ICED EARTH to release the long-awaited 'Gettysburg' DVD. This unique release will feature the epic work "Gettysburg (1863)" from 2004's 'The Glorious Burden' stepping out of its stereo confines and expanding into a powerful 5.1-channel surround-sound mix. In fact, there will be two different surround-sound mixes (one "metal" and one "theatrical"), set to moving images. Additionally, the DVD will feature a historical commentary from the Gettysburg battlefield, and an in-depth interview with Jon Schaffer.

ICED EARTH have parted ways with guitarist Larry Tarnowski on the eve of the recording sessions for the group's new CD, tentatively titled "Glorious Burden". "[Larry] will continue his studies and we wish him all the best for his future endeavors," ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer wrote on the band's official web site. "There will be a few different guest appearances on the record for the solo's and we will be deciding on a touring replacement in the near future. I'll be making that decision after the recording and will let [everyone] know who it will be in the next few months."

"Next week we begin recording drum tracks and the next [ICED EARTH album] is fully underway," Schaffer revealed. "We will be doing everything but the drums in my studio. The drums and the mix will be done in Tampa at Morrisound [Studios]. [Producer] Jim Morris and I will be flying to Prague to record the symphony in mid-May as it stands right now. I'm very much looking forward to that. We are kicking around the idea of a full surround sound mix of 'Gettysburg' on the DVD audio format as a bonus disc. We are checking on costs and all that fun stuff now to see if it's possible. I've always wanted to do this and this epic is the perfect choice for it.

"Also, we will be auctioning off the [ICED EARTH] drum kit for charity on ebay, but it will have to be after the recording due to my intense schedule."

ICED EARTH's follow-up to 2001's "Horror Show" is due in late August/early September through SPV/Steamhammer Records.

With re-mixed & re-mastered versions of Iced Earth, Night Of The Storm Rider, and Burnt Offerings scheduled for re-release with all new artwork on October 1st, the history of ICED EARTH--one of the prides of the metal underground--will be recirculated. As with everything else in the natural world, everything has its roots. In the upcoming Tribute To The Gods album (due out on November 12th), founding member, songwriter and guitarist Jon Schaffer shares some gems in his ticket stub collection and digs a bit deeper to reveal his very personal stories surrounding the bands he grew up listening to. For example:

"Iron Maiden came through Fort Wayne supporting Number Of The Beast opening for .38 Special, but I was grounded. You won't believe how many cool concerts I missed because I was grounded [laughs]. The next year [1983] with Piece Of Mind, they came through and headlined in Fort Wayne, and that's the ticket stub fans will see in the liner notes. School was already out for summer and whatever it was me and my buddies were doing, we left early and walked to the venue, The Fort Wayne Coliseum, from our neighborhood. That was quite a hike. We left at 11 in the morning. The crew guys were outside taking a break, they were passing around a bottle of Jack Daniels and playing frisbee. We were hanging out talking to them, doing a couple of shots of whiskey trying to be cool, and then I remember the band pulling up in their bus a few hours later. They all got off the bus and I was having a hard time speaking. At that point, I was just this gigantic fan, of Steve Harris especially, because with Number Of The Beast, it just intrigued me... Who is writing this shit? As I was reading the lyrics and the liner notes and seeing Harris everywhere, I was like, 'This guy is the fuckin' MAN.' So when it came time to try to speak to him, I just couldn't. I had this homemade shirt on, where I had taken my mom's red fingernail polish and had drawn the Killers logo dripping in blood on this white t-shirt, and I think I said something like, 'Can you sign my Killers... I mean, my shirt?' I felt like an idiot. I was shaking. It was a big deal to me, getting to talk to him for just a few seconds, shake his hand, get his autograph... it's something you hold onto forever. I was down in the 2nd or 3rd row that night, and I was completely, absolutely mesmerized by him, the way he played and his intensity. I've never been the same since."

The tracklisting for Tribute To The Gods is:

01. Creatures Of The Night (KISS)
02. Number Of The Beast (IRON MAIDEN)
03. Highway To Hell (AC/DC)
04. Screaming For Vengeance (JUDAS PRIEST)
05. Hallowed Be Thy Name (IRON MAIDEN)
06. God Of Thunder (KISS) -- featuring Jon Schaffer on vocals
07. Burnin' For You (Blue Öyster Cult)
08. Black Sabbath (BLACK SABBATH)
09. It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) (AC/DC)
10. Dead Babies (ALICE COOPER)
11. Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll (Blue Öyster Cult)

Jon has confirmed that he will be attending the upcoming ProgPower Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Stay tuned for an autograph session announcement.

Sept. 3 NOCTURNAL RITES - Shadowland
Sept. 3 …AND OCEANS - Cypher
Sept. 3 INTO ETERNITY - Dead Or Dreaming
Sept. 17 SHADOWS FALL - The Art of Balance
Oct. 1 ICED EARTH - Iced Earth (reissue)
Oct. 1 ICED EARTH - Night of the Stormrider (reissue)
Oct. 1 ICED EARTH - Burnt Offerings (reissue)
Oct. 15 YAKUZA - Way of the Dead
Oct. 29 AVANTASIA - The Metal Opera Pt. 2
Oct. 29 LACUNA COIL - Comalies
Oct. 29 ROTTING CHRIST - Genesis
Oct. 29 UNLEASHED - Victory/Warrior (2-on-1 reissue)
Nov 12 ICED EARTH - Tribute To The Gods
Nov 12 BLOODBATH - Resurrection Through Carnage

Here are some of the latest sales figures for various current and catalog metal/hard rock releases in the US (in total units sold to date since the albums were issued), as reported by Soundscan for the week ending February 24th, 2002:

AMEN - Amen: 16,353
AMEN - We Have…: 15,789
ANTHRAX - Sound Of White Noise: 511,105
ANTHRAX - Stomp 442: 114,974
ANTHRAX - Volume 8: 77,858
BIOHAZARD - Urban Discipline: 204,799
BIOHAZARD - State Of The World Address: 198,663
BIOHAZARD - Mata Leao: 51,377
BIOHAZARD - New World Disorder: 50,936
BIOHAZARD - Uncivilization: 18,835
C.O.C. - Wiseblood: 141,383
C.O.C. - America's Volume…: 52,170
CANNIBAL CORPSE - Gallery…: 51,164
CANNIBAL CORPSE - Bloodthirst: 36,128
DESTRUCTION - All Hell Breaks Loose: 3,080
DESTRUCTION - The Antichrist: 1,692
DREAM THEATER - Awake: 272,044
DREAM THEATER - Falling Into Infinity: 142,167
EXODUS - Force Of Habit: 52,262
EXODUS - Another Lesson In Violence: 7,241
GLASSJAW - Everything You Ever…: 35,306
HALFORD - Resurrection: 60,275
HALFORD - Live Insurrection: 24,478
JUDAS PRIEST - Jugulator: 108,009
JUDAS PRIEST - Demolition: 40,945
ICED EARTH - Something Wicked…: 40,336
ICED EARTH - Horror Show: 29,838
IRON MAIDEN - Brave New World: 233,706
KING DIAMOND - Spider's Lullaby: 29,214
KING DIAMOND - Voodoo: 32,785
MERCYFUL FATE - Dead Again: 22,195
MERCYFUL FATE - 9: 20,729
KREATOR - Violent Revolution: 2,351
MACHINE HEAD - Burn My Eyes: 144,465
MACHINE HEAD - The More Things Change…: 114,648
MACHINE HEAD - The Burning Red: 133,421
MACHINE HEAD - Supercharger: 41,622
MEGADETH - Youthanasia: 890,015
MEGADETH - Risk: 303,472
MEGADETH - The World Needs A Hero: 191,852
MORBID ANGEL - Formulas…: 42,819
MORBID ANGEL - Gateways…: 30,372
SEPULTURA - Chaos A.D.: 450,365
SEPULTURA - Roots: 355,471
SEPULTURA - Nation: 54,160
SKINLAB - Bound, Gagged…: 14,756
SKINLAB - Disembody…: 35,324
SLAYER - God Hates Us All: 170,411
SOIL - Scars: 112,614
TESTAMENT - Low: 112,365
TESTAMENT - Gathering: 50,301
VOIVOD - Outer Limits: 21,355
VOIVOD - Negatron: 8,044
VOIVOD - Phobos: 3,687

February 5th
THE CROWN - The Burning (reissue)
THE CROWN - Eternal Death (reissue)
SACRILEGE - Lost In The Beauty You Slay/The Fifth Season (2-on-1 reissue)
WARMEN - Beyond Abilities

February 19th
ONWARD - Reawaken

March 5th
ROYAL HUNT - The Watchers
ANGEL DUST - Of Human Bondage
ICED EARTH - Dark Genesis (limited to 3000 copies)

March 19th
BLIND GUARDIAN - A Night At The Opera
DIMMU BORGIR - Stormblast

Apr. 2nd
ARCH ENEMY - Wages of Sin (w/bonus disc)

Beautiful surprise... but don't get too excited soon! They recorded new album, yes, that's exctaly what they did. But... on this compilated "work" are 5 albums. Only one of them is "the new one". It's a Tribute to the Gods. 1.) Creatures Of The Night (Kiss) 2.) Number Of The Beast (Iron Maiden) 3.) Highway To Hell (AC/DC) 4.) Burnin' For You (Blue Oyster Cult) 5.) God Of Thunder (Kiss) 6.) Screaming For Vengence (Judas Priest) 7.) Dead Babies (Alice Cooper) 8.) Cities On Flame (Blue Oyster Cult) 9.) Long Way To The Top (AC/DC) 10.) Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath) 11.) Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden) Other 4 albums are old: - Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider - Burnt Offerings - Enter the Realm

ICED EARTH will be the opening act at two weeks’ worth of dates on MEGADETH’s headlining US tour, starting on October 20th in Cedar Point, North Carolina. According to MEGADETH bassist Dave Ellefson, "we figured it best to continue a good thing with this than take a break and come back with a second leg [of our headlining tour] and I think ICED EARTH will rock everyone's world." Here are the confirmed MEGADETH/ICED EARTH US dates:
Oct. 20 - Cedar Point, NC @ 105/101 Pure Rock Bash
Oct. 21 – Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
Oct. 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Roxy Theater
Oct. 24 – Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
Oct. 25 - Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
Oct. 27 - Ft. Wayne, IN @ Pieres
Oct. 28 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts
Oct. 30 - La Crosse, WI @ Hollywood Theater
Oct. 31 – Wausau, WI @ Bases Loaded
Nov. 01 – Rockford, IL @ The Times Theater
Nov. 02 - Combined Locks, WI @ Ryan's Ballroom
Nov. 03 – Lafayette, IN @ Riehle Brothers Pavillion.
In other news, ICED EARTH will now NOT be able to join JUDAS PRIEST on the latter band’s rescheduled US tour, because of ICED EARTH’s previous European touring commitments. Source: BLABBERMOUTH.NET