1998. Something Wicked This Way Comes
is the fifth album by band Iced Earth. it was the band's first album to feature bassist James MacDonough and guitarist Larry Tarnowski.
Musically, Something Wicked This Way Comes is significantly heavier than its predecessor The Dark Saga.According to Jon Schaffer, because many of Iced Earth's fans felt that The Dark Saga lacked in speed and heaviness, the band tried to have a more diverse collection of songs on Something Wicked This Way Comes. Even though some material had already been written prior to the actual writing process, Schaffer has admitted that he struggled writing the remaining songs, attributing these problems to growing stress. One of the songs written right after The Dark Saga was "Watching Over Me", which is about Schaffer's childhood friend Bill Blackmon, who died in a motorcycle accident just before Schaffer moved to Florida in 1984.
The album is the first to feature Jon Schaffer's Something Wicked Saga. Originally Schaffer had planned to have the entire record be a concept album on the "Something Wicked" storyline, but because some songs unrelated to the concept had already been written following The Dark Saga, the band decided to only have the last three tracks be connected to the storyline. The last three songs ("Prophecy", Birth of the Wicked" and "The Coming Curse") make up the "Something Wicked" trilogy, which introduces the central figure of the saga, Set Abominae (who also appears on the album's front cover).
This is an amazing addition to Iced Earth's catalogue and worthy for many metal fans, strongly recommended and worth checking out. It was my first Iced Earth album . is The best album Iced Earth has released and possibly one of the best metal albums out there.
Matt Barlow Jon Schaffer James MacDonough Mark Prator Larry Tarnowski