The year 1991. The band's second album launches with the incredible Angel Holocaust, not without Wagnerian influences in the intro. One might wonder where THERION drew inspiration for their "Theli," heh... I must say, the vocalist change (a situation all too familiar for ICED EARTH) allowed Jon Schaffer and company to raise the bar. It was precisely on "Night Of The Stormrider" that the American brigade's distinctive identity manifested with full force.
The hyper-speed Pure Evil and The Path I Choose, for instance, remain the band's secret weapon, saved for the encore to this day. Moving on — Desert Rain is preceded by a peyote-laced intro straight from an Indian fakir's repertoire. The somber Travel In Stygian — besides delighting with its excellent chorus — concludes with a short piano piece that organically returns the listener to the real world.
Morrisound finally got accustomed to the band's unusual sound, and this time around the rough edges were fewer. Not quite a monolith, but something very close to it.