Former Iced Earth singer Matt Barlow is keeping the door open but offering no promises when it comes to working again with band founder Jon Schaffer. In a new interview, the vocalist, who fronted the band across two separate runs, said he hasn’t spoken with Schaffer about any future collaboration and won’t try to guess what his former bandmate is planning.
Asked once more about the chances of teaming up with Schaffer, Barlow spoke with Ed Hackimer of “This Day In Metal” and made clear he didn’t want to speculate.
“Well, I couldn’t say to that, man, ’cause I wouldn’t even want to get into that or get into Jon‘s mind or what he’s thinking or doing right now. I know he’s heavily into promoting [his long-running side project] Sons Of Liberty and getting out there. And hopefully he can get out there and do some shows with that,” Barlow said.
He spoke warmly about Schaffer‘s recent work revisiting his back catalog.
Barlow continued: “Iced Earth, obviously, that’s Jon‘s child, that’s him, as well as Sons Of Liberty, but I think that it’s great that he’s out there re-releasing the [Sons Of Liberty] records, doing what he wanted to do, I think, originally with the sound. ‘Cause I think he re-tracked the drums [for Sons Of Liberty‘s Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2), which reimagines 2009’s Brush-Fires Of The Mind LP and the 2011 EP Spirit Of The Times], and things like that. So that’s worked out really well. So I’m anxious to talk to him about how it’s going as far as the sales and all that stuff and any future plans. But I haven’t talked to him about that as of yet.”
Barlow struck a similar note a year earlier. In a June 2025 interview with Spain’s “Stairway To Rock“, he said he and Schaffer had not discussed a reunion, but that he’d be supportive whenever the guitarist returned to making music.
“Jon and I haven’t talked about that at all, man. Obviously, I can’t wait for Jon to do something else musically. I don’t know if it’s gonna be Iced Earth or something else. But I look forward to him coming back and getting back into things. I really hope that he does. But right now, that’s all on hold for him, I believe. It’s been a little bit since I’ve spoken with him. He and my wife speak quite often, as that’s my wife’s brother. But as far as, whenever he does something, I’m gonna be fully supporting him coming back into music. So hopefully that will happen,” he said at the time.
Barlow‘s history with Iced Earth spans two stints, from 1993 to 2003, and again from 2007 to 2011, a stretch that produced some of the band’s most celebrated work, including Burnt Offerings, The Dark Saga and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Outside of music, Barlow has built a long second career in law enforcement, serving as a police officer since 2003 and currently working as a lieutenant in Georgetown, Delaware. He also continues to perform as the frontman of Ashes Of Ares.
For now, any reunion remains purely hypothetical, with Barlow content to wait and see what Schaffer decides to do next.
