As ICED EARTH’s latest album Framing Armageddon approaches, singer Tim Owens (BEYOND FEAR, ex-JUDAS PRIEST) talked with Metal Asylum.net in New Jersey about his work on the disc and some of the challenges vocally that came with it, plus the future of his other band Beyond Fear.

MetalAsylum.net: Do you find that Framing Armageddon is closer to what the fans, and critics, expectations may be for Iced Earth than what came out of The Glorious Burden?

Owens: "I don’t know really (laughs), to me it’s the same type of thing that happened when I was in Judas Priest. And it’s the fact that I’m in a band that has never really been the same with every record. I mean with Iced Earth musically you could tell, but musically things changed chorus’ were different, moods were different. But I think this one as a whole is more back to the roots of Iced Earth and taking everything they have done up till now and mixing it in one record. You know people say Iced Earth is really a heavy band but they do have a couple balls out heavy songs per album, and then you have a couple slow ones, and then there are the mid tempo ones. I think Framing Armageddon is a great CD and I can't see an Iced Earth fan not liking it."

MetalAsylum.net: Since “Glorious Burden” was the first Iced Earth album you sang on, what is different the second time around now for you as a singer.

Owens: "It's similar vocal wise because John (Schaffer) has always said he always writes the same. He said he always wrote for a singer like me. He said in a lot of interviews that Matt (Barlow - former singer) use to write lyrics but John writes all the melodies and vocal parts. And he doesn’t write em for the singer in the band at the time, he writes them the way he thinks they should be sung. I know I naturally have a higher voice but I do wish I could sing more of the lower parts. I know with this album I was their when it was written, I went in their and did the demos and sang the parts. John said here’s the lyrics and melody and I want you to deliver it, here’s what I would like you to deliver it like but you do what you feel. So that’s what was cool about this album. The Glorious Burden was probably an easier album for me to sing than this one, even though it was already written when I came into the band. But when I go back and try to sing some of the stuff on Framing Armageddon I’m just like 'holy shit what did I do?'”

MetalAsylum.net: Speaking of what you are singing on “Framing Armageddon”, I was going to ask was there anything challenging to do on this record?

Owens: "Definitely. I think there is a difference between a songwriter and a singer and John (Schaffer) is a song writer and I think he forgets sometimes that I have to breath (laughs). And I do to I have to remember also in the heat of the moment while I am in the studio recording so its my fault, but then again when I have to go back and sing some of this stuff again you know. It's like 'Ten Thousand Strong' that’s just balls out and when we were doing it in rehearsal I was like 'man this is tough.' It’s a natural high voice with no room to breath, its fun and challenging. There was stuff we did for Beyond Fear that was the same way but the difference is we rehearsed those songs first before we recorded those. I mean with new Iced Earth album there are some registers that John has me reaching that I don’t use that often that I used in the past but not so much of recent. Two singers that were always like that were Bruce Dickinson (IRON MAIDEN) and Ronnie Dio, those are two guys that were always tough to do."

MetalAsylum.net: So before we start talking about the forthcoming Iced Earth album Framing Armageddon, I wanted to ask how your other band Beyond Fear was received by both fans and critics?

Owens: "It went good man, probably that was one of the best reviewed albums I had been part of. I know I really liked that debut album. To go over how well it did with the fans and critics was great. We didn’t get to tour as much as we would have liked, guess since it was our first album, but it was a good surprise. The next one is gonna be even better. We’re gonna do what we did with the last one, take the best parts, and continue on."

MetalAsylum.net: Do you think you may try something different on the next album?

Owens: "It will always be classic metal but I think a lot of the later songs that we recorded for the debut, like 'Scream Machine', became favorites for fans. And lyrics to a song like that were not so serious and more cliché metal lyrics, you know about a metal machine (laughs), so I think some of the new songs may go in that direction. We are still gonna have songs like 'Save Me' but I think it will probably have some more aggression. We have been writing now, John Comprix and I, for a while, I have a lot of ideas and melodies in my head that I really can’t use anywhere else (laughs). Its nice I get to use em for Beyond Fear. I mean I have been a writer for many years but I don’t get to do it as much as I would like and Iced Earth just keeps me so busy but its nice that every once and a while I get to do my thing with Beyond Fear. And we get to take our time with this band and practice together. I mean that’s what I want to hear with all my influences on one album that’s what I like to do with Fear."

You can read the entire interview here.