Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Iced Earth > The Dark Saga > Reviews
Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

The Dark Lullaby - 29%

Slam_Grinder, October 20th, 2022

I'm proud enough to admit that my alltime favorite band has failed when they have. And this time it's really a miss for this band.

If you know their last two albums, you are used to some really high quality stuff. Jon Schaffer became famous for writing sophisticated songs, playing these Iron Maiden influenced rhythms and staccato riffs, hiring ambitious and more or less talented singers (I just say John Greely!) and after the s/t album, put also an atmosphere over the whole duration of the album, without losing themselves in pointless overly long songs. In the end, this release shouldn't surprise me as much as it does, since Jon Schaffer has not released a song twice in the history of his band, if you leave out Days of Purgatory, which is a compilation anyway.

So what's the problem here? The first song and title track of this album should make it clear: Iced Earth have tried to write a conceptual album about the spawn saga and wanted to create a bleak and depressive atmosphere. However, they have let go from the technical aspect and ironically haven't managed to create any atmosphere either. The song is kept ridiculously simple and doesn't keep any surprises at all. Well, it's just an opener you might say, and I would have forgiven them. However, they really keep that formula through the whole album.

Let's look at I died for you, the 2nd song. Seriously, I haven't heard any cheesier and cheaper ballads in metal than this. The lyrics are on the level of a 4th grader, and the riffs and melodies are even simplier than on the opener of this album. Shortly: this is pop music level.

Another problem this album has is the addiction to repetitions and fade-outs. Most of these choruses and passages that are repeated aren't even interesting enough to be repeated that much. The song that shows it best is Violate. It might be a great song to be played live (they really nail it there), but the album version is a clear miss. Alot can happen in a 3 minutes long song, and Iced Earth are not Slayer to excite someone with monotony. There isn't even a real guitar solo here! I like the rhythm the angry riff is played, yet this song doesn't sound finished, since they let it fade out on that very moment, where I have expected that the song is about to escalate and will evolve to something really great.

The Hunter is another quite average song, with the typical generic songwriting that usually these local ripoff bands play, but at least the last Laugh is on Burnt Offerings level. It's fast, it's angry, it has a decent solo and even though Matt doesn't use his high screams, he does a good job.

With Depths of Hell we have the fourth and thankfully last bad song on this album, before we get to maybe the best song on this album: Vengeance is Mine! This is one of the first songs I have heard from this band and it just never gets old. It's still kept simple, but other than the songs prior to this one, they have at least written this one properly, with good lyrics and no bad repetitions.

The album concludes with The Suffering Trilogy, consisting of Scarred, Slave to the Dark and A Question of Heaven. While Scarred is even more boring than Depths of Hell, thus usually even skipped live Slave to the Dark is catchier and even a bit brighter than the other songs this album. It's like the melodic counterpart to Vengeance is Mine. The last one of the trilogy is A Question of Heaven, but as majestic as Iced Earth have tried to make this song sound like, they haven't executed this one well. There is no real climax, they repeatedly switch from balladic and melancholic parts to harsher ones. In the middle you hear gregorian and angel choirs and expect something epic afterwards, but that was all this song has to offer. After that you have 2 or 3 minutes, where Barlow sings how bad and sad everything is and howls with the angels, then the fade out and the album is over.

As bad as this album is, it was the first step for Iced Earth to mainstream recognition and wider popularity. Listening to this album doesn't take any effort, you don't need to sit there with any expectations and think there will be anything recognizable any second now. Every song has just one rhythm or one riff from beginning to end and doesn't even dare to bother the listener with anything exciting. It's like looking at blank sheets of paper, one is completely red, the other one is blue, the other white, but on none of these sheets of paper is anything written or painted to not stress your eyes. The best thing about this album is its predecessor and its successor, so do your purse and ears a favor and just leave this one in the store. If you're really interested if the songs, you'll find the best ones on any of their live albums, where they have put a lot more energy in it than in the studio album.

What a dull successor to Burnt Offerings - 40%

Antilith, November 27th, 2017

We got it, Jon Schaffer has a weakness for conceptual storylines throughout his albums. While the debut album wasn't that kind of a work, already The Night of the Stormrider had a storyline and even though Burnt Offerings had not a clear story, the whole album was about sins and evil stuff, leading with Dante's Inferno to the explanation of the place your parents made you afraid of if you haven't been a nice little child.

This time, The Dark Saga was all about the Spawn Saga and Jon Schaffer tried to write an album that should sound from beginning to the end completely homogenously. Meaning, that the first 30 seconds of the intro song will be the only clearly different sounding part for the next 35 minutes, until with A Question of Heaven this album will give you the only song with actual soul in it.

Between these two songs, all you will have is one totally cheesy half-ballad and several tracks of midtempo smashing or slow songs which try to sound threatening but totally lack of any tension or climax. You will listen to this album all through, maybe the chorus of The Hunter, Vengeance is Mine and several parts of Slave to the Dark will remain in your ear and that was it. The rest of this album will just rush by your ear and you will have no idea what happened after you have finished listening to A Question of Heaven.

This album is one of the toughest growers I've ever listened to and I have clearly no clue how a band with a mastermind who used to have lots over lots of ideas for his songs suddenly lacks of any ideas to fill 10 songs with them and make them at least differently so you will be able to differ them from each other. For real, it took me half a year after listening through this album to recognize that there is the song Depths of Hell because this song is so uninteresting that you won't even notice listening to it while listening to the whole album.

Jon Schaffer really ruined this one. I don't even know what he tried to show us with doing an album where the best thing on it is the album cover. It looks really cool, and gives us false hope about what this album contains.

Almost Perfect - 99%

grimdoom, March 1st, 2017

Iced Earth has been doing the same thing for decades. They shouldn't be in the echelons they tread with how lackluster their catalog is. This was their last true hurrah and it's often overlooked and/or shunned. This album is incredible. There are a few things that would knock this album down if the songs weren't so incredibly strong. This album's weakest link is the hilariously shitty vocals of Matt Barlow.

Jon's writing style met its epoch on 'The Dark Saga'. This was as far as he could take it without stagnation (i.e. everything that's come out since). All the fat was cut out, leaving only the juiciest meat and yet this album is hated. Perhaps their fans are all vegans? Regardless this was a nearly perfect album albeit ruined by the idiotic vocal stylings of Barlow.

Why do Iced Earth fans revere Barlow as a god? He really isn't that great of a singer. He had his moments on 'Burnt Offerings' but after he "learned how to sing" properly he became a James Hetfield clone. He ends just about every sentence/vocal phrase with and extra noise, like 'Uh', 'Ah' or 'yeah!'. For example "An empty Soul-AH, shrouded in darkness. Alone and confused, what am I-AH" etc... It was like he was trying to sing the 'Load' way with Iced Earth.

Despite the idiocy of Matt's "vocals", the music really has all you could want, sans guitar solos. The music is minimalist, fast and epic. Tight musicianship with a grandiose attitude akin to Amon Amarth's ability to write epic songs without epic lengths. For a concept album you could do far worse.

The music is excellent typically avoiding most the band's cliches, like the galloping Maiden riff they've been aping since their inception. Primarily palm-muted chugging riffs fill the bulk of this heavily melodic beast. The leads are good, but as aforementioned, there aren't any solos, except for track 9, 'Slave to the Dark' and perhaps the glorified lead on tack 10, 'A Question of Heaven'.

Concept albums are a very hit or miss affair. You have great examples of them by the way of Iron Maiden, Queensryche and Novembers Doom, and laughably bad examples by the way of Dimmu Borgir, Queensryche and Lacuna Coil. Iced Earth managed to dominate in the prior category. Not many (or any?) bands cover comic book material and taking on the face of Image comics was a bold choice. Without getting into detail about the subject matter, as most people will probably have at least heard of Spawn in passing, it's tackled with great care for the source material. Down to the artwork in fact. Why they couldn't just call this 'Spawn' or some iteration of the music's namesake is probably due to some nonsensical legal matter. The fact that these guys played the somewhat esoteric Comic Con with this album is pretty cool. Who else has done that?

Iced Earth really should've hung it up after this album, as everything following it has sucked. Jon you've been writing the same song/album for 29 years. If you couldn't expand on this way of writing/playing more's the pity. This was truly a reinvention of style akin to what My Dying Bride has been doing for years. It's sad it ended here as well. Matt's vocals are what keeps this album from a perfect score. It should fail right out based on his pedestrian vocal fails, but again, the music is just that good.

A bold departure that works - 85%

AtomicMassHysteria87, November 30th, 2016

This album marks a very divisive point in Iced Earth's storied career. It was their first album that adopted the more power metal styling that Iced Earth has become known for and it incorporates more melodic, softer passages that could qualify as ballads. Many fans are/were turned off by this change, while others embraced it. In my opinion, this change is very welcome, and was essential in my discovery and appreciation of the band's music. The band could've put out Burnt Offerings Pt.2, but they took a risk, one that paid off in the end.

First off, the Spawn-inspired lyrics and artwork are great, especially for a Spawn fan like me. The cover art, done by Spawn artist/creator Todd McFarlane, is stellar and sets the mood for the whole record. The music and lyrics can be cheesy and melodramatic, but not only are those qualities synonymous with Iced Earth in general, but they apply to Spawn as well, making for a match made in Heaven.

Secondly, the songs are solid, with great, thrashy guitar work mixed with clean, melodic passages, making for a great combination. Songs like "Violate", "The Last Laugh", and "Vengeance Is Mine" assault you with thrash metal precision, while ballads like "A Question of Heaven" and "I Died for You" give you a nice, softer contrast (that isn't to say that they have no bite of their own). And then you have songs like "Slave to the Dark" and the title track that give you a bit of both. These songs showcase a growth in songwriting and maturity, while still clinging onto that grit and power from earlier efforts.

Now, not everything with this albums comes up smelling like roses. Iced Earth's biggest setback is, and always has been, their tendency to play the same galloping rhythm, making all their songs sound incredibly similar, and this album is no exception, although the twist in the formula is enough to overlook this, if only slightly.

All in all, this is one of Iced Earth's finest and most daring efforts. They took a big risk of alienating their audience with the introduction of slower, more melodic songs, but in the end it worked, and their status as one of metal's biggest cult bands was cemented on this album. It just goes to show that Iced Earth is one of the most stalwart bands in metal, and it wouldn't be if not for their equally hardy fans.

Spawn + metal? YES PLEASE! - 92%

diegothom, August 25th, 2016

What happens when you join one of the most badass comic book characters ever with one of the best metal bands? The Dark Saga is the answer. Iced Earth slowed their music a bit on this album, but you can’t write an album about Spawn when it is always ripping thrash. The music for a character like this must be slow, moody and dark to set the atmosphere for such a gritty story.

The album is not as fast or complex as most of Iced Earth’s albums, but by no means is it of lesser quality. The songs are darker and shorter than previous records, and the lyrics are the best the band has ever done. Matt Barlow is the perfect singer for this album; his voice fitting the tone of all the songs perfectly. And the simpler songwriting is a great change from the previous, more complex album Burnt Offerings. The songs don’t tell a story as a whole, instead, they just tell different parts of Spawn’s story, except the last three songs, which are about when our main character discovers his tragedy is his own fault.

Just so you know, Spawn's tragedy is that he dies but makes a deal with the Devil for him to return to life so he can be with his wife. But the Devil manipulated his words and makes him a sort of demon (pretty metal, right?).

My favorite songs are I Died for You, which has a dark, clean guitar verse, The Suffering trilogy, which have some truly heavy and epic moments, and The Hunter. I still insist the latter should be called The Huntress, since it's about a female angel that comes down to fight Spawn. Its music is still very good and has one of the catchiest choruses of the album. Vengeance Is Mine is another standout track, one which has perhaps Barlow's most "in character" performance in the whole record.

Overall, “The Dark Saga” is a great adaptation of one of the best comic books ever, and certainly better than the movie. Spawn’s story is one filled with tragedy, death and despair, and this album manages to capture those feelings and showcases them in one almost flawless album. Perhaps many will not agree with me, but this is Iced Earth’s finest.

The Dark Saga - 59%

Big_Robot_Monster, April 9th, 2016

When I’m introduced to a band, I like to start at the very beginning of their catalog because I really like to hear how the music progresses and changes and builds off earlier works. So, I was a really big Iced Earth fan until I heard “The Dark Saga.” Iced Earth kind of backtracks a whole lot from its previous three albums here. They each had their problems, but after “Burnt Offerings,” I really thought that IE was building toward something a little (a fucking lot) more than this. TDS pretty much tosses all that early shit right out the window and goes half-speed ahead into the land of 4-minute radio friendly hard rock...and then over does it in the most obnoxious possible way.

I always thought that IE were a little too overwrought for their own good. Oh, Jon Schaffer is definitely an above-average player and songwriter, but he tends to bite off a bit more than he can chew, conceptually, and really shouldn’t be left to his own devices. That tendency was more or less manageable on the first few IE albums, but the addition of Matthew(ah) Barlow(ah)’s overly theatrical vocals got IE to a whole new level of contrived bullshit that hit its most pretentious heights with “The Dark Saga.”

My absolute biggest problem with TDS is its fucking disgusting and sickly sweet songwriting. The songs really aren’t even that bad, technically – they’re just so grossly, incomprehensibly joyless that they’re actually hard to listen to without my gut reaction being “Oh my fucking GOD, shut the fuck UP!” “The Dark Saga,” “I Died for You,” and “A Question of Heaven” are easily the worst offenders. Again - not bad songs, they just suck and are no fun to listen to.

There’s a little more emotional texture here than just “excessively melancholy,” thankfully. “Violator” rocks out with its cock politely in its pants. It’s not really heavy, it just sounds that way because it fucking follows “I Died for You,” which is an exercise in trying to give an entire audience diabetes in four minutes. “The Hunter” is the best song on TDS. If IE were so driven to toss out all the progress made on their previous three albums on TDS, then this song should have set the tone of the album: it’s about halfway between the sappy bullshit and radio-friendly power rock on the rest of the record. If there had been more like “The Hunter,” TDS wouldn’t sound so jagged, confused and searching for meaning beyond “Can we make an album about Spawn sound more pretentious than a college freshman after taking his first philosophy class?”

By the way, this is a concept album. About Spawn: a comic book character so aggressively mid-90s that I physically cringe thinking about it. This is not a concept album that has aged especially well. I’ve bitched in earlier reviews about bands making songs about comic book characters without a sense of humor or irony (self-plug: check out my review of Megadeth’s “Killing Is My Business”). And there is no band – no band on Planet fucking Earth – that has less of a sense of humor or irony than Iced Earth does when both Jon Schaffer and Matthew Barlow are both members. The way this album goes, you would think Schaffer and Barlow came across a Spawn comic, carelessly left in the history section of a bookstore, and actually thought it was an epic historical tale or something.

The takeaway from all this, boys and girls? This is a technically and musically proficient album by a competent band that is absolutely no fucking fun at all and sounds like Iced Earth actually just got pissed off it its fans.

Greater than the sum of its parts. - 78%

ConorFynes, May 27th, 2015

To be honest; the biggest question on my mind right now is whether Iced Earth is a dumb band or not. Their best songwriting (however good) is usually predictable, and their lyrics are hardly the stuff of poetic inspiration. Not to mention the fact that Jon Schaffer's dependence on triplets has become something of a running joke between some friends of mine. Regardless, there is something very compelling about a band that decided to stick close to the guns of traditional, melodic heavy metal at a time when it was the farthest thing from fashion. They confirm so many expectations of the trad-heavy, power and even thrash metal spheres, yet simultaneously cannot easily be pegged down as any one of the three in particular. So it goes for The Dark Saga, an appropriately dark and brooding observation that couldn't have been realized by any band other than Iced Earth. For what it's worth; the fact alone that they can take such familiar ingredients and forge them into something unique and distinctive is ample proof of their strength as a band.

The Dark Saga stands among the better selections in their career, with some of the best songwriting and flow Iced Earth have yet conjured on an album. While a handful of the songs fail to leave a solid impression on their own, The Dark Saga was the first Iced Earth album that sounds like it was written as a start-to-finish experience. Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings were both excellent albums, but with their fourth album it sounds like they were placing an emphasis on the album's structure over individual songcraft.

Although The Dark Saga is still largely composed of single songs (with the exception of the tri-partite suite "The Suffering"), a listener would be doing themselves a disservice by listening to it in parts or out of sequence. It's one of the lamentably rare cases in where an album's structure succeeds enough to compliment every track on the album-- especially the ones that might have sounded middling on their own. The Dark Saga has a distinct sense of overture, rising action, and climax. "Dark Saga" and "I Died For You" are a suspiciously slow start to the album. "I Died For You" in particular sounds moody and introspective to the point of eye-rolling, but in context with the explosive release of "Violate", it is given new weight.

"Violate" injects the album with a thrashy aggression it was otherwise lacking for the first ten minutes. Following it is "The Hunter", arguably the album's best example of strong melodic songwriting. In the context of the album, it serves a relatively mid-paced respite before a string of the album's heaviest offerings. If "Dark Saga" and "I Died For You" signalled a journey into negative feelings, "The Last Laugh", "Depths of Hell" and "Vengeance is Mine" represent their natural conclusion-- a descent in metaphorical or literal hell. "Vengeance is Mine" sounds particularly gruesome, and stands as one of the darkest songs the band ever played.

I've little doubt that Iced Earth's conceptual angle this time around-- using Todd McFarlane's comics series Spawn as inspiration-- has gone a long way towards informing the album's scope. McFarlane also personally contributed the artwork for the album-- even if the concept wasn't originally meant as an album cover, there's no denying its merit as metal art. Although I know little about Spawn in any of its incarnations, the idea of a fallen hero caught in the dark grey area between good and evil is perfectly suited for Iced Earth, who somehow manage to make the most melodic metal sound nonetheless foreboding!

Even if Jon Schaffer's indeed the one running the show here, Matt Barlow's voice always stands out to me as the best part of Iced Earth's classic material. Compared to the oftimes accurate stereotype of the effeminate power metal wailer, Barlow's voice is one of the most versatile in the genre. He can brood in baritone like a regular Peter Steele, or he can belt falsettos that would put Michael Kiske and the rest of Helloween to shame. A lot of the time, the rich effect of his performances come through in the way he's able to blend these approaches in such a way that they sound right together. Iced Earth's lyrical adaptation of the Spawn story can look downright weak on paper, but the depth of his vocals somehow make it work.

Above all, what impresses me most about Iced Earth is their ability to take something as predictable as melodic heavy metal, and turn it into something completely their own. Even if the dark, brooding tone can prove a bit much, and though I don't imagine I'd be impressed with songs like "Violate" and "The Last Laugh" outside of the album's context, there's a greater intelligence on The Dark Saga than I usually give this band credit for. The choral-laden, three-part suite "The Suffering" is a great example of how Iced Earthmake plain their escape of being pigeonholed as 'triplet metal' or whatever other jokes I may have lobbed their way in the past. Iced Earth have stronger albums in their discography, but The Dark Saga is a perfect place to start your journey.

Just like the other Spawn adaptations - 70%

SilenceIsConsent, September 29th, 2012

There are some things that are never meant to be in life. Certain people who should be together never are, Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire just don't play well together on the Knicks, and most remakes of classic horror movies often fall short of the original. As a comic geek, perhaps nowhere is this better demonstrated then every attempt imaginable to adapt Todd Mcfarlane's comic series "Spawn" to some medium outside of pages and panels. Mcfarlane's character and storyline seem sound enough, and the concept of the battle between heaven and hell does have real mass appeal. Yet for some reason, whether it's a feature film, video games, or an animated series, no one has been quite able to adapt Spawn successfully to other forms of media the same way that more well known super-heroes like Spider-Man and Batman have been. So, did Jon Schaeffer and company succeed in making a successful musical adaption of Spawn in their 1996?

My own answer to that question is, just like the other Spawn adaptations, not really. For a variety of reasons, The Dark Saga fails to live up to the grandiose concept that it seeks to convey, providing music that is more mellow then malevolent, more melodic then it is malicious, and that truly hurts this effort. As an Iced Earth album , The Dark Saga is one that I would quickly recommend to any new listener who is curious about checking out the vanguards of American power metal. But for a seasoned fan of the band (and a fan of Spawn), this album simply fails to live up to expectations.

Much of that I think can be befallen on Mr. Schaeffer himself, the man universally recognized in every way to be the guiding force of Iced Earth's music. On The Dark Saga, I feel that Jon really put a premium on atmosphere over heaviness. On track such as the title track, "I Died For You", and "The Hunter", Jon is more then content to simply play background melodies that everyone absolutely must follow. Since Jon is not chugging away and palm muting, the rest of the musicians (sans Matt Barlow) simply go along with the act. Too often, Jon ruins songs that could sound so vicious with tame sounding rhythms. When he does decide to go all out, in tracks such like "Violate", "The Last Laugh", and "Vengeance Is Mine", the results are phenomenal. Those tracks are actually heavy and truly capture the dark, all powerful feel of Spawn, but too often he is just content to go for ambiance over anything remotely heavy.

In the quest for atmosphere, the musical output on The Dark Saga is adequate at best. Mark Prator's rhythms too often just plod along and are often too simplistic, but when the band decides to tap into their own necroplasmic reserve, he create some pounding rhythms on "Violate", "Slave To The Dark", "Vengeance is Mine" and, "The Last Laugh". Bassist Dave Abell plays nothing really worth mentioning on this album, and cannot be heard on his own is a small moment on the album's closing track, the power balled "A Question of Heaven". Schaeffer's riffs too often hold out chords in this sort of chimey bell way and could really use more staccato picking and a bit more palm muting (something I cannot believe I am saying). But perhaps no musician annoys me more on this album then lead guitarist Randall Shawver. There are almost zero guitar solos on this album, something that I think in the genre of power metal is an absolute sin. Each song contains some moment where Randall begins to play a lead break, an epic lead break that you expect to be followed with a face melting shred fest. But on eight tracks out of ten, all you get is that lead break harmony and nothing else. The solos on "Vengeance is Mine" and "Slave to The Dark" are very good and clearly hold their own, so I do not understand why he simply played all these harmonies and lead breaks when there should have been guitar solos. In the quest for atmosphere and grandiose feel, Iced Earth sapped a load of intensity out of this album, and it truly reflects in the output of the musicians.

In the goal to maintain this atmosphere, the band seemingly put their entire performance on the back of Matt Barlow, sort of like the mother of miracles puts the fate of humanity on Al Simmons. And frankly, it was not for Matt, The Dark Saga would have been a snooze fest. Barlow may not replace Keith David as the voice of Spawn any time soon, but in more ways then one he succeeds in capturing the emotion of Al Simmons very well. He moves successfully from the morose, confused, and tormented figure in tracks such as the title track and "I Died For You" to vengeful and powerful in tracks such as "Vengeance is Mine." On the power ballad "A Question of Heaven", Matt perfectly captures the spirit of Simmons who has figured it out and is repentant, promising to rid himself of the influence of God and Satan and protect the innocence of the human soul. Perhaps no better vocal performance though happens on "Violate", where Matt assumes the personality of Spawn's arch rival, the Violator, a character who constantly reminds Simmons that he is to be a weapon of all that is evil and indulges in Al's violent escapades. In this role, Matt may not have the twisted, mocking personality of the Violator's "clown" persona, but he more then aptly captures the wretched tone a powerful demon who loves doing nothing more then indulging in all that is evil and hedonistic. Barlow pulls off the character very well, and I am greatly impressed.

Schaeffer also nailed the lyrics as well as the Romans nailed Christ to the cross. To be clear, The Dark Saga is not a word for word chronological retelling of the entire Spawn story. Such an effort would have not only been extremely tedious but probably would have escaped most fans' understanding. Instead, Schaeffer more gives a general retelling of the comic's concept; Al Simmons, a CIA assassin, is betrayed by his accomplices. Damned for all of eternity, he forges a new partnership with an overlord in hell so he can go see his wife, Wanda, except he is tricked by his new demonic master, forced to serve life as a demonic warrior, and be a major player in the ongoing war between Heaven and Hell over the rights to the human soul. Al refuses to embrace his role as a hellspawn, instead using his new-found power to protect the innocent and curb the influence of both heaven and hell in the daily lives of humanity. Along the way, Al confronts literal foes such as the demonic Violator (Violate), the ruthless hellspawn slayer Angela (The Hunter), and the dark lord of hell who Simmons forged a pact with, Maelebolgia (The Last Laugh) as well as his inability to return to his wife Wanda (I Died For You), and his own willingness to play a part in the war between heaven and hell (Slave to the Dark). It is more a summation of the cast and problems put forth in Spawn rather then a real retelling of it's story, but it works out phenomenally and I find it very faithful to the comics.

The mix of The Dark Saga is a pretty good one. The guitars are properly crunchy in the riffs and the harmonies /leads ring out very well. The drum tone is perhaps a little too beat box like for me in terms of the snare, but the bass drums sound phenomenal and the cymbals cut perfectly. The bass can be heard well enough underneath everything. Barlow's vocals have a perfect balance and sound crystal clear, and everything is perfectly equalized. Absolutely no faults in the studio work done on this album.

For seasoned fans of Iced Earth, The Dark Saga is an album that does not have to be listened to aside from the tracks "Violate", "Vengeance is Mine", and "A Question of Heaven". The last of the three I think is Iced Earth's best ballad ever. Schaeffer and company however largely forsook heaviness and melody for a grandiose sense of atmosphere, and the album just sounds hollow and tame for far too long. For anyone seeking to get into Iced Earth, The Dark Saga is easily their most accessible album and will give anyone a good idea what the modern iteration of Iced Earth is all about. But in the end, this album is just like every other Spawn adaptation, it lacks the violence and power that the series titular character represents. It just seems like it is impossible to truly adapt Spawn to anything outside of pages and panels.

Restraining the beast. - 63%

hells_unicorn, April 5th, 2009

This album has always inspired a dual sense of euphoria and frustration in me. Iced Earth came into the position of being the most viable force in America’s metal underground, as they had essentially stuck to their thrash roots a good 3 years after they had started to fall out of favor, in big part due to the influence of Metallica’s “s/t” and Pantera’s latest offerings. While the later stands fairly well on its own, it also inspires frustration as it tells the listener that it can be more than what it is, but simply chooses not to be. The dark guitar sound, dense atmosphere and strong remnants of aggression hearken back to the glory days of the late 80s, but everything is so stripped down structurally and so predictable that it essentially slashes its own throat with the impressive metal edge it carries.

It isn’t so much that the riffs on here are extremely simplistic, repetitive and tend to serve the atmosphere rather than spearhead it. It also isn’t that Barlow is holding back vocally in order to put forth something that can easily be sung along to, sacrificing the flash heard on “Burnt Offerings” in the name of a sense of emotional complexity that comes off as overdone and melodramatic. It’s isn’t that Randall Shawver’s solos have been sliced up into mostly cliché melodic breaks that Iron Maiden mostly utilized just before or just after blazing up the fret boards. It isn’t that the pacing of this entire album is incredibly flat, slowed down, and subdued. It’s the culmination of all these changes, which as a whole have essentially morphed an album that could have been just as good as the previous one into a half-hearted metal assault that is tailored specifically for mass accessibility.

In essence, this album had the right idea, all the way down to the last detail of lyrical description. The story behind the “Spawn” comic series is probably the most metallic concept ever put together. A person who is essentially alienated from both authorities presiding over the events of the universe, rising from being a pathetic anti-hero who can’t accept what has happened to him and becoming a warrior who essentially hands both sides their asses, one subordinate at a time, is one of the most direct and epic ways of portraying the individualistic ideal of man versus society, man versus nature, and ultimately man versus himself. With such powerful themes at work, mixed with a good amount of emotional turmoil, you have a great deal of expectations that had better be met if you plan on being the composer for any musical retelling.

“The Dark Saga” effectively does the opposite of what an effective approach to writing a concept album is, and that is rely almost completely on the vocalist and an atmospheric backdrop to carry the album. What results is something that doesn’t really fail or succeed musically, but sort of coasts in between the two, being enjoyable enough to follow to the end but is far too careful and doesn’t rivet the senses with every punishing blow. Power thrash is essentially nothing more than the marriage of the raw aggression and vileness of thrash and the melodic structural nature of the NWOBHM. Essentially what emerges here qualifies as mostly a pre-power metal variant of heavy metal, loaded with slow ballad sections akin to early 90s Iron Maiden, and extremely bare sounding riffs ala early 90s Metallica.

The results of this approach manifest in a collection of songs that sound fairly good when being listened to, but don’t really have a whole lot of staying power. “I Died For You” has really poignant lyrics and a heartfelt vocal performance, but just plods musically. The title track “Dark Saga” and “Depths Of Hell” essentially listen the exact same way, but also come across as story narratives rather than songs due to meandering vocal melodies. “The Last Laugh” is faster and harder edged, but still has this sense of meandering slowness due to stagnant riffs and abrupt ballad-like sections. Essentially half of the album is stuck in a “Black Album” mentality, but lacking distinctive riffs and instead relying on Barlow’s large sounding voice to maintain interest. If there’s one song out of this batch of mid-tempo filler that really stands out and can be grabbed onto, it’s “The Hunter”, which has at least some semblance of guitar activity beyond static power chords and rehashed Maiden melodic interludes guising as solos.

Things get much better when Schaefer finally decides to get things moving, showing some remnants of the band’s thrash metal past. “Violate” really throws out some nasty sounding riffs and a fairly dynamic vocal performance out of Barlow, as he imitates the sepulchral demon voice hidden behind the clown character’s exterior quite effectively at key points. “Vengeance Is Mine” is better still, finally breaking out of the sub 4 minute ceiling that this album is trapped under, and all but fully mimics the Bay Area sweetness meets Maiden melodic contours heard on “Burnt Offerings”. Barlow ceases with all of the complex emotions of guilt, agony and sadness and gets back to what this style is supposed to be about, unfettered and righteous anger. We even get to hear some of his higher range for more than a few seconds finally.

If there is a part of this album where we actually get the sense of buildup, climax and release that is expected from a concept album, it’s the song cycle that occupies the last 3 tracks on here. Jon Schaefer essentially established the formula of ending his albums with a towering epic on “Burnt Offerings” that pays homage to and is titled after “Dante’s Inferno”, but it wasn’t until this album that he adopted the practice of separating the 3 songs out rather than having one lead into the next. This epic isn’t nearly as spellbinding or as intricate as its predecessor, but it towers over most of the rest of the album. The first part “Scarred” basically keeps things relatively slow and subdued, but maintains a good balance of atmosphere and melodic power. When “Slave To The Dark” comes in we are treated to another thrash song that is somewhat similar to “Vengeance Is Mine” from earlier on, but with Shawver actually getting a worthy guitar solo for a change.

For all of the damned time that this album takes to get going, when the final part of the epic closing trilogy commences, there is a sense of reward for the effort. “A Question Of Heaven” is among the best of Schaefer’s endless well of similar sounding ballads since the exodus of John Greely. The instrumental work sees a fair level of activity, and thankfully this song does not spend half the time caught in an acoustic break. Angelic backup vocals are provided by Matt Barlow’s sister, and give the song something of a church-like quality. Combined with a fairly solid set of NWOBHM ideas mixed in with a set of Metallica and Testament riffs circa 1988, things fall well into place and provide Barlow with the chance to truly shine. In spite of not quite matching his amazing performance on “Burnt Offerings”, this showcases a level of passion to be reckoned with. It’s a good sized constellation to anyone who spent the first half of this album trying to decide whether or not to hit the stop button and give up completely.

This is essentially where Iced Earth started to lose me. Half of this album sounds like it could have been written over a weekend and the other half is a slightly watered down version of what this band was capable of just one year prior. It still carries enough remnants of previous work to be recognizable, but this is to past works as Metallica’s “Black Album” was to its predecessors. This isn’t power metal as far as I’m concerned, as there is a definite power deficit going on here. Classics are never brought forth by holding back, I don’t care what style you play in or what you’re singing about, and this album and the several that followed it are among the most blatant examples of it.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on April 5, 2009.

Spawn Lives! Kinda... - 65%

Flamos, January 6th, 2009

Before this album was released, Iced Earth had mostly thrash elements. “The Dark Saga” sheds most of this and focuses more on melody and transitions. Unfortunately this didn’t go over well for most fans. Most people either love this album, or dislike it for the power metal elements that overpower it. I think this album is somewhat positive, but negatives do exist. The album kicks off with the title track, “The Dark Saga” which is a good, mid-tempo song with great vocals from Matt Barlow. “Violate” is a heavy song with some of the old thrash elements thrown in, which will make everyone happy. The lyrics are nicely written and the riffs from Schaffer are catchy, this also shows what Mark Prater can do on drums. “The Last Laugh” has some great bass playing from Dave Abell, a very unappreciated player, and a catchy chorus that fuses nicely with the song. “Vengeance is Mine” is a cool track with a nice solo from Randall Shawver and great musicianship.

As most of you already know, this is a concept album based on the comic book character Spawn, and as we also know with a concept album we need consistency to keep the story exciting. Well, this is where we run into some problems. “I Died For You” is the beginning of Schaffer’s sappy ballad line that just doesn’t feel right. The song itself isn’t dreadful, but it could’ve been much better. The vocals are nice, but the song is just too simplistic and after awhile just looses its effect. “The Hunter” is average at best, but overall its just too boring to get any recognition. “Depths of Hell” has some interesting riffs and a good solo from Shawver and is a little better from the previous songs I’ve mentioned in this paragraph.

Now comes the suffering trilogy. “Scarred,” “Slave to the Dark,” and “A Question of Heaven” are all songs part of a trilogy. We all know Schaffer is pretty good at writing these epic tracks. Well, something is missing here. “Scarred” isn’t anything truly interesting exempting the chorus. I mean, the versus are just bland and need some type of energy. “Slave to the Dark” is defiantly best out of the three. Good musicianship, catchy vocal melodies, and nice songwriting. Now, that’s what I want to hear. This track gets you hyped up for the incoming “A Question of Heaven.” By the end, you’ll be disappointed. Aside from the amazing scream at the end, this song isn’t anything special.

Half of the album is good, the other is bland. Iced Earth fans will get a kick out of it, but casual listeners may get a bad taste in their mouth depending on their outlook. Be careful here.

I revel in your agony, I violate and make you DIE! - 96%

The_Boss, September 23rd, 2008

The Dark Saga remains quite the controversial album in Iced Earth's discography, something that always puzzles me. It gets much shit from people who hate the direction they turned too and started playing after the previous release Burnt Offerings, as well as people claiming it to have too much filler and weak throwaway songs. I can only half agree with some of these claims, this wasn't my first Iced Earth album but I absolutely adore most of the songs on here.

This is basically an emotional journey through hell and not the hellish desirable journey that you take when you listen to Dante's Inferno off Burnt Offerings, instead this is a painful intake of heavy/power metal that has much emotion and vigor that is brought in mostly by melancholic vocal god Matt Barlow as well as the overall tone and atmosphere of melancholy and sadness. Matt Barlow solidifies himself with this release as legendary and proves in each and every fucking song, seriously from the mournful crooning in I Died For You to the absolute pissed off aggression in Violate to the triumphant spiteful vocals on Vengeance is Mine. Mind you, I haven't even said anything about his greatest performance, A Question of Heaven, and he's already godly. Seriously folks, this song is so fucking good I cannot imagine anything being so damn powerful. I cannot think of another song that has a more powerful, a more emotional and a more intense vocal performance; this is Matt Barlow's fucking crowning achievement and I aboslutely love this song. It's a sorrowful ballad that builds up with some amazing backing vocals apparently by Barlow's sis and adding to the atmosphere with such force and pain that it almost chokes me up when I listen to it at certain times, just listen to the last note Matt Barlow hits, holy fuck.

The rest of the album I simply divide into filler and non-filler. The latter half is really what will bring the album down, with not so top notch tracks that are easily skip-worthy. This usually is a problem to me for most albums, but something about the Dark Saga I don't mind, it seems like whenever I get to those I am so eager to skip to A Question of Heaven it's all good. The filler tracks, by the way, are The Suffering Scarred and Depths of Hell, with Slave to the Dark falling a bit into this territory, but still listenable. The rest of the songs here are classic Iced Earth territory, with the ultimate aggressive nature in their catalogue shown through the intensity of Violate, where Barlow rips a new asshole and lays down in it's bloody guts and shit all basking in the glorius ass-raping he just gave. Remember Zinedine Zidane, that asshole who headbutted that other soccer player? Yeah, well replace that with Mickey Rooney headbutting some jackass like Jack Black, that's how awesome Violate is. The Hunter is another Iced Earth classic, with killer riffing and a healthy chorus that screams live song perfection. The Last Laugh has an amazing drum intro build up that leads into some most faster riffing and some badass lyrics, where Matt Barlow once again shows his awesome range and ability to overtake every situation, from fast to slow, high to low; he's the man.

The musicanship here is outstanding, as you should expect from early Iced Earth's works; Jon Schaffer is in his prime creating heavy and thick riffing that is trademark at the time, all while playing in perfect rhythm with the heaviness of the beast himself, Mark Prator, Iced Earth's best drummer. Randall Shawver, Iced Earth's best guitarist plays here and proves why he was Iced Earth's greatest guitarist with killer lead work throughout the whole album. Dave Abell is a decent bassist, adding to the haunting, gloomy atmosphere of unwanted dusk and evil ways that are brought in with the thick rhythm sections, what more could you ask for?

The Dark Saga is an excellent addition to any hardcore Iced Earth fan's catalogue, containing some of Iced Earth's greatest songs. Unfortunately it also contains some of their weakest filler, but in the end it really doesn't stick out as much as a liability when it's surrounded by such classics. There are essential Iced Earth songs on here as well as Iced Earth's greatest song ever; and I might add the greatest vocal performance of all time. Yes, take your Freddie Mercury's, your Jimmy Page's, your Bruce Dickinson's and Dio's and shove it (although not really, I do dearly love all the aforementioned), but Matt Barlow really does his greatest and gives it his all on A Question of Heaven. I sincerely think without this track, the album wouldn't be as great, this is a titan of a song. It sets the mood, ends the album perfectly and is exactly how a mournful ballad should be done. Backed with brilliant vocal melodies, Matt Barlow does gives his 110%, having unbelievable range as well as proving to be the greatest out there.

"Lord I pound my fist at you, won't you just let me die! Have I not suffered enough? No inner peace, no afterlife!"

"Why won't ya let me dieee? Why won't ya let me dii-hiiee! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, WON'T YA LET ME DIII-HIIEE!"

I cannot stress enough how awesome this song is. If I had a choice, this is the last song I would want to listen to before I die that's how awesome it is and this why this album is so essential. I highly suggest checking out The Dark Saga immediately.

How to Ruin Iced Earth and Spawn Simultaneously - 49%

DawnoftheShred, November 27th, 2006

After the skull-crushingly evil Burnt Offerings, a concept album about the Spawn comic seemed to be a continuing step in the right direction. Clearly nobody expected this to turn out like it did. Rather than another heavy, technical masterpiece, we get a watered-down, overly emotive, highly repetitive, and incredibly anticlimatic musical failure the likes from which Iced Earth will probably never recover (they have yet to, anyway).

The album's most apparent flaw is its sheer lack of metalness. Most of the songs have uninspired yet drawn out clean intros that only turn into generic, thrash-like riffs. Certain songs are particularly heavy, like "Depths of Hell," "Violate," and "Vengeance is Mine," but the riffs are generally slower, more repetitive recycles of riffs from their earlier albums. Never before have galloping rhythms sounded so bland and overused. The worst part of this is that not only do the songs generally suck on their own merit, they all have the exact same feel, so it's like hearing the same sucky song ten times, with little variation. The closest thing to a classic Iced Earth epic is the album closer "A Question of Heaven," which still fails to sound original or even remotely epic. While the lyrics over the course of the album attempt to build to a climax, the music never does.

A not so apparent flaw, although it's the aspect of the album I hate the most, is Matt Barlow's voice. He actually sounded alright on Burnt Offerings, but on here, he comes across as a whiny little bitch. His style really is more of a bellow than any form of singing, and he doesn't really throw in any high pitched wails. I guess he tries to come off as emotional and expressive, but it just sounds overblown and almost unlistenable. This is most evident on the ballad "I Died for You." I've heard fucking emo that sounds less whiny than this. Absolute worst song on the album.

So all the songs generally suck, sound the same, and are poorly sung. What does the album do right? Well first of all, the lyrics are still pretty sweet, with only a few questionably tolerable lines. They pretty much capture what a Spawn concept album should embody. Unfortunately, Barlow's singing makes them significantly more lame. The production on the album is pretty good, the guitar tone isn't bad, and some of the riffs/leads are cool (the clean riffs are boring). And the cover art is kind of cool, I guess. It's just generally okay music topped off with terrible singing, and make a good metal album it does not.

If you're the type that can tolerate botched, somewhat broad, and definitely poor stylistic deviation, you might be able to appreciate this for what it is. This is also the case if you like Barlow's voice (many do). Personally, I think this album sucks ass on just about every level: it's a piss-poor Iced Earth release, a generic metal album, a shitty application of a cool lyrical concept, and an unnecessary blow to the Spawn comic books. Every other Iced Earth album is better than this, though, so you might as well not even bother with it.

Hmm... - 70%

stickyshooZ, June 14th, 2004

Well, it certainly isn’t the trashy Iced Earth people had come to know when this album was released. Since Jon got his anger out with the fervent rage of Burnt Offerings, I guess he figures it’s time to cool down and focus a little more on his emotionally ardent side. Although a good amount of the songs are fairly simple, they are also very catchy and memorable. When I first started playing guitar the first full song I learned was “Dark Saga”. I was able to learn this song in less than a week as an amateur, but that isn’t the point.

The point is that complexity doesn’t equal greatness. The album may not be complex, but it still has a nice overall sound to it (with the cool Spawn theme to add to it). From the steady and smooth flow of “Dark Saga” to the emotional and heavy hitting enthusiasm of “A Question of Heaven” this album has quite a bit to offer. Iced Earth still retains its sense of melody and construction of heavy riffs, but there isn’t a lot of velocity to be found here. The fastest you’ll ever really go for most of this album is mid-paced, but you hardly enter the swift realm of thrash.

Chunky riffs make up most of this heavy hitting recondite concept album. There are a few thrashy songs like “Violate” and “Vengeance Is Mine,” but this album wasn’t really meant for the speed train. “Violate” has some pretty cool and semi-violent lyrics - “I’ll beat you with your spinal cord, split your skull in two. I’ll feast on your intestines; there’s nothing I can’t do. I’ll rip your heart out of your chest, watch it beat as you cry!”. A nice change with a surprising crash through the walls of recycled song construction.

Listening to the first song in the Suffering trilogy, it is pretty recursive with all of the other mid-paced heavy hitters. After the bridge the song picks up a bit with some melodic palm muting, but it doesn’t do enough to call this song fast. The song “Slave To The Dark” is fairly fast, starting off with the dark mood of the guitars and building up to the shrieking “NO!” Which kicks the song into full blast. Following the rapid and quick “Slave To The Dark” comes the melancholic “A Question of Heaven,” which starts off with some gloomy acoustic work to represent the pessimistic and sad spirit of Spawn. Schaffer really has a good sense of empathy to be able to pull this emotional song off.

It’s almost as if Schaffer put himself directly in Spawn’s shoes and wrote a song about how it must feel to want to die and to be rejected by an (supposed) ever-loving being such as God. With Matt Barlow’s excellent performance is the heavenly voice of his sister, Kate. This is simply a stunning song all together.

I love Iced Earth and all, but a lot of this feels kind of boring. Yes, I like a lot of the songs, but this album doesn’t really excite me all that much. It’s a good listen, but there needs to be more thrash elements to give this album a bit of pep. A fairly decent album, but definitely not Iced Earth’s best.

sullen atrocity - 85%

ironasinmaiden, January 8th, 2003

Iced Earth made a pretty wise career move with the Dark Saga.... it broke them in the US and established what would later become a rather hardcore fan base. Instead of technical metal with well arranged songs, Dark Saga is a toned down, verse chorus verse effort that's sort of heavy but sort of not. There are some moments on here where I'm like "where is the thrash?"... but if you lay aside all prior knowledge you'll be able to get into it, cos simple songs = more fun.

DS is based on comic series Spawn... not a concept album though. Rather a rough telling of the Spawn story accompanied by Schaffer's crunching riffs. Crunching indeed.... check out the Last Laugh's bridge. Some Stormriderisms show up on Vengeance is Mine, but there's more of a strolling pace... ya know the old school hard rock beats.

The two ballads, I Died For You and A Question Of Heaven are moving and designed for crowd singalongs. AQOF in particuarly makes an impression, with it's beautiful cascade of vocals and guitar harmonies and a stunning vocal performance. I must say despite the queer factor my bitch ass is liable to pull out a lighter every time I hear it :(

Why many fans consider this Iced Earth's shining hour escapes me... it's just not as good as SWTWC, NOTSR, horror show or burnt offerings. Still, there is no such thing as a bad IE CD, and Dark Saga falls firmly in the horns up category despite it's sparse nature.

And i forgot to mention how amazing the Hunter is, god damn what a great song, this should be bronzed and placed on Schaffer's mantle