Review by MartinDavey87 for Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings (1995)

After two strong releases and a firm standing as one of power metal's more prominent bands, 1995 saw Iced Earth unleash their third album, 'Burnt Offerings', which many fans consider a career highlight, thus making it all the more confusing that I just can't seem to get into it.

What makes this album notable is the debut of new vocalist (their third in three albums) Matthew Barlow, a man who would go on to become the voice of Iced Earth for years to come, and while his powerful, operatic vocals would certainly help define the band on later releases, here, they come across as rather uninspired, oftentimes feeling out of place or forced.

One of the biggest problems I have with this album is that there's so many time changes and riff transitions that just seem jarring. Like they're just thrown together with no real effort to make it feel organic. The musicianship itself is of a high quality, with incredibly tight guitar playing and atmospheric keyboards. But while 'Iced Earth' and 'Night of the Stormrider' are both fantastic records that have stood the test of time, 'Burnt Offerings' just feels so disjointed.

If I had to dig out any highlights, 'Last December' is a good song, and the title track has its moments, though it suffers from the aforementioned issues. It does have one hell of an intro though, arguably one of the bands heaviest songs. The rest of the album just doesn't work for me, though. The 15-minute 'Dante's Inferno', which is regarded by fans as one of the bands finest pieces, bores the hell out of me. Seriously... what am I missing???

Iced Earth are one of my favourite power metal bands, and while they've built up a solid discography over the years, countless attempts to get into this album have done nothing but made each listen more laborious. It's a shame, because the high reverence it gets from fans makes me feel like I'm missing out on something. But whatever that something is, I'm not hearing it.