ICED EARTH Mainman Says Singer TIM OWENS Will Have Little Songwriting Input On New Album

ICED EARTH guitarist/mainman Jon Schaffer recently spoke to LocalMetal.com about his decision to record a concept album based on the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" story first touched up on the 1998 album of the same name. Asked what made him decide to do a second part of "Something Wicked This Way Comes", Schaffer replied, "It's not really a second part. The 'Something Wicked' album, at the end of that record, there's a trilogy, and it's called the 'Something Wicked' trilogy. And that was a teaser to this entire story that I've written. The plan was always to follow up and do a full concept album based on that story that I've written. The problem was I didn't feel like the time was right, and I didn't feel that Century Media at the time was the right label to do it. And, of course, after we had signed with SPV… I always follow my heart, my gut instinct, and at the time I felt it was right to do something like 'The Glorious Burden' — that's what was coming out at the time. And for me as a writer, it just felt like the way to go. Now it feels like the time is right for me to do it, and it will be by far the most ambitious undertaking for me as a songwriter ever, because it's a very complex story, it spans the course of about 12,000 years of human history. It's a science-fiction horror story, conspiracy story. There's so many different elements in it that it's a trip. And what people heard on the trilogy is just really a teaser to what this whole thing is about. It's gonna be awesome."

With regards to how much input vocalist Tim Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST) will have in the songwriting process for the new album, Schaffer said, "Probably not that much, because the story has been there for awhile. Tim doesn't have experience as a songwriter. He's never really been given that opportunity. However, he WILL be given that opportunity in ICED EARTH. It's just that with this, it's kind of a done deal, and he's very aware of that. Also, just because somebody is a great singer doesn't necessarily mean they're a great songwriter, and you can basically ruin your career very quick if you're not careful about the way the writing goes, and Tim is aware of that also. He's doing a side project right now in which he has… It's him and another guitarist, it's a friend of his that's writing most of the material, but Tim is writing and he's gaining experience by doing that, which is a good thing. So we'll see… I mean, obviously, if Tim comes up wit hideas and they're really strong ideas, they'll get used and he'll get credit for it, and he knows that. But he also knows the importance of the decisions in songwriting, and if you're not careful, you can ruin your entire career. We have to be careful… It's funny to me. It blows me away how the human mind works and how people think that just because a guy plays an instrument he must be a songwriter, and that's so far from the truth, it's unbelievable. In all my years of being a professional musician, I've probably met two or three guys that are actual, real songwriters, and there's quite a difference."

Download the audio of Schaffer's entire interview with LocalMetal.com at this location.