Burnt Offerings (album)

Untitled

Burnt Offerings is American heavy metal band Iced Earth's third album, released April 18, 1995, by Century Media Records. This album marked the introduction of legendary metal vocalist Matt Barlow, who many fans, even after his exit from the band to work for the Department of Homeland Security following the September 11, 2001 attacks, consider to be "the voice" of Iced Earth. It is also the only Iced Earth album featuring drummer Rodney Beasley. The final track of the album, Dante's Inferno, is based on the famous epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The original album cover is of Lucifer in the Ninth Circle from Gustave Doré's series of engravings based on the work.

This album drew both ire and praise at the same time, anger from the European fans who felt betrayed that Iced Earth chose a different path musically, and in contrast, sold much higher in the USA than their previous albums. The arrival of Barlow began bringing influences from power metal, though this album still retained some of the musical identity of thrash metal from the bands previous albums.

As with Iced Earth and Night of the Stormrider, the 2001 remastered version has a new cover.

Interpretation

Burnt Offerings is said to have been written during a time of turmoil and anger, particularly focusing on a dispute with the band's then record label, Century Media Records. According to interviews with Jon Schaffer, the title track is about the band's struggles with Century Media.

Track listing

1. "Burnt Offerings" (Randall Shawver, Jon Schaffer) – 7:22
2. "Last December" (Schaffer) – 3:23
3. "Diary" (Matt Barlow, Shawver, Schaffer, Dave Abell) – 6:14
4. "Brainwashed" (Shawver, Schaffer) – 5:22
5. "Burning Oasis" (Shawver, Schaffer, Abell) – 6:00
6. "Creator Failure" (Barlow, Shawver, Schaffer, Abell) – 6:02
7. "The Pierced Spirit" (Shawver, Schaffer, Abell) – 1:54
8. "Dante's Inferno" (Schaffer) – 16:26

Personnel

Band members

• Jon Schaffer − rhythm guitar, vocals, producer
• Matthew Barlow − lead vocals
• Randall Shawver − lead guitar
• Dave Abell − bass
• Rodney Beasley − drums

Additional musicians

• Howard Helm − keyboards

Miscellanea

• The opening line to Burnt Offerings, "I was betrayed. Look what your God has done to me!" is taken from the 1992 movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula. The same movie was quoted again on 2001's Horror Show.
• The songs "Burnt Offerings," "Brainwashed," "Creator Failure," and "Dante's Inferno" were remastered and released on the 1997 compilation set Days of Purgatory. For this release, "Burnt Offerings" was re-edited to include "the original intro," while "Dante's Inferno" was remixed.