Iced Earth - Dark Saga

What? you haven't heard of Iced Earth? They've only been around since, well, longer then me. They got together back in 1984, released their first CD in 1988, and have been pumping out new CD's almost every year or two since. Sure, the band members have changed a lot, and the lead guitarist/songwriter, Jon Schaffer, is the only original member still there, but they still rock!
What impresses me about these guys is that they are one of the few great Progressive Metal bands out of North America, 99% of them seem to come from the U.K. and Japan (oddly). Iced Earth also does a lot to appeal to their fanbase. They know what their listeners want, take a lot of their feedback, and use it to improve their music. They have done the CD "Tribute to the Gods" which was a cover CD of all their favourite bands and songs, another CD retold famous historical battles such as Waterloo through Heavy Metal, and a whole CD based off the comic character "Spawn." Jon Schaffer is even planning to create a graphic novel based on his character and band mascot, Set Abominae.
Also, with lack of finding a non-live performance of this song, I used the AMV I watched when I first heard these guys years ago. I know this is a music blog, but Final Fantasy 9 was one of the greatest of the series, and is seriously under rated. Just think of the setting: Steampnk + Midevil Fantasy + awesome magical summon monsters = Flawless Victory. Sure, the main villain was (very) flaky, and the final boss came from no where, but the rest of the story and characters are solid.
Anyways, enough Video Game ranting, here is the video... I mean song...

--Jeffrey