Based on your interests, I'd have to recommend Something Wicked This Way Comes or Burnt Offerings. SWTWC has a bit more thrashy feel to it, and Burnt Offerings seemsa bit more influenced by Celtic Frost and other early death metal. Overall, both albums are signature IE power/thrash.

You can read below to get a general breakdown of all the albums and choose which one you think you should get.

Iced Earth on the whole is a mix of thrash and power metal. The best description I could think of would be Iron Maiden on steroids, with lot's of thrash rythms sections thrown into the mix. They stick with Maiden's signature gallop, of course, only speeding it up quite a bit, and throwing in lot's of variation between the 8th and 16th notes.

They've gone through four singers, though my favorite, Matt Barlow, was with them for the longest time, lasting from albums 3-7. There new singer, Tim "The Ripper" Owens, is also kick ass as well, though he doesn't have quite the same feel as Barlow, though I don't think any singer will ever be able to match Barlow, ever.

Overall, Iced Earth's sound has evolved from being very riff oriented power/thrash metal, to being more prog, all the while keeping that same signature IE sound. Their first two albums (Iced Earth and Night of the Stormrider) seemed a bit "cut & paste" in my opinion. They contained loads of awesome riffs, but for the most part, they seemed to just be thrown together one after the other. It was still some really great music, though.

Their third album, Burnt Offerings, was a bit of a step up from their previous releases, and songs started to flow together a bit more smoothly. It was with this album that Matt Barlow entered the scene, which truly makes it stand out above it's two predecessors.

Their fourth album, The Dark Saga, was probably a breakthrough for the band in trems of song construction and overall production values. Every song felt whole and complete, and flowed very smoothly. The mixing was done perfectly. Many look down upon this album, however, as it's a bit on the slow side, though it's one of my favs, and the final track is truly an epic to behold.

The fourth and fifth albums, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Horror Show, are by far their best. Which one I prefer usually depends on which one I'm listening to at the time, lol. Overall, however, I'd say that the song construction is more consistent on Horror Show, but SWTWC has so many stellar tracks that it makes up for any weak ones that may be on the album. Actually, none of them are weak, just merely different. SWTWC has a few tracks, like Stand Alone and My Own Savior, that are a bit more thrashy than the usual IE, and then there's the somewhat bluesy Reaping Stone. On the whole, every song still has that signature IE feel to it, and you won't be disappointed. The Something Wicked trilogy at the end is probably the best IE has ever produced. Horror Show, however, has two of my all-time favorite IE tracks, Damien and the Phantom Opera Ghost. Damien is probably one of the most epic songs I've ever heard in my life.

Matt Barlow then left the band just prior to recording the 6th album, the Glorious Burden, because of personal issues. He became a cop, but he is now planning to return to metal fronting another great power metal band, Pyramaze. With TGB saw the arrival of Tim Owens, who previously sung for Judas Priest when Halfrod left for a while, and also fronts his own band, Beyond Fear. The 6th album is a really good album, imo, though many don't like it due to the vocals. They were designed for Matt, but I still think Tim did an excellent job, especially on the Gettysburg (1863) Trilogy. High Water Mark, the finale of the trilogy, will forever be my favorite song of all time. It's truly epic, though it may have a somewhat special impact for me, having had ancestors who fought in the War Between the States, and being an avid Southern supporter myself. This trilogy also contained some minor prog elements compared to past IE works (some violins, whoopee.. :P).

Their latest release, Framing Armageddon, is the first of two albums (the next being recorded as I type, and should release in early '08) that cover the tale from the original Something Wicked trilogy in much more detail. Tim Owens' vocals really standout on the album, and on the whole the album has a very prog feel to it. It even reminds me of Kamelot sometimes, though, as always, keeping that signature IE feel to it. The guitars tend to be a bit quiter than usual, often overpowered by the vocal lines, so sometimes the awesome riffage will go unnoticed until the 2-3rd listen.

So why did I type all of this? I dunno, my fingers just started flying. This is just how I get whenever Iced Earth is mentioned. :P

And if you read all of this, bravo good chap!