No strangers to hyperbole are those Iced Earth boys and their record company describes this EP as, “the beginning of what could be the most epic-proportioned metal release of the century so far.” In order to go forward after the really rather good Glorious Burden album of 2004, Iced Earth and in particular main man Jon Schaffer have gone back to their own past and re-recorded Prophecy, Birth of the Wicked and The Coming Curse from their 1998 album Something Wicked This Way Comes. The teamed these up with a new song (Ten Thousand Strong) and issued them as a taster for two (that’s right, two) new albums on the horizon, the first of which arrives in September of this year. Naturally there’s a story involved. This time it is just set over 12,000 years! 

The newie Ten Thousand Strong gets us underway and sees Tim Owens in fine fettle voice-wise on a song that is unfeasibly catchy. It begins with a Halford style scream and rushes to a wordy, yet cool chorus that has hooks aplenty. It is somewhat more joyful than anything on Glorious Burden but then that album was never going to be a barrel of laughs given the subject matter. As you’d expect, there’s some sexy guitar work from Mr Schaffer on this one. Oh, hang about, there is on all the songs! 

Prophecy is next and, as with all the old tunes, the man formerly known as Ripper makes it all his own. This is by no means as immediate as the opener but really comes alive when the guitar histrionics arrive. Birth of the Wicked is as Maidenesque as it ever was but is pretty bloody good in its own right and again proves that choruses are not a problem for Jonny Boy. 

The Coming Curse rounds things off in a rather good way and the only fault I can find with this song, and the EP as a whole, is the somewhat tinny drum sound which is unusual for the band but takes away some of the sonic enjoyment for me. Overall though, this EP suggests that both of the new Iced Earth CD’s could be well worth the wait.

Let us know your views on Overture Of The Wicked

Track Listing

Overture Of The Wicked
Prophecy
Birth Of The Wicked
Coming Curse

Line Up

Jon Schaffer - Guitars/Bass
Tim Owens - Vocals
Brent Smedley - Drums