Band:	Iced Earth
Album:	Alive In Athens
Style:	Heavy metal, US power metal
Release date:	July 27, 1999
A review by:	Sephiroth

Disc I
01. Burning Times
02. Vengeance is Mine
03. Pure Evil
04. My Own Savior
05. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
06. Dante's Inferno
07. The Hunter
08. Travel In Stygian
09. Slave To The Dark
10. A Question Of Heaven

Disc II
01. Dark Saga
02. Last Laugh
03. Last December
04. Watching Over Me
05. Angels Holocaust
06. Stormrider
07. The Path I Choose
08. I Died For You
09. Prophecy
10. Birth Of The Wicked
11. The Coming Curse
12. Iced Earth
13. Colors [2008 reissue bonus]

Disc III
01. Stand Alone
02. Cast In Stone
03. Desert Rain
04. Brainwashed
05. Disciples Of The Lie
06. When The Night Falls
07. Diary
08. Blessed Are You
09. Violate

I won't spend much words on this live album. Recorded during two live shows in Athens in 1998, it is simply the best live album I've ever heard: perfect sound, often heavier than in the studio albums themselves, clean and clear. You'll understand what being at a IE's concert mean. Raw power.

Barlow's voice is outstanding, this is the demonstration that he doesn't use any electronical devices for the recordings?.he simply sings like God. Schaffer is a metronome with his guitar and so are all the other band members who play with undoubtable precision and power.

In the european relase we have 31 of the best IE's songs in 3 cds... What more could you possibly need?! Some songs (in my opinion) sounds better in this live cd rather than in the original album.

I won't describe you the whole CD song by song, they're all perfectly played. Moreover, you can hear the crowd of Athens screaming "ICED EARTH!!! ICED EARTH!!!" and Matt presenting the names of the songs.

If you don't know Iced Earth, this will be a perfect start, with all their best songs - if you already know them, this album is anyway worth being owned... just to hear your favourite band play the 16 minutes of "Dante's Inferno" live without any mistake whatsoever and immediatly restart for another song without a minutes pause... Cocaine? No, they are just professional and talented musicians.