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Fuck yes! Months ago I said he should re-record the original three Something Wicked tracks with Owens on vocals! A great dream of course, but not one I ever thought would come true! Owens better not fuck it up!

I cannot wait for this album!

As far as expectations go?


Best...recordings...byanyoneanywhere...ever!

So many tracks, well, this kind of albums are always dangerous, but I hold great faith in Iced Earth, I just hope Jon knows what is doing, I'm expecting a killer album, no more, no less.

Quoted for truth!

Anyway, I am extremely excited to hear they are moving into the studio soon. Iced Earth is one of my favorite bands and I can't wait to hear new material. I try to keep my expectations down because of the rather mediocre album The Glorious Burden but everytime I hear IE news I get excited again.

Like Bleak said.This kind of albums are dangerous.If Shaffer has several killer songs, from a comercial point of view, he should release two albums instead.
Anyway, i wish him all the best.

That's what he's doing, isn't it? I think I remember reading somewhere they would be released about 6 months apart.

Yeah, he doesn't mention it here, but that's what he said he would do before. Not sure if anything has changed.

EDIT: Apparently we're retarded.


I'm assuming the EP will come out around Summer/Fall. It shouldn't be hard to add Tim's vocals to the existing tracks. But it seems that Jon is planning something bigger than just re-recordings; so who knows when it'll be out.

I'm confused...is Something Wicked Part 1 a new CD with three re-recorded tracks on it?

Iced Earth released an album called Something Wicked This Way comes. The album wasn't a concept album, it just bore the name of a trilogy of tracks at the end of the album. Have you heard them?

Jon mentioned a long time ago that the trilogy was just a taste of something bigger that he intended to write some day. Now is that time. I guess the original trilogy will be called the prequel, or maybe the cliff note version. Haha.

So Ripper is still in the band? I wasn' tsure because of his own project Beyond Fear......

Yeah, Ripper is still in the band. Though I doubt he will be around much longer after the next album/tour, I can't really see Schaffer being put in a situation where he has to "share" his leadsinger with another band (Beyond Fear). Ripper already stated that his priorities are split 50/50 between Iced Earth and Beyond Fear, so who know how long that's gonna last.

Those are just my personal thoughts.

This may sound crazy, but a few years ago (2001?) I read an interview with Jon saying he was making a concept album about a kid who sells his soul to be a rock star, and one of the songs was called "The Tale of a Sale". I'm guessing this is what it turned into. Does anyone remember this?

Okay, I get it. I don't own Something Wicked This Way Comes, but I've been wanting to buy it but I can't find it. I might have to order it...

I don't recall this. Was he joking, maybe? "The Tale of a Sale" seems like it has to be a joke. Hehe.

I said that also.This is something I've been wanting since Owens joned IE.

Can't wait for this and the new album.

Hate to hear that about Jon's dad , but with the bad news also comes the great news concerning the new albums. I can't wait!

The Tale of a Sale was a working title for a song written for The Glorious Burden or Demons & Wizards 2. It was probably scrapped or changed into another lyrical theme.
The theme of Something Wicked is gonna be some sort of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror story, if I understand it correctly.

Considering that I've had been waiting for these two albums ever since Jon announced that he was going to return to the Something Wicked storyline, I'm not as excited as I should be. Here's hoping that Jon doesnt stick too close to the formula for the decent but still overrated Glorious Burden and hopefully brings back at least some of the style and sound that made the original trilogy as good as it is.

Speaking of the original trilogy, I'm gonna have nothing to do with that EP. While I am warming to the idea of having Ripper sing new Iced Earth material, I would still rather him leave the old stuff alone.

I think the idea of re-recording it is a logical thing to do. It'll give consistency to the entire story, the first trilogy of tracks included. Look, the original tracks with Barlow are killer songs! Re-recording them with Owens on vocals won't change that; but I think it's still a good idea.