North American metallers Iced Earth will support Danish/American metal rock 'n' rollers Volbeat on their European headlining tour, which kicks off on October 11 in Milan, Italy and wraps on December 1 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Comments Volbeat guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen: "It's an honor again to share the road and stage with our brothers in legendary Iced Earth. I've been a huge fan (and still am) of Iced Earth since their self titled debut in 1990. We once shared the road with them in the U.S. and now we're back together in Europe. We promise you heavy and we're looking forward to seeing you all out there!"

Volbeat's fifth studio album, "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", was released in North America on April 9 via Vertigo/Republic Records/Universal Music. The Cd finds the core trio of Michael Poulsen (vocals/guitar), Anders Kjølholm (bass) and Jon Larsen (drums) joined by former Anthrax/The Damned Things guitarist Rob Caggiano, who produced the album with longtime Volbeat co-producer Jacob Hansen.

Iced Earth has entered the studio to begin recording its new album, "Plagues Of Babylon", for a January 2014 via Century Media Records.

The band recently parted ways with drummer Brent Smedley for "personal family reasons." He has since been replaced by Raphael Saini (Chaoswave).