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ICED EARTH Mainman Comments On BARACK OBAMA's Election Victory

November 13, 2008

During a recent interview with Straight.com, guitarist/mainman Jon Schaffer of the American power-metal quintet ICED EARTH offered his opinion on Barack Obama's epochal election victory on November 4.

"Obama's charming, and his victory speech was eloquent," said Schaffer. "But during the election they tried to make it look like we're in horrible, dark times. As a student of history, I can tell you we're nowhere near what it was like during the Great Depression. Now you have a bunch of ignorant youth who are buying into this media-created frenzy. I just think it's dangerous, man. Hopefully, the guy is a man of integrity and will govern for the whole country, not a far-left agenda."

ICED EARTH singer Matt Barlow was replaced in 2003 by ex-JUDAS PRIEST frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens, whose 1996 supplanting of Rob Halford in PRIEST inspired the Mark Wahlberg movie "Rock Star". But Schaffer, the only constant ICED EARTH member since the '80s, was glad to announce Barlow's return in 2007, and not just because the part-time police officer is also his brother-in-law.

"I was always very happy to work with Tim in the studio," Schaffer clarified. "If there's something that can be done with the human voice, he'll do it. The problem came down to his commitment to the band. Frankly, the feeling with Tim was that he wasn't really a true believer. I think he was more consumed with doing his own thing, and it started to affect the onstage vibe."

Read the entire interview from Straight.com.

Fan-filmed video footage of ICED EARTH's September 24, 2008 concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania can be viewed below (clip uploaded by YouTube user "FritzIsMetal").

"Ten Thousand Strong":

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