Originally Posted by Tim Owens

I completed the [Heaven and Hell] tour [with Iced Earth] and was getting ready to work on [Iced Earth's forthcoming album 'Something Wicked Part II']. I was actually supposed to be in my car and leaving that night [from Tim's home in Ohio] and decided, since I didn't hear from Jon [Schaffer, Iced Earth mainman], I would wait until the morning to leave to go his house [in Indiana] and work on it. And the time I was supposed to be already gone, I just happened to go on my computer to see if Jon e-mailed me about what time he wants me there tomorrow is when I got the e-mail saying I wasn't in the band. And that was at 5:30. 5:40 — it was like 5:42 or 5:43 — I got my first e-mail from somebody, and then my first call came in at 5:45, saying, 'Man, I just heard.' [Laughs] My oldest daughter said to me, 'Man, what [would have happened] if you weren't home? That would have really sucked.' So the whole thing, really, was not handled in the way that I think it should have been. It's an unfortunate situation and an unfortunate ending.

[...]

It really got worse for me after I did Beyond Fear, because Beyond Fear was actually one of the better-reviewed CDs across the board that I've done. It might not have [gotten] as many 10s as maybe 'The Glorious Burden' did, but it definitely didn't [get] as many 2s and 3s as 'The Glorious Burden' did either. So it was one of the best-reviewed CDs I've ever done, and I wrote the whole album — I mean, half of it I wrote all by myself and the other half I wrote with John Comprix, the guitar player. So I think it got even worse then. But that is what it is. What's funny now is they have to get the old singer back although all Jon ever said in interviews… I think it's more of a… 'they need that, they need to get Matt [Barlow, Iced Earth's singer who preceded and followed Tim in the band] back' and I agree — Matt's a great guy and a great singer. All Jon ever said was — and still will say it — is he writes all the stuff. 'I tell Matt what to sing.' It's what he always said and it's what he did with me.