A pretty good tribute album

For nearly fifteen years, Iced Earth had managed to win audiences all the world over with their own breed of neo-classic metal. When heavy metal was dying in the nineties, Iced Earth was one of the few metal bands that managed to survive. Needless to say, the band has a number of influences. And what better way to pay homage to their influences than with a tribute? On 2002's Tribute To The Gods, Iced Earth covers a number of songs by various classic hard rock and heavy metal artists. How does it measure up? Read on for my review.

It's hard to cover the classics that Iced Earth covers on this album, but they do a very good job. One of the bands that was a big time influence to Iced Earth was, of course, the British metal legends Iron Maiden. Two Maiden cuts are covered on this release, The Number Of The Beast and Hallowed Be Thy Name. Although the cover of Beast is mediocre (it sounds like Barlow is trying to mimic Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson a bit too much), the gloomy yet heavy stylings of Hallowed Be Thy Name are given new life by Iced Earth. No, this doesn't top the original, but it comes very close. The band also covered Iron Maiden's Transylvania, but that recording is only available on the bonus disc included with initial pressings of the Horrow Show album. Next up we have ACDC. On this album, the band covers It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock And Roll) and Highway To Hell. Once again, the band manages to cover these songs pretty well, but these versions have nothing on ACDC's originals. As much as I like Iced Earth, they're just too different a band from ACDC to truly be able to recapture the essence of their music. Burnin' For You, a Blue Oyster Cult cover, on the other hand, is even better than the original! I like BOC's original, but here Iced Earth just blows the original away! I had doubts that they'd be able to cover this song well, but they did! Screaming For Vengeance, originally recorded by Judas Priest, is also an excellent cover. Although I (once again) feel that this song is inferior to the original, it does have one advantage over the original - unlike the original, you can actually hear what is being said in the lyrics! Alice Cooper's Dead Babies, originally from his 1971 Killer album, also gets covered by Iced Earth. This was a gloomy and heavy song to begin with, so Iced Earth's take on it is a very good one. The band even covers Black Sabbath's self-titled song. Once again, it was a gloomy and heavy song, so the band manages to create a damn fine cover version of it. In the end, this is an excellent tribute album.

I have one complaint with this album, though, and it's not really a direct album complaint - There is quite a bit of blank CD space. Why is this a problem? It means that the band could have put the cover of Iron Maiden's Transylvania on here! That song is hard enough to come by, and putting it here would have been smart. Also, this would have been a good place to release the Enter The Realm demo EP outside of the box set. Oh, well.

Cover songs are usually very scattershot in the hard rock and heavy metal world, but Iced Earth's covers of these songs are damn fine ones, through and through. If you're an Iced Earth fan, and you want to hear them pay homage to their classic metal heroes, you'll want to get Tribute To The Gods.

This CD is great fun

The best song on this album is the cover of the great song, Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden. Already that song is brilliantly written and done perfect by Iced Earth addedd a little bit more of a dramatic edge to it that made me appreciate it in a diffrent way. Nothing beats that dramatic deep voice of Matt Bartlow. So believe me if you like the original you will like this.

Another one of my favorites on the album is Dead Babies by Alice Cooper. This one was actually way better then the original which surprised me because I am a huge fan of Alice Cooper, but I always felt that Dead Babies was missing somthing and Iced Earth Just seemed to know what to do to remedy that.

The third best son on there is the remak of Blue Oyster Cult's Burning For You. THis song is also much better then the original because allthough the original is a great song, Bartlow just sounds way cooler then the singer to Blue Oyser Cult.

So if what you saw makesthis Cd sound good to you buy it. This is not for people that like corny bands like MOdest Mouse or Green Day, If you like that stuff get out of here. This is for fans of Iced Earht, A lot of classic rock, and Blind Guardian and the likes. So go get it if you have good taste.

Unnecessary--but alright

Creatures of the Night (KISS): I definitely like this cover, a great, epic rendition of the KISS classic. 7/10

The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden): Great track from Maiden, but it's their most overrated song of all time, and IE's cover just reiterates that. Thumbs-down. 4/10

Highway to Hell (AC/DC): Eh. I like it, but Matt Barlow is just too damn dramatic for this type of music. 7/10

Burnin' For You (Blue Oyster Cult): Same as HtH. Nice cover, but Matt doesn't fit the music.

God of Thunder (KISS): Mmm, I like this one. Very epic-feeling. 7/10

Screaming For Vengeance (Judas Priest): Decent. Barlow fits this kind of metal pretty nicely. On a side note, as much as I love Rob Halford, I find his vocals on this song a bit irritating, so this song is a nice alternative sometimes. 7/10

Dead Babies (Alice Cooper): Not outstanding, but alright. I'm not the biggest Cooper fan, but this is a decent cover of a great song. 7/10

Cities On Flame (Blue Oyster Cult): Not impressive. Suffers from the same problems as the other BOC cover, except this one is just no fun at all. 5/10

It's A Long Way to the Top (AC/DC): This is a fun cover. Again, Barlow is too dramatic for this stuff, but... well, it's fun. 7/10

Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath ;) ): My favorite cover on this album. Brings an in-your-face-distortion aspect to what I consider the best heavy metal song of all time. 9/10

Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden): Nice, if unimaginative, Maiden cover. Barlow's drama is right at home here. 8/10

So you see... this is a fun album for veteran metalheads and metal neophytes alike... However, if you're not a die-hard Iced Earth fan, you can basically skip this release and spend your money elsewhere.