Band:	Iced Earth
Album:	The Dark Saga
Style:	Heavy metal, US power metal
Release date:	1996
Guest review by:	ToMegaTherion

01. Dark Saga
02. I Died For You
03. Violate
04. The Hunter
05. The Last Laugh
06. Depths Of Hell
07. Vengeance Is Mine
08. The Suffering
    1 - Scarred
    2 - Slave To The Dark
    3 - A Question Of Heaven

'The Dark Saga' is a classic metal album, and is without doubt one of Iced Earths best albums. The album is based on the comic Spawn as the concept behind the music. The album depicts the story of a man who sell's his soul to the devil for love, an irony that few seem to grasp. 'The Dark Saga' represents also the coming of age of Mat Barlow, the emotive and charismatic vocalist of Iced Earth. This is an album of class by a band who's suffered numerous changes too their line up including three vocalists. The Dark Saga was the first time Iced Earth had produced an album with the same vocalist as the previous album and it truly paid dividends for the band as a final product.

The album is difficult to sum up in just a few words, with such powerful songs and lyrics. It is melancholic, beautiful, dark and without doubt amazing. The album begins the dark and powerful song 'Dark Saga' which introduces the theme of the album in the opening words, "The deal was rigged, there is darkness in my soul, i want to die... Again". These opening lines draw the listen into the song with powerful hooks that make you want to hear the lyrics that follow, backed by a powerful riff and music. This album is full of great Iced Earth songs that are indeed much the same as the opening track. 'I Died For You' is a powerful metal ballad that offers yet more hooks and variety to add more elements to the album, before launching into the hard fast and catchy song 'Violate'. Then you are hit by another powerful song 'The Hunter'. The album doesn't relent for the next few songs until you are unexpectedly hit by the song 'Scarred' which once again brings you back down to earth after souring through the album with one hook and catchy riff after the other. Then come the melancholic, emotive and powerful 'A Question of Heaven' which concludes the album in such a magnificent way.

'The Dark Saga' is an album that sucks you in with powerful and dark lyrics before spitting you out into a spiral of metal hooks, riffs and catchy songs that will leave you in awe upon first listen. After that it is easy to be blinded as to a few minor issues with the album, This is an almost relentless album with only one genuine break from the darkness of the albums concept, for this reason it can be difficult to sit through the album in its entirety. One other issue I hard is with the production, the drums at times sound like tin cans, and the bass too often sounds like someone is sawing through steel. This is perhaps the one major draw back to this otherwise outstanding album.

This is an album well worth spending your money on if you like to collect metal classics, because this is certainly one of those. Unless you are looking closely faults are few and far between on this album. I would strongly recommend this for any metal collection, but especially for fans of power, heavy, thrash and anything in between or near too. It is not faultless but it is and outstanding album.