Something Wicked Saga

The Something Wicked Saga is a fictional story featured in the works of American heavy metal guitarist Jon Schaffer from the band Iced Earth. The saga is a tale that begins with the origins of man, by way of descension upon the primitive Setian race, all the way to its downfall as paved by the Setians' act of vengeance. It discusses humanity's evil intentions that begin to backfire in their last days, with the Setian messiah Set Abominae serving as the catalyst to its self-destruction. Events parallel to those in the Bible (similarly the Tower of Babel), and elsewhere throughout history, occurred in order to further bring about humanity's downfall.

The saga was first revealed in the final three tracks of Iced Earth's fifth studio album, 1998's Something Wicked This Way Comes, known as the Something Wicked trilogy. These three songs, "Prophecy," "Birth of the Wicked," and the "Coming Curse," served as the backbone to the Jon Schaffer's Something Wicked story, as well as concert staples.

In December 2006, Jon Schaffer posted a journal announcing that Iced Earth's new album, then titled Something Wicked - Part 1, would be released in September/October 2007. The follow-up album, then titled Something Wicked - Part 2, would be released in January/February 2008, with both albums serving to further explain the story within the Something Wicked Trilogy. He later announced the final track list, and that the album would be renamed to Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1, with a new target release of August or September. On June 25, Schaffer uploaded the cover of the album on icedearth.com. Audio samples of all the tracks have been posted at spv.de, the official site of the band's record label. In addition to providing prospective album titles and track titles, he updates the band's mixing status on a new single entitled the Overture of the Wicked EP, which was then released in June 2007. The EP, which featured vocalist Matt Barlow's then-replacement Tim "Ripper" Owens, contained the single to the upcoming song entitled "Ten Thousand Strong", as well as a re-recording of the Something Wicked trilogy that showcased the band's more modern sound which was something to be expected for the upcoming release.

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