Review by Adam M on July 10, 2025.

This was an enjoyable album that refined the outfit’s sound into the nicely refined beast of a band that they are today.  It has a classic feel, but is also more modern than other albums of the same ilk.  Fans of older bands like Iron Maiden will find a lot to like here, but they bring a more modern flair to the game with huge riffs and epic choruses.

The musicianship is stellar with crisp guitars and very solid singing that is memorable and catchy.  This also has a nice vocal performance from Matt Barlow that is strong and stands out from the pack.  This is a very fund recording that is quite well-produced and nice to listen to overall.  It is the most pristine album ever, but fairly well put together.

In terms of flaws, the album can be fairly generic sounding at times and offers vry little to separate itself from other similar sounding recordings.  It is an album that uses a straightforward sound and this is detrimental to the album.  It could be more original and this is almost certainly negative with the work. 

All in all, this was a fun work that is one of the more notable traditional styled albums around.  It has lots of ballads which spice things up and makes this more compelling.  All in all, this was a fun album, but largely recommended to fans of the band in particular.

Rating: 7.5/10

Review by Luka on April 30, 2001.

America’s underground metal heroes deliver again. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (what a title!) turns out to be a satisfying metal record with the usual Iced Earth trademark of just missing "something" that makes it really great. That "something" sure is "wicked" all right, hahaha. "Burnt Offerings" had it but Iced Earth seem to have lost it since then, not a good sign, I have to say. I was expecting a lot more from Shaffer and the crew after the disappointing "The Dark Saga".

OK, so the first half, or 3 quarters actually, of the CD annoy me because I keep having to press ‘skip’ on my player to avoid the boring slow, "emotional" tracks: 2. "Melancholy", 4. "Watching Over Me", 6. "Consequences" (blech!!!) 8. "Reaping Stone" and 10. "Blessed Are You" come on, what bullshit! I thought I bought a metal record. Shaffer, you tried to write a few good ballads but turns out you suck at it so how about you never do this again and stick to your mighty shredding!

On the other hand, the odd number tracks are totally fast and heavy and just rip up the phony emotions of the slow songs with rage and fury I had no idea Iced Earth possessed. 3. "Disciples of the Lie", 5. "Stand Alone", and especially 7. "My Own Savior": pure ass kickage! The first track "Burning Times" is kind of a mix between the two song types and strangely ends up annoying me even more than the slow tracks.

Count the first 10 songs as a strange prelude to the album that seems to endlessly shift from good to bad and fast to slow to the three final songs that are the very -heart- of the album: the "Something Wicked" trilogy. Halfway through the first trilogy song, the whole album picks up and whirls you around like a mad hurricane for no less than 15 minutes! The Iced Earth boys rip, shred, scream, and pound through the songs based on Egyptian mythology with a weird twist by Jon Schaffer. The Anti-Christ brings the Apocalypse from the sands of Egypt and Iced Earth are the newscast. Simply fucking amazing music, the last three songs seem to make your $20 finally worth it.

Gotta give the artists credit for the totally cool cover as well.

Bottom Line: A totally ripping metal album with a seemingly boring 40 minute intro. Nothing happens until the very end, and what a fucking end it is!

Rating: 8 out of 10