Tim Roth of INTO ETERNITY to Sit out ICED EARTH Tour

Canadian extreme progressive metal quintet INTO ETERNITY — whose new album, The Incurable Tragedy, debuted at #17 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart last week — return to the road this weekend, when they kick off a string of dates alongside Iced Earth. However, the band's lead guitarist, Tim Roth, is unable to participate in the tour.

The group has issued the following statement to explain matters further: “All of us in the band, and especially Tim, have been looking forward to this tour with Iced Earth for months. Over the years, Iced Earth has been a huge influence on INTO ETERNITY, as anyone who owns Dead or Dreaming [the group's second album, which features a picture of Tim wearing an Iced Earth t-shirt] knows.

“Unfortunately, the events of the past two years have recently taken their toll on Tim. Emotionally, he's a rock, but there are some important legal, financial and family-related matters at home that he needs to take care of right now. However, he's given us his blessing to do the tour without him so we can honor our commitments to our fans (who won't get a refund if the support act cancels), and continue to promote an album that we all very much believe in.

“Please know and understand that INTO ETERNITY's lineup is not changing, and that Tim will rejoin the group on tour as soon as humanly possible. Again, it's not that Tim doesn't want to do this tour; it's just that he can't right now. Over the last three years, Tim has led INTO ETERNITY through 300+ shows with death metal bands, power metal bands, prog-metal bands, metalcore bands and everything in between. We'll miss him out there, but the show must go on.

“Thanks again to all the fans around the world who picked up The Incurable Tragedy. We weren't sure how people would respond to such an emotional roller coaster, but we couldn't be more grateful for our fans' continued support. We can't wait to see you all on tour.”