Burnt Offerings

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 vocalist Matt Barlow and was 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 most of the musical identity of thrash metal from the bands previous albums.