Dante's Inferno

"Dante's Inferno" is a song by the American heavy metal band Iced Earth. The song was originally released on the group's 1995 album Burnt Offerings, and was re-recorded in 2011, with the current line-up of the band. "Dante's Inferno" is also one of the longest songs the band has ever recorded, with the original clocking in at sixteen minutes and twenty-six seconds and the re-recorded version clocking in at seventeen minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Lyrics The song is based on the Inferno -segment of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. In it, Dante travels through the nine circles of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. The circles are concentric, representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the centre of the earth, where Satan is held in bondage. Each circle's sinners are punished in a fashion fitting their crimes: each sinner is afflicted for all of eternity by the chief sin they committed. Live After its release in 1995, the song was only performed live in 1999, for the Alive in Athens concert. Rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer later shed light on why the song was only played at said concert: