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 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.

"Luckily, Sean Maier from our labelmates Blessed By A Broken Heart has agreed to fill in on super-short notice. From what we've seen and heard on his MySpace, Sean's an amazing shredder, and we can't thank him enough for stepping in. Meanwhile, Stu is going to do his best to handle all of Tim's vocal parts, as well as his own. The vocal harmonies won't be as rich, but Stu vows to do the best he can.

"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.