Horror Show is an album based on creatures
from movies such as The Phantom of the Opera, The Omen, Dracula, and so on.
To tell a little bit about the songs in general, I will elaborate on each one individually. The first song, "Wolf"
starts out with kind of an Egyptian sound to it. Then suddenly an overlapping of Matt Barlow come in as
the heaviness that Iced Earth fans love breaks the Egyptian theme. The song continues through with the
fast heaviness that it started out with. Truely a hard hitter for the first song!!! Beautiful!!!
On to the second song, "Damien"-this one is my favorite song on the c.d. tied up with "The Phantom of the Opera Ghost,"
starts out with some chanting as well as a neat sounding bass line in the background which precedes a short
acoustic guitar peice until finally exploding into another heavy peice. I love how Matt Barlow and Jon Schaffer use
vocal harmonies in this song, it sounds awesome together. Also, the harmonics on the guitar fit perfectly
into the song. Another excellent song written by Jon.
As for the third song, Jack, it starts out with a very fast beat until it goes into a rythmic beat and then Matt's voice comes in Delayed making a sudden entry. Many rythmic parts throughout this song. This song sounds something like a song that belongs on "Something Wicked This Way Comes." The main chorus then comes in with harmonized vocals that sound simply great together. And on to an acoustic part that's very slow-another thing Iced Earth is known for. Suddenly as in the begining of the song, the heavy sound comes right back. I love the chorus line.
The next song, "Ghost of Freedom" is a rather slow song written for the peopel who died in war. It's an acoustic song and very well written for one. It's definantly not my favorite song on this c.d., but it is still very good. Not much I can say for this song.
Im-Ho-Tep (Pharoah's Curse) is the next song. Well written with a very catchy beat. I like how they start out the song with the Egyptian feel, perfect for the theme. That's where the catchy beat comes in. I also like the phase effect that they use for the guitar, very well sounding-it's hard to write a song with this effect that sounds good. Very few bands use it. The solo comes in outta nowhere in this song-I think it coulda enterd a little better, but still sounds good. It's als a short solo, but that's ok. And near the end-the egyptian sound comes right back in with a better entry than the solo. Still a great song.
The next song starts out slow with an acoustic sound. This song would be Jeckyl and Hyde. Again they go at it with the double vocals harmonizing themselves. Then comes in the heavy feel again. I like the drum beat that comes in halfway through the song before the solo, it is louder than the acoustic guitar part and sticks out very well. Great recording there.
Dragon's Child- a great song with a great bass beat. I like the way it kinda steps up throughout the riffs.It's repetitive yet very catchy so the repetitiveness doesn't get annoying, it actually stays very enjoyable. This song also has a good guitar solo.
Next comes the song Frankenstein. It starts out with a highly distorted begining. The vocals are sung like normal but there are also some spoken vocals trhat fit in very well. It has a good solo, harmonized by the other guitar in some parts. I also like the way the song ends. Sudden but well constructed.
The song Dracula is another slow song, the first thing I thought when I heard the guitar intro. to it was that it sounds like Metallica's "Mama Said." It kinda has a Pink Floyd sound in my opinion. the way the bass is written and the acoustic sound to it. This is a very good song and a good choice for the band to use as a promotional song. Then again, suddenly-the heavy part comes in, but the acoustic part keeps going in the background for a few seconds. Then comes the fast triplets that Jon likes to use in his songs. The guitar solo sounds kinda familiar to me as well, but I can't put a finger on from where.
Now for my other favorite song on this c.d. beside Damien, Phantom of the Opera Ghost. It starts out with an acoustic peice and then goes into a heavy peice with a ballad between Jon and Yunhui Percifield. The gutiar parts switch between acoustic and distorted many times throughout this song, but are constructed very well. The lyrics are excellent too. I love the solos in this song and the part that comes up where they sing and answer to each other is great. Right after that the gutiar switches suddenly to one of those acoustic parts, but faster than all of the other ones. Then comes the longer of all ofthe solos and then back to the ballad. The intensity increases on this part as the emotions change following the old movie perfectly. They portray their parts excellently in this song. Probably the best written, constructed, and produced songs on this c.d. And finally the end comes-too soon though. As Jon says in the interveiw-he was not finished with this song but ran out of time in the recording studio. Such a shame for a great song-I hope to see him finish this song one day-it deserves it.
