Tribute to the Gods is a tribute/cover album by heavy metal band Iced Earth. It is notable as the last Iced Earth album featuring Larry Tarnowski on lead guitar, and the last featuring singer Matt Barlow on vocals until his 2007 return, and their last album with Century Media. This record technically was first released the year before in the box set Dark Genesis, but was re-released as a standalone disc in 2002. It was then re-released as part of the set Enter the Realm of the Gods along with the band's 1989 demo Enter the Realm in 2008 with new cover artwork.Tribute to the Gods is a tribute/cover album by heavy metal band Iced Earth. It is notable as the last Iced Earth album featuring Larry Tarnowski on lead guitar, and the last featuring singer Matt Barlow on vocals until his 2007 return, and their last album with Century Media. This record technically was first released the year before in the box set Dark Genesis, but was re-released as a standalone disc in 2002. It was then re-released as part of the set Enter the Realm of the Gods along with the band's 1989 demo Enter the Realm in 2008 with new cover artwork.false2025-11-08 07:55:38Tribute to the Gods20022002-11-122002-11-127Heavy Metal1122842144937c6eef175-480e-3c8d-b134-6853c7ca5d918a0e10a9-80c7-40e0-bf5b-89f1d57f95372339d25b-6a71-3eb6-9c9e-e51287e1586a/media/data/media4/Music/Iced Earth/Tribute to the Gods/folder.jpgIced EarthIced EarthIced Earth is an American heavy metal band currently composed of only Jon Schaffer, formed in Tampa, Florida and based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist, main songwriter and bandleader Schaffer and original drummer Greg Seymour. Iced Earth released their debut album in 1990 and have since released twelve studio albums, four EPs, three compilations, three box sets, three live albums and eleven music videos.
After releasing the demo EP Enter the Realm (1989) and signing to Century Media Records, the band released two full-length studio albums – Iced Earth (1990) and Night of the Stormrider (1991) – before taking a two-year hiatus from 1992 to 1994, after which the band returned with new lead vocalist Matt Barlow. Iced Earth went on to release four studio albums with him in over half a decade: Burnt Offerings (1995), The Dark Saga (1996), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998) and Horror Show (2001).
After Horror Show, Barlow quit the band and joined the police force, while Iced Earth continued on with Tim "Ripper" Owens, formerly of Judas Priest, on vocals. With Owens, the band released two studio albums (2004's The Glorious Burden and 2007's Framing Armageddon). In late 2007, Barlow rejoined the band, and they recorded one more album with him: The Crucible of Man (2008). In 2011, Barlow once again left Iced Earth, and was replaced by Into Eternity frontman Stu Block. Dystopia, Block's first album with the group, was released that October; the album received a positive response, with some critics calling it one of Iced Earth's best albums. The group recorded two more albums with Block: Plagues of Babylon (2014) and Incorruptible (2017).
Iced Earth has had numerous lineup changes; as of 2021, there had been over thirty musicians in and out of the band since its formation, with Schaffer as the sole constant member. Following Schaffer's January 2021 arrest by the FBI for his involvement in the 2021 United States Capitol attack, the rest of the lineup departed. Schaffer is in FBI custody on felony charges and has resulted in the band being dropped from their longtime label Century Media.