Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider
1992 Century Media

Track Listing:
1.  Angels Holocaust
2.  Stormrider
3.  The Path I Choose
4.  Before The Vision
5.  Mystical End
6.  Desert Rain
7.  Pure Evil
8.  Reaching The End
9.  Travel In Stygian

Line-Up:
Lead Vocals:  John Greely
Vocals:  Jon Schaffer
Lead Guitar:  Randy Shawver
Rhythm Guitar:  Jon Schaffer
Bass:  Dave Abell
Drums:  Richey Secchiari

Website:  www.icedearth.com

Follow The Hollow's Rating:  D+
Overall Rating:  D+

Also be sure to read:
Demons & Wizards - Demons & Wizards by Peace Sells

Follow The Hollow's Review:
Iced Earth is a band that you either love, hate, or totally ignore their existence.  I try to ignore them as much as possible.  A friend of mine once pointed out "Jon Schaffer only has three kinds of riffs; the fast, heavy palm muted galloping riff, the slowed down version of that, and an acoustic riff".  As I listen to Night Of The Stormrider, all I can imagine in my head is "slow riff, fast riff, fast riff, acoustic riff, fast riff", so one might imagine the difficulty I had sitting through it.  Seeing as my opinion is already heavily biased, it would take very good songs to impress me and make me change my mind.

After their self-titled debut, Iced Earth decided to make a concept album about a man who is betrayed by his religion, and then becomes pretty pissed off about it.  He goes on a rampage of evil deeds and ends up in hell.  The music, apparently, supposed to "mesh perfectly with the story, magnifying the hatred, manic joy, confusion, and sadness present in the lyrics," according to the band's website.  But all I can hear is Schaffer's three riffs.  Also according to the band's website, "after listening to this musical masterpiece, one cannot help but to feel some of the sadness and guilt that the Stormrider was unable to feel for himself".  It's sad when a band's own website has to declare their own album a masterpiece.

I wouldn't hate Iced Earth so much if everything they did didn't sound the exact same as the two previous songs.  Only three songs on this album really stand out for me:  Pure Evil, Desert Rain, and Mystical End.  They are the only songs, to me, where Schaffer combines all three of his riffs effectively, to convince you you're listening to one song.  For some reason, he even decides to sing on the track Stormrider as if John Greely wasn't doing well (which he was).  The vocals are strong, but lack the power that Mathew Barlow would bring to the band later on.  While the drums and bass are nothing spectacular, Secchiari and Abell provide a solid background for the rest of the band to build upon.  Secchiari does a fine job at keeping things smooth during the many tempo changes in the songs.  But when it all comes down to the end, the album is long and repetitive, and I had trouble sitting through it.
Follow The Hollow's Rating:  D+

Discography (last updated 7.21.06):
Enter The Realm demo - 1988
Iced Earth - 1990
Night Of The Stormrider - 1992
Burnt Offerings - 1995
The Dark Saga - 1996
Days Of Purgatory - 1997
Something Wicked This Way Comes - 1998
Alive In Athens - 1999
The Melancholy EP - 1999+
Horror Show - 2001
Dark Genesis box - 2002
Tribute To The Gods - 2002
The Blessed And The Damned - 2004
The Glorious Burden - 2004