ICED EARTH's official web site, IcedEarth.com, has posted an audio interview with the group's leader/guitarist Jon Schaffer conducted on September 4, 2008. In the interview, Jon talks about songs on the new album, how his relationship to songs he writes will always be different from everyone else, the band's new fanclub ("Minions of the Wicked"), the opportunity to meet fans through the VIP ticket package offered on the upcoming North American tour, and much more.
The interview in can be listened to and downloaded MP3 format at this location.
Audio samples of ICED EARTH's new full-length studio album, "The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part II)", have been posted online on the group's MySpace page.
"The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part II)" was released in North America last Tuesday (September 9) via SPV Records.
"The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part II)" track listing:
01. In Sacred Flames 02. Behold THE WICKED Child 03. Minions Of The Watch 04. The Revealing 05. A Gift Or A Curse 06. Crown Of The Fallen 07. The Dimensional Gauntlet 08. I Walk Alone 09. Harbinger Of Fate 10. Crucify The King 11. Sacrificial Kingdoms 11. Something Wicked (Part 3) 12. Divide And Devour 14. Come What May 15. Epilogue
"The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part II)" continues where ICED EARTH's 2007 release, "Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part I)" left off. "The Crucible of Man" features the return of frontman Matt Barlow who was mainman/guitarist Jon Schaffer's original voice of choice to introduce the "Something Wicked" saga back in 1998 as a trio of songs which concluded their album, "Something Wicked This Way Comes".