martindavey87 ‘The Blessed and the Damned’ is a 2004 compilation album by American power metal band Iced Earth, and was compiled by their former record label, Century Media, after the band had left to sign with SPV. Consisting of highlights from all the bands albums between 1990 and 2001, including the ‘Alive in Athens’ live album, this is a solid release which still holds up pretty well today, and is a great summary of the bands first eleven years, serving as a great starting point for newcomers.

As is always the case with these types of collections, there’s always going to be a couple of tracks missing and a few I’d have excluded, but none-the-less, all the major hits are here. From the early days with ‘Iced Earth’, ‘Written on the Walls’ and ‘Angels Holocaust’, to later, more polished tracks like ‘Burning Times’, ‘Wolf’, ‘Watching Over Me’ and ‘Burnt Offerings’, there’s a good, varied track list here to please most fans.

In particular, I’m happy the earlier releases were featured here, as the band re-recorded most of their early tracks with third vocalist Matt Barlow on 1997’s ‘Days of Purgatory’, but to be honest, I actually prefer the original versions, so it’s great to see them get some love.

While there’s a good variety of songs, from fast, intense and aggressive to melodic and epic, a lot of the songs do sound pretty similar, and this can be a little tiresome if listened to in one sitting, especially at just over two hours in duration. But regardless, ‘The Blessed and the Damned’ is a good compilation that does the band justice, and is great as a starting point for new fans or as a collectible for old ones.