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Iced Earth > Tribute to the Gods > Reviews
Iced Earth - Tribute to the Gods

Mild Tribute - 52%

MEGANICK89, February 2nd, 2012

Cover albums can be successes that pay respect to a band’s influence or be a mildly amusing affair that have faithful renditions of songs, but nothing more. Take Overkill’s “Coverkill” for example. The thrashers took their style of music and integrated it into some classic tracks and it made for a fun listen. With Iced Earth, their mix of power and thrash metal could translate well with some songs, especially with superb vocalist Matt Barlow in tow. Seeing Jon Schaffer dip into the well of his influences and some of his favorite bands is very intriguing, but we are left with something more fit for a jester, rather than the gods.

There is nothing offensively bad on here, it’s just there is nothing interesting added or spiced up to make the songs “feel” like Iced Earth. I suppose that makes sense for the Iron Maiden covers because Schaffer’s vision was derived much from them. “The Number of the Beast” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name” are a couple of the most iconic songs not just for Maiden, but for heavy metal. One or two listens are nice, but in the end they are not even close to being superior to Bruce Dickinson’s wailing vocals and the dual guitar treat of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. It also doesn’t help that Richard Christy’s mantic drumming has been reduced to keeping the beat and nothing more.

However, I was expecting some interesting developments in the AC/DC tunes and the Blue Oyster Cult tracks. The AC/DC songs totally miss the mark and it is odd hearing Iced Earth doing straight-up, hard rock songs. The BOC ones are more forgiving and I like the delicate vocal performance by Barlow and the nice guitar solo laid down by Larry Tarnowski. The thick guitar tone on “Cities on Flame” brings an extra edge to the chorus and provides an enjoyable listen.

The best cover is the Alice Cooper song “Dead Babies.” The creepy atmosphere is captured perfectly and the brooding bass by James MacDonough is capable of making the hair stand on the back of your neck. Driving guitars and Barlow’s range are spot on and is worthy of a five-star stamp. Schaffer dons the head microphone for “God of Thunder.” The KISS classic is made into the metal song it always wanted to be. Schaffer’s raspy vocals work well and the main riff slaughters just as it’s supposed to. This version is a little bit scarier than the original.

The metal forefathers make an appearance in the presence of the songs that bears their namesake “Black Sabbath.” The song “Black Sabbath” is known for its creepy atmospheres and shivering tones. Unfortunately, Iced Earth fails to replicate what the song goes for and simply does not do justice to the original. However, I do enjoy the amped up guitar kick at the climax of the song.

In the end, these covers are a disappointment. With a couple exceptions, they did not add to the songs that came before them. Instead of making these songs “theirs”, they simply did faithful versions. I wished they went outside the box and experimented more with their interpretations of some metal classics. With that said, the KISS covers and the Alice Cooper cover are exceptional and definitely worth listens. If the covers were as good as these, then Schaffer and co. could take their place next to the gods, but unfortunately they will have stick to being mere mortals.

nicksmetal.blogspot.com

No one really needs to owns this - 50%

linkavitch, September 19th, 2009

Ah yes the cover album, when a band has absolutely nothing better to do they resort to making one of these albums. Most of them suck or are just ok at best. If you want to look at one that’s unlistenable then look at Graveyard Classics. But unlike that shit, the songs on Tribute to the Gods are actually listenable. All the songs have a more modern production with some deeper bass parts; Iced Earth didn’t really mess around adding extra solos and changing the songs a lot, which is a good thing. The songs all sound like the originals except for the vocals; if you have heard the original versions of these songs then you will know immediately that that’s the song being covered.

Here’s the problem with cover albums though, none of the covers are really worth hearing more than once or twice before they are disposable. Cover songs are never great or outstanding, when was you last time you heard a cover song that was better than the original version? They never are. Like on Tribute to the Gods they are either ok or they are just completely horrible. Most of them are listenable, except a few maybe, “Highway to Hell” sounds kind of awkward with the re-mastered production job, “Black Sabbath” is the worst song on here, it just sounds really dull and uninspired maybe because of the production, and for “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, well its better than the Cradle of Filth version that’s for sure.

Well take out the “Black Sabbath” cover and all the songs on here are listenable, but they all lose their appeal after the first few listens. If I wanted to listen to an AC/DC song I would just listen to an AC/DC album where I would get more than just two re-mastered covers of some of their songs. This is just a pointless album that doesn’t really need to exist. There’s nothing really wrong with it other than maybe the re-mastered production sounds kind of weird on a few songs. But at the same time it is one of the better cover albums out there. I mean when was the last time you listened to Graveyard Classics and thought you yourself “Wow this is awesome!” And if you did then chances are that you were dropped on your head as a baby.

Iced Earth deserves a tribute someday - 91%

The_Boss, November 20th, 2007

Jon Schaffer is a good man at heart, while he may seem like a dictator or a jackass to some he really has metal at the number one spot and means best for it. With this tribute album Tribute To The Gods, he has chosen several songs, not necessarily all the choices I'd have for a 'gods' album related to metal/hard rock but for the most part they're decent choices.

Now when I say this, there certainly are great choices, like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest but also some choices that I wouldn't consider to be that high up on god status but I understand they were gods in his own eye and very influential to him, like KISS and Blue Oyster Cult or AC/DC; all bands which I respect for their input into the music world. While some choices seemed to be iffy, I honor Master Schaffer's commitment to his personal idols.

Other than the killer album artwork, other highlights are Matt Barlow's beautiful voice that plays its part by incorporating his own style into the main vocal part which results in an awesome input. While he's my favorite vocalist of all time, he doesn't fit some of the songs like the originals do such as in AC/DC or on the infamous Black Sabbath title song. But don't get me wrong, Barlow excels at voice adaptibility by flowing and ranging all over the place, but he doesn't exactly capture that creepiness that Ozzy had. But that's also the thing with Tribute To The Gods, Master Schaffer and crew aren't trying to replicate an exact carbon copy of the songs, they are putting the traditional Iced Earth signature with their crunchy riffage and haunting dark power metal sound which dominates the mood of the album. This works brilliantly, I often get bored with bands just playing an exact same version of a song - it works best when the band makes it their own.

Each song on here is certainly enjoyable, but some more than others. Noticably Number of the Beast and The Ripper I think where Barlow definitly does Dickinson and Halford proud. Excellent choices with those Master Schaffer. Other songs I am fond of which I enjoyed listening to and now being able to headbang along with, Burnin' For You by Blue Oyster Cult and Creatures of the Night by KISS. Richard Christy, who I've always thought to be Iced Earth's best drummer, slams his way to glory on the latter song doing a great job, better than Peter Criss for sure. Larry Tarnowski, second best guitarist behind Randall Shawver carves his way into a spot of greatness doing a nice job soloing in songs like Hallowed Be Thy Name and The Ripper.

Iced Earth certainly have their own unique style by pulling this together, taking a big chance and I think they've succeeded in my eyes. They've put together songs, not necessarily the best choices I think but they do what they want and do it fucking well. These covers are very enjoyable, fans of Iced Earth will definitly enjoy this even if you aren't fans of the originals, and I think if you aren't a fan of Iced Earth but the originals you can appreciate the dedication.

An Unqualified Release - 45%

DawnoftheShred, November 1st, 2006

I'm a big fan of Iced Earth, but I'm a bigger fan of the artists and songs they chose to cover on this album(excepting Kiss). That being said, Iced Earth should not have put this one out there. Sure, it's cool to hear Iced Earth's renditions of some classic songs, but they just aren't qualified to play them, as this recording shows. Now don't get me wrong, Iced Earth can play. Every track on this album is competently covered. All the notes are right, the originals are recognizable, and Iced Earth puts a little bit of their style into the recordings. Based on music alone, the album is probably a 70. I've given it a 45 not because of what the album does right, but what it fails to do, and what it fails to do is capture any spirit of the original songs. Iced Earth has managed to suck all the life out of these songs and present them as nothing more than semblances of their former selves. The songs are recognizable, but there's no energy, no inspiration, no creativity. It's sometimes hard to capture the spirit of the original, especially if the song's a classic, but it's a requirement if you plan on making an album of it.

The songs here can be sorted into 3 categories. Songs that have some sense of the original recording, songs that are hollow and boring representations of the originals, and songs that are shameless atrocities compared to the originals. The majority fall into the second category: hollow and boring. This includes the AC/DC covers, the Kiss covers, and the Iron Maiden covers. The songs sound okay modernized, but are absolutely uninteresting to listen to. Two songs managed to slip into that first category. "Screaming for Vengeance" actually appears to be a decent cover track and "Burnin' for You" is pretty hard to ruin. These do little to save the album though. The primary loss of points here, besides the mediocre efforts on the other tracks and the fact that they actually included Kiss covers (Kiss sucks serious shit), is the song that falls into the last category. Iced Earth's rendition of "Black Sabbath" is horribly devoid of any of its original qualities. Gone is the sinister air of impending doom throughout, gone is the haunting guitar tone, replaced by overproduced, under-inspired mockery. It's no doubt that the original is better, but I'd even go so far as to argue that the original is heavier. This track alone ruins the album above all else. If Iced Earth wanted to create a tribute to these metal gods, they should have just released a mix tape. There's no reason to own this unless you purchased Dark Genesis and even then, it's probably not worth keeping. Don't pull this shit again, Iced Earth.

Garage Days......More Covers.... - 71%

metalfukinhead, February 5th, 2003

Iced Earth is just one of those bands that it's damn near impossible to get enough of. But with a change of pace they decide to release a cd composed of covers of some of the most important groups in hard rock/metal's history. Some of the songs covered on here are questionable, but that's all up to Jon and the boys to decide, because this is their cd, and this is what influenced them the most.

Creatures of the Night (Kiss) is the opener, and not really all that good a song in the first place, God of Thunder is much a better Kiss cover, even though Kiss really did some shitty songs. They do a decently heavy version of it though. Number of the Beast is right up their alley, being Maiden babies themselves, especially the singing, considering Matt Barlow is much like Dickinson himself. Hallowed be Thy Name is yet another song they do almost too much like the original. Highway to Hell is an awesome cover, it's so much cleaner than the original, and 100 times heavier, as well as It's A Long Way To The Top. Burnin' For You and Cities On Flames are good covers, but not all that impressive, aside the fact you can't really hear BOC at all in Iced Earth's music. Screaming For Vengeance was a mistake, Judas Priest is not something they can do well, really lame indeed. Dead Babies falls in that category as well, too boring. Black Sabbath was a decent cover, but I feel Electric Funeral was much better, though it was inexplicably absent from this disc. Also absent was Shooting Star, another brilliant Iced Earth cover that should have made it, but for some reason didn't.

Yeah, the cd is cool, and it's fun to listen to simply because you don't get to hear bands cover that many songs anywhere (except Metallica). It's not something that anyone needs or could possibly listen to thousands of times, but when it comes down to it, it entertains like I believe was intended. Until the next IE album, this'll have to do...