When Iced Earth promise "epic" news, they certainly know how to deliver. The band -- who will release their new studio album, Dystopia, on October 18 -- have just posted a re-recorded version of their 16-plus-minute classic, "Dante's Inferno," as a free download. You can get the song at the band's official website here
Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer commented on the song, saying, "If there’s one song fans have asked us to play live more than any other, it’s ‘Dante’s Inferno.' The simple reason why we haven’t is because the original click track was erased, therefore requiring a keyboard player to do the parts live. That’s OK for a special event like when we recorded Alive in Athens, but to hire a keyboard player for a full tour, for one song, just isn’t financially feasible.
“We wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to all of our loyal fans who have waited so long to hear us play ‘Dante’ again,” he continued. “So we decided to give this to them, free. It’s because of our fans we’ve been able to make music all these years. This is a way to show how much we appreciate them.”
You can check out a video of Schaffer and new Iced Earth vocalist Stu Block talking more about re-recording the classic track below.
"Dante's Inferno" originally appeared on the band's 1995 album, "Burnt Offerings."
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