“Behold the wicked child” as the title of one of the tracks of this cd is or simply behold the new Iced Earth disk which is the sequel and the closing of the grand story Jon Schaffer has created which is familiar to us from long ago, by the unforgettable trilogy-synopsis of the story of the overwhelming “Something Wicked This way Comes”. We should stop this little flashback here though because those times seem to belong to the past as far as the music direction of the band is concerned. What we can do is just thank them for the inspired, direct, dark and passionate metal music they have offered us until “The Horror Show” album and accept the fact that the have entered  a period more epic, conventional and narrative in a way.

If we take a look at the new cd separately from everything written above, what do we have? We have a great comeback, thus the return of the singer who is identified with Iced Earth, whose voice has the color  and the warmth, the depth and the passion that every real fan of Iced Earth must have missed, the return of Matt Barlow. This means less but not absent at all high pitched vocals but more thrilling vocal performances than the last disc. Another satisfactory point is the decreasing of the intros and interludes which had become a little boring in the previous cd and did not serve the overall result well. Here we have 14 songs and only one intro and musically speaking it seems that this time there was more inspiration. The first riffs of the songs sometimes are impressive and exciting but the lack of enough lead parts make you feel that the songs are incomplete and that’s why where the lead parts are present the songs seem better. It also occurred to me that the songs are a little suffocated by the need to tell the story and are not free to spread and culminate. This is after all the trap that hides every tight concept album. Except for that, in the positive sides belongs the dark atmosphere, the random references to themes, melodies and lyrics from the first trilogy and the occult aura of the songs. What can I say about the well known palm muted guitars of John Schaffer? Always impressive as is also the rhythm section which is solid as a rock ( solid rock...?). I should mention that behind the drums we have the return of the drummer of the “Something Wicked This Way Comes” album, another comeback.

In conclusion, we certainly have in our hands a cd that it’s better than the previous one, with more good songs in it, a cd that will not blow the fans’ minds out but it will not disappoint them either. Of course, that happens only if the fans bear in mind that Iced Earth of 2008 are different from the past. Closing, I think that again, coincidently, the best song of the album is a semi-ballad, “A Gift Or A Curse” as it was “The Clouding” in the previous cd.