The numerous line-up changes, that Iced Earth had, inevitably led to a huge delay of writing new material. But it seems that Tim "Ripper" Owens found another way to express his creativity. He formed Beyond Fear just to play the music he likes...Judas Priest music.

The whole album has the feeling of "Jugulator" and "Demolition" and the comparison with these two albums is inevitable. The album starts with "Sream Machine", a song that describes Owens. Songs like "Coming At You" and "I Don't Need This" are realy heavy and you listen to them again and again. And also you'll start thinking that Owens should be with Judas Priest !!!

Owens voice is perfect once again but it is clear that his voice needs powerful music too. Unfortunately this happens only in 3-4 songs. The guitar parts although they are pretty good, they can't accent Ripper's voice. Probably this happens because the production is not the best. The drums are vanished in the backround and the guitars don't sound so heavy as they should be. I realy can't understand how this happened since the album was produced by Jim Morris!

Muscily the ablum is good enough, but it could be much heavier!


Rating: 73/100


TRACK LISTING "Beyond Fear"

1. SCREAM MACHINE 5:33
2. AND...YOU WILL DIE 3:53
3. SAVE ME 3:46
4. THE HUMAN RACE 3:36
5. COMING AT YOU 3:14
6. DREAMS COME TRUE 4:42
7. TELLING LIES 3:21
8. I DON'T NEED THIS 3:30
9. WORDS OF WISDOM 3:47
10. MY LAST WORDS 3:24
11. YOUR TIME HAS COME 4:49
12. THE FAITH 3:38