Stratovarius Community

I learned the existance of this band through wikipedia while I was reading about power metal.

I downloaded a few songs, and I really like 3 of them "Ghost of Freedom", "Melancholy" and "Watching over me".

I strongly recommend those 3 songs, they are really good.

Classic band but have become very bad in my opinion since Matt Barlow has left and Tim Ripper Owens joined.

This is also my opinion. Ripper is not bad, he sings very good, but Math's voice can't be replaced by him! Iced Earth is another band since Math left...

and btw check the song Question To Heaven!

nepi wrote:This is also my opinion. Ripper is not bad, he sings very good, but Math's voice can't be replaced by him! Iced Earth is another band since Math left...

and btw check the song Question To Heaven!

YES! You think like myself nepi!
and double YES! for the song question of heaven!

Burnt Offerings
Night Of The Stormrider
S/T

These are the top Iced Earth albums to me.

The Dark Saga, Something Wicked This Way Comes, quite good albums.

Horrow Show, awful.

The Glorious Burden, I like it more than the previous one but again nothing special.

IMO Iced Earth is better with Tim Owens. I love The Glorious Burden album.

dirge wrote:

nepi wrote:This is also my opinion. Ripper is not bad, he sings very good, but Math's voice can't be replaced by him! Iced Earth is another band since Math left...

and btw check the song Question To Heaven!

YES! You think like myself nepi!
and double YES! for the song question of heaven!

.... and a double-thanx-4-support back to you

Question To Heaven, I would prefer it in the live version of Alive In Athens... btw just buy Alive In Athens and you will have a masterpiece and the best songs in an awesome quality!

The Dark Saga, Something Wicked This Way Comes, quite good albums.

Just "quite good albums"? Oh no, both are very good pieces to hear more than once!

IMO Iced Earth is better with Tim Owens. I love The Glorious Burden album.

For me, Math was one of the best metal voices the scene ever seen! Listen the screams at the end of Question To Heaven from the live album...
And the Glorious Burden is much different to Something Wicked or Dark Saga.... IMO

nepi wrote:

The Dark Saga, Something Wicked This Way Comes, quite good albums.

Just "quite good albums"? Oh no, both are very good pieces to hear more than once!

Have you listened to the first three albums of them?
If you haven't, I think that it is natural to consider these two albums as their best

I have all the releases that Matt Barlow appears on and they are some of my favorite cds. I heard the singers before Barlow though on the Blessed and the Damned and seriously would love to have those cds as well. But Ripper Owens is the worst thing that could have happened to this band. He is one of the worst singers in my opinion, and sounds fucking horrible live. Its bad enough of he had to ruin Judas Priest, and now he has to ruin Iced Earth. I have seen Judas Priest with this butt fucker in it and it was then that I swore never to buy a release that has ripper in it.

TrialByFire wrote:But Ripper Owens is the worst thing that could have happened to this band. He is one of the worst singers in my opinion, and sounds fucking horrible live. Its bad enough of he had to ruin Judas Priest, and now he has to ruin Iced Earth. I have seen Judas Priest with this butt fucker in it and it was then that I swore never to buy a release that has ripper in it.

I disagree! Listen to his band (Winter's Bane) and you may change your mind. Also the Jugulator album with Priest kicks ass!!!

Not crazy about these guys although I respect the talent- outstanding players.

The songs leave me kind of bored- Alive in Athens was just dull to me.

For powermetal my fav is Zandelle- better songs, more singalong and too the point.

I also love Ripper, Beyond Fear is a mod band with a great vibe.

Excellent band. They hit their peak with The Dark Saga and Something Wicked..., but the other releases aren't too shabby either. Ripper does quite well for himself on The Glorious Burden. He's no Matt Barlow (or Rob Halford), true, but then again, not many singers are.

I should have seen them twice. Shows got cancelled both times.


Bugger.

Night Of The Stormrider is their best effort. Easily. The riff towards the end of Travel In Stygian is as vicious as any death metal riff I've heard. Truly outstanding album.

they are about to confirm their assistance to the Monterrey Metal Fest!!!!

NeonVomit wrote:Night Of The Stormrider is their best effort. Easily. The riff towards the end of Travel In Stygian is as vicious as any death metal riff I've heard. Truly outstanding album.

Night of the Stormrider is a brilliant album.
But I think that the peak of their career is the "Burnt Offerings" album and their top song "Dante's Inferno"

ripper is a very good singer, its just not what people expect from iced earth. like for many fans(including me), iced earth=schaffer+barlow. barlow is the best metal singer that ever existed(in my oppinion). the way he could put anger and passion in his voice is incredible. now reaper comes and sings about wars and battles. of course we wont put as much passion as dracula or a question of heaven demands. i personaly dont think that reaper is able to have the same feeling as matt in his voice. still, the gettysburg trilogy i find is one of the best things that iced earth(schaffer made) and the vocals match perfectly with the subject. and note that he recorded the whole album in about a week.
i saw a post which said that horror show is awfull. the best iced earth songs(for me) are on that album: dracula, phantom operah ghost, damien. what is bad about this album is that its less varied than something wicked this way comes.
anyways, iced earth is, along with stratovarius and blind guardian, my favourite band(s)

Damien is the best song on Horror Show. Epic, evil, atmospheric, heavy, original. Outstanding.

iced guardian wrote:iced earth is, along with stratovarius and blind guardian, my favourite band(s)

and they are some of the most important bands of the 90's!

NeonVomit wrote:Damien is the best song on Horror Show. Epic, evil, atmospheric, heavy, original. Outstanding.

This is the only song that I like from this album..