Iced Earth - Tim Owens is replaced by... (Holy crap!)

Karl Hungus

MATT BARLOW!!!! :eek:

http://icedearth.com/

Can't believe it! The man, the legend, he's back! Matt was always part of what made Iced Earth so great, and as good a singer Owens is, I just didn't think his voice fitted in with the material.

This is great new!

Arucard

this is truly awesome news
im a big fan of Owens, but goddammit you just cant beat Barlow in Iced Earth. looking forward to the next installment of the Something Wicked concept, muahahaha

SirLemonhead

Poor Tim..NOT AGAIN

GhostInTheRuins

****in A!. That's all that needs to be said.

I wonder whats happening to the new Pyramaze album Barlow was going to be on?.....**** it, who cares, he's back it IE!!!

Thundercracker

While out on the European tour I had several in depth discussions with many loyal Iced Earth fans. A common theme of these discussions was how much Matt is missed. I agreed with the fans that things were not the same and that it was a very special period in Iced Earth’s history.

I must say I wished now I had actually gone to see them play, and made the effort to spend the money, because I really liked the Glorious Burden and felt it was one of their best albums. I like Matt being back, but, its a bit of a disappointment now if they ever come back.

Zapp Brannigan

Sweet Jesus! This is amazing news! Poor Ripper though, another band he's gotten the boot from cos the proper singer has come back!

Roll on SWTTC Part 2!!

GhostInTheRuins

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Sweet Jesus! This is amazing news! Poor Ripper though, another band he's gotten the boot from cos the proper singer has come back!

Roll on SWTTC Part 2!!

I think Ripper Owens knew he was just hired in to be part of Jon's band, much like everyone else in IE. At least now he can go and do another album with Beyond Fear, it suits him better than IE ever did anyway.

The one thing I can hope for is that they might re-record Framing Armageddon with Barlow, just like they got Ripper to re-record the wicked trillogy. I'll probably buy it if they do but I suppose I can dream on

GLaDOS

Thank God I really didn't like Tim at all =/ Can't Wait for the next album now

OctavarIan

Fantastic news, can't stand Tim Owens at all. I'll be able to go see em live now as well.

Karl Hungus

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Poor Ripper though, another band he's gotten the boot from cos the proper singer has come back!

It's very unfortunate that he's in that position yet again, and to be fair to him, he's a great singer technically, but I think he lacks a lot of character in his vocals; It's just typical and generic. Matt Barlow had a much deeper, more powerful vocal with more range, that I though suited the Iced Earth sound so much better. I do feel sorry for Tim Owens, but it's like Maiden without Dickinson.

silverwing

Tim can't seem to catch a break

SirLemonhead

Ah you can't consider Tim to be typical and generic, especially if you've heard everything he's recorded. I always thought he sounded his best on the Winter's Bane record and the Beyond Fear stuff. The IE and Priest stuff always disappointed me slightly..

Karl Hungus

MasterOfSolos wrote: »

Ah you can't consider Tim to be typical and generic, especially if you've heard everything he's recorded. I always thought he sounded his best on the Winter's Bane record and the Beyond Fear stuff. The IE and Priest stuff always disappointed me slightly..

Fair enough, I've only heard his work with Priest and Iced Earth, so maybe he's got more to offer.

Oral Slang

Delighted to hear this.. Liked Ripper Owens well enough, but loved Matt Barlow.

neGev

Jon Shaffer should probably spend more time trying to fix his increasingly poor songwriting than worrying about who's doing vocals.

Also, I may be wrong here, but aren't Iced Earth in the middle of a two part epic, with a lot of the songwriting already done?
So not only will the songs have been written for Owens, who won't be doing vocals, but there's going to be an epic half done by one vocalist and half done by another.

GhostInTheRuins

MasterOfSolos wrote: »

Ah you can't consider Tim to be typical and generic, especially if you've heard everything he's recorded. I always thought he sounded his best on the Winter's Bane record and the Beyond Fear stuff. The IE and Priest stuff always disappointed me slightly..

I kind of agree with you here, if you listen to Beyond Fear (I've never heard Winter's Bane) you'll realise he can stand on his own and is a fairly decent vocalist but if you compare him to either Halford or Barlow (Which is all people do when they talk about him) he just can't compete and usually ends up sounding emotionless and boring. Just have a look on youtube for some clips of him singing some of Barlow's songs, horrible.

neGev wrote: »

Jon Shaffer should probably spend more time trying to fix his increasingly poor songwriting than worrying about who's doing vocals.

Also, I may be wrong here, but aren't Iced Earth in the middle of a two part epic, with a lot of the songwriting already done?
So not only will the songs have been written for Owens, who won't be doing vocals, but there's going to be an epic half done by one vocalist and half done by another.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Ripper and Barlow have vastly different vocal styles so the two albums will lose any sort of continuity, so the only sensible option I think they have is to re-record Framing Armageddon or abandon part 2 completely. I can't see either of those happening though.

Ronan|Raven

I blame myself for being half asleep still but for one moment there I thought you said Gary Barlow has joined Iced Earth!

Fozzy

The new album is out early next year is it not? It'd be recorded by now if it is, so it'd just have Tim on vocals for both parts of it

I liked Tim, Matt's a little bit greater though

neGev

From the statement:

Jon Shaffer wrote:

Matt will be singing on Part 2 of the Something Wicked concept CD...

LightofDarkness

Great stuff, I only really liked one album of theirs, Burnt Offerings, but I just don't like Tim's vocals, Barlow has a much deeper and more powerful voice.