Metal-Rules.com recently caught up with ICED EARTH / BEYOND FEAR vocalist Tim Owens to discuss the forthcoming Iced Earth album, Framing Armageddon. The following is a brief excerpt from the story:

Metal Rules: As a singer, isn't it sometimes difficult for you to keep things (bands) separate from each other?

Owens: "No, no, it’s my voice, I don’t disguise it for each band and sing differently. I just sing. Singing in Iced Earth is like putting on a glove, it’s ME when I sing, old stuff or new stuff, and I fit right in with it. It’s great to do; it’s not a change if you think of it."

Metal-Rules: Some old school fans of Iced Earth still keep on asking why Matt isn’t in the band, is Tim as good as him and 'blah blah blah...

Owens: "Well, you’ll always get it. I mean there are still fans that liked the singer before Matt. I actually still hear that. That’s how it is, Matt was a good singer and a good guy and people should do that. I think people should always want Matt, but they have to still look to the future, and open their ears up and listen, come to the concert and listen. But you’re always going to get it…"

Metal-Rules: Did you manage to put your own input to the songwriting process of the new songs, because the last time, you basically came in and did the vocals for the previous album.

Owens: "It was hard with this one as well, because this is Jon’s story, it’s in his head, so it’s hard to come in, you know. The advantage to this record is that there wasn’t somebody singing on it before me, so it was wider open for Jon’s ideas, to write material that he knew could even branch out something a little bit different. But it’s a story, that’s the great thing about it; I said that the whole time. It’s a pretty complicated story, so it’s hard to write melodies for something you don’t write by yourself. It’s complicated for Jon to talk about, so you can imagine…"

Metal-Rules: Speaking of lyrics, the last time you had lyrics about different fighting and war things and now it’s more about fantasy things. Which kind of lyrics do you prefer more to sing about, like war, fantasy or realistic ones?

Owens: "I’ll sing about anything! I enjoyed singing 'Gettysburg'... it was just awesome to sing, because it’s such an amazing piece, the three songs were quite amazing and to be able to do that live, was pretty spectacular, it’s not something you pull off. I’m not a sci-fi guy, and that’s pretty much something with a sci-fi type of thing. But it has such a human element to it, it’s not robots coming down. It’s almost like a human…you know what I mean? Let’s say, its non-fiction, put it that way. But I actually like singing just about normal stuff myself, something that you can feel, understand and know what’s going on."

Metal-Rules: So it feels kind of corny to be singing about wizards and demons and dragons and swords…

Owens. "Well I did it on the Beyond Fear record, I sang about it on 'Scream Machine' and it was written that way to kind of be a little tongue in cheek, kind of a Judas Priest song. It was the last song I wrote for the record and I wrote it to be a nod, to kind of say to Priest that I could’ve written on the records if you asked me to. So I wrote 'Scream Machine', which is a very Judas Priest-like song, and lo and behold, it became the most popular song on the record. So, kind of funny that I’m singing about a metal monster coming to get you (laughs) but that’s the great thing about heavy metal, you can write a song about anything from politics to metal monsters, to demons and wizards, to history. And it’s also fun that way, and I would never limit myself to write about one thing."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported, SPV has confirmed the release dates for Iced Earth's forthcoming studio release, Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part I:

Germany: September 7

Rest of Europe: September 10

North America: September 11

Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part I is the first installment of a two disc release that builds upon the Set Abominae storyline first set forth on the band's 1998 Something Wicked This Way Comes release.

The Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part I tracklisting is as follows: 'Overture', 'Something Wicked (Part 1)', 'Invasion', 'Man's Motivation', 'The Setian Massacre', 'A Charge To Keep', 'Reflections', 'Ten Thousand Strong', 'Execution', 'Order Of The Rose', 'The Clouding', 'Infiltrate And Assimilate', 'Retribution Through The Ages', 'Something Wicked (Part 2)', 'The Domino Decree', 'Framing Armageddon', 'When Stars Collide (Born is He)', 'The Awakening'.

Go to this location to read BW&BK; scribe Mark Gromen's exclusive inside look at the forthcoming album.