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Alive In Athens

Disc 1

Burning Times
Vengeance is Mine
Pure Evil
My Own Savior
Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
Dante's Inferno
The Hunter
Travel in Stygian
Slave to the Dark
A Question of Heaven		 Disc 2
Dark Saga
Last Laugh
Last December
Watching Over Me
Angels Holocaust
Stormrider
Path I Choose
I Died For You
Prophecy
Birth of the Wicked
The Coming Curse
Iced Earth

Disc 3
Stand Alone
Cast in Stone
Desert Rain
Brainwashed
Disciples of the Lie
When the Night Falls
Diary
Blessed Are You
Violate

1999 Century Media

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Recent Releases by Iced Earth:
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998)
Days Of Purgatory (1997)
The Dark Saga (1996)		 Related Releases (members):
Demons and Wizards (2000) [Schaffer]
Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings (1995)
Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider (1992)

 

It must be said right away that the 3CD version is the only one to get because the 3rd disc is the best by far. All the kickass songs are concentrated on that disc. The only 2 thrashers from Something Wicked, Stand Alone and Disciples of the Lie, are both here. Stand Alone has some cool extra drum parts. Great songs from earlier albums, like Cast in Stone, Desert rain, and When the Night Falls, sound even better with the great live sound Iced Earth has here. The complex melodies of these songs really make the overhyped Something Wicked trilogy look bad. Even the Blessed are You, one of the crappy ballads spoiling SWTWC, sounds a little better live.

 

CD1:
Burning Times sounds a bit faster live with a more prominent lead sound. Pure Evil is great, one of the concert's highlights. The simpler songs from Dark Saga suffer greatly when placed next to the more complex older songs and the more energetic SWTWC songs like My Own Savior. A Question of Heaven is great though because of its nice vocal melody.

CD2:
It's too bad Angels Holocaust is missing those choral parts that make it so distinctive. Maybe this is why they omitted another Iced Earth classic, Burnt Offerings. It wouldn't make any sense to include too many songs that sound worse than studio versions. Path I Choose is another highlight with vicious rhythm playing and monstrous vocals. At the end of the disc, the band plays 1776 instrumental from SWTWC (or is it a recording?). All the good songs from SWTWC are included here. At the end of one song the band plays the main riff from Iron Maiden's The Trooper. Looking at the cover art which features a battle-worn Greek flag, one can't help it but remember a scene from The Trooper video, where a fallen soldier struggles to hold up the British flag and another cavalryman picks it up and charges ahead into the battle. (That moment of English patriotism is so powerful, it would convince an IRA member to sign up for the Royal Marines. (If anyone knows what movie this is from, please let me know.) This can be thought of as the passing of the torch/flag of metal from English-speaking countries to the continental Europe.

 

The sound and production is great. These are definitely the best versions of most of these songs. Even the SWTWC songs are improved because of the more prominent lead guitar sound. The weak lead guitar sound was one of the main problems with SWTWC. The Days of Purgatory compilation only had reworked vocals, so it's no competition for this album. Barlow sounds very powerful throughout. On the downside, the almost constant gallop can get annoying after a while. The packaging is beautiful, with 3 digipacks and picture discs featuring different characters of the Something Wicked story. While not all songs are very good, the package as a whole is definitely remarkable.

Additional Comments: Personally I'm not a fan of live albums.  Sure, they might give a decent representation of how much of their sound is created in the studio, and what really is their natural talent but live albums all too often have too much crowd noise, and the band just can't handle the material they are trying to tackle (check out Zebra Live, a concert with a three piece band. Owch).  But Iced Earth manages to make up for any holes in the sound by filling in with a fiery performance that proves that THIS band isn't just another studio creation.   There is a nice balance of tunes from all their albums with the setlist is naturally a little heavy on the SWTWC side, but with so many songs being performed this was destined to happen (2cd for US, 3cd elsewhere).  3cds may seem like a little overkill, but they sound great played all the way through or individually.   Highlights include "The Hunter", which this live set was my first introduction to the song, and I fell in love with it, its absolutely awesome live.   Disc 3 includes several superb songs, and shouldn't be missed.  For those (like me) who usually skip over live offerings, would do well to pick this up and give it a spin, either as a tool to become familiar with the band, or already established fans of theirs. -Alanna Evans

Rating - 9.0
by Steven
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