Florida's Iced Earth were swimming against the tide in 1992.
At a time when alternative rock was wiping the rock & roll slate clean and putting hundreds of heavy metal bands out of business, seemingly overnight, the band's uncompromising blend of classic metaland thrash (think Iron Maiden meets Slayer) was about as unfashionable as it got.
And, to make matters worse, their sophomore effort, Night of the Stormrider, was a full-blown concept album about a man's fall from grace and subsequent questioning of organized religion.
Guitarist and principal songwriter Jon Shaffer went to great lengths to diversify the band's already complex sonic palette, adding acoustic guitar passages and atmospheric keyboards to outstanding cuts like "Angel's Holocaust," "Before the Vision," "Pure Evil," and the awesome "Desert Rain." New vocalist John Greely has a good set of lungs and usually manages to keep up with the manic pace, but is clearly the weak link in the band's equation and would not return after this album.
All in all, Night of the Stormrider was a solid effort which simply arrived at the wrong time, and, after assessing the general public's indifference, Shaffer would place Iced Earth on ice for almost three years.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angels HolocaustJon Schaffer | Iced Earth | Play | 04:52 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 2 | StormriderJon Schaffer, Randall Shawver | Iced Earth | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 35 MB |
| 3 | The Path I ChooseJon Schaffer, Randall Shawver | Iced Earth | Play | 05:55 | 13 MB | 42 MB |
| 4 | Before the VisionJon Schaffer, Randall Shawver | Iced Earth | Play | 01:23 | 3 MB | 8 MB |
| 5 | Mystical EndJon Schaffer | Iced Earth | Play | 04:46 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 6 | Desert RainDave Abell, Jon Schaffer | Iced Earth | Play | 06:55 | 15 MB | 46 MB |
| 7 | Pure EvilJon Schaffer, Randall Shawver | Iced Earth | Play | 06:34 | 15 MB | 45 MB |
| 8 | Reaching the EndJon Schaffer | Iced Earth | Play | 01:11 | 2 MB | 7 MB |
| 9 | Travel in StygianJon Schaffer | Iced Earth | Play | 09:19 | 21 MB | 61 MB |
| 45 mins | 104 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 316 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Abell | Bass, Composer |
| 2 | Frank Albrecht | Photography |
| 3 | Rick Borstelman | Back Cover |
| 4 | John Greely | Vocals |
| 5 | Axel Hermann | Cover Art |
| 6 | Roger "The Hammer" Huff | Keyboards |
| 7 | Iced Earth | Primary Artist |
| 8 | Tom Morris | Producer |
| 9 | Büro Dirk Rudolph | Layout Design |
| 10 | Jon Schaffer | Composer, Guitar (Rhythm), Producer, Vocals |
| 11 | Richey Secchiari | Drums |
| 12 | Randall Shawver | Composer, Guitar, Soloist |
| 13 | Kent Smith | Introduction |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |