ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer has issued the following update:

"Just a quick update for you from the road. We had a great weekend playing at Sweden Rock Friday and the Rock Hard festival in Germany on Saturday. The band's having a lot of fun, and today we begin rehearsing the new songs for the forthcoming CD, titled Dystopia. We begin master tracking in Florida in 2 weeks and will be traveling between Europe and the US this summer to play festivals and finish the new album. I can honestly say that I haven't had this many songs give me goose bumps since we recorded Something Wicked This Way Comes, way back in 1998, so this is also very exciting.

As you can imagine, it's a very busy time for us. I think we're all having emotional ups and downs as we're coming to the end of an era with Matt's retirement, and we're also very excited about the future with Stu coming onboard, so it's a little bit of a roller coaster ride for us. However, we are having a killer time, and Matt is performing at his absolute best and going out with pure class and style, which is always the way he rolls.

We also had a great time hanging out with the guys in Down last night at the Rock Hard festival. Freddie and my manager joined them onstage for a nice jam at the end of the show. It was brilliant and a lot of fun.

We'll be keeping you posted on updates as things move along through the summer."

Back in March, 2011, in the wake of vocalist Matt Barlow's retirement, Iced Earth enlisted INTO ETERNITY vocalist Stu Block

Iced Earth's Festivals Of The Wicked - the six-hour DVD extravaganza comprised of three full-length concerts (Wacken, Rock Hard, and Metal Camp), a 60-minute documentary, photo galleries, and video clips - will be released in Europe later this month (June 27th) and North America shortly thereafter (July 12th).

“Thousands of hours were shot and edited down to 90 minutes," says Jon Schaffer. "I have to say the footage of the band on stage is mind-blowing. Those who have already seen us will love it. Those who haven’t yet seen Iced Earth will be amazed by what this band can do on stage.”

Drummer Brent Smedley concurs: “The three festivals featured on the DVD were all extremely remarkable and each one memorable in its own way,” he said. “All three were amazing nights where the Metal and the Magic were fully flowing. I think the release of this DVD truly proves my mantra and favorite saying: METAL LIVES!”