Images & Words is brilliant and very different in overall approach from everything else that was happening in 1992. Plus it succeeded commercially despite a million different market factors working against it, which is rather impressive. I know people years ago who hated it...but they inevitably come around to its festive melodic sense.

Oh, and 'Surrounded' is a great ballad, LaBrie and all.

This album is for those whose emo moments are moments of incandescent rage that don't understand how the world can continue to exist in the face of such karmic injustice.

This album is for those who don't know how 80s metal fun could have disappeared in the 90s. I mean it did, but Iced Earth didn't notice. There's a reason why apparently the band appeared on Kerrang's cover more than other band ever. This song is beyond the metal **** though.

this is so shred

Musically I love Slayer more than this, but Slayer (and most metal in general) doesn't express the same emotions that Unbroken do. If you want to know what's going on just underneath the surface of my mind at just about any moment -- the rage, the desperation, the misanthropy, the yearning to destroy yourself as you destroy the world -- then just turn this on and you've got me pegged. At this point in my life this isn't even cathartic, it's just one of the only ways to tap into my actual emotions and not just feel bland.