none-the-less, all the major hits are here. From the early days with ‘Iced Earth’, ‘Written on the Walls’ and ‘Angels Holocaust’, to later, more polished tracks like ‘Burning Times’, ‘Wolf’, ‘Watching Over Me’ and ‘Burnt Offerings’, there’s a good, varied track list here to please most fans.

In particular, I’m happy the earlier releases were featured here, as the band re-recorded most of their early tracks with third vocalist Matt Barlow on 1997’s ‘Days of Purgatory’, but to be honest, I actually prefer the original versions, so it’s great to see them get some love.

While there’s a good variety of songs, from fast, intense and aggressive to melodic and epic, a lot of the songs do sound pretty similar, and this can be a little tiresome if listened to in one sitting, especially at just over two hours in duration. But regardless, ‘The Blessed and the Damned’ is a good compilation that does the band justice, and is great as a starting point for new fans or as a collectible for old ones.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us