DEMONS & WIZARDS – Touched By The Crimson King

Demons & Wizards is, for those of you who didn’t know, what Hansi Kürsch and Jon Schaffer are up to when their main bands, Blind Guardian and Iced Earth, respectively, enjoys some time off. Their self-titled (and very good) debut album was released in 1997, so it’s definitely time for a new one. The style is, as it was last time, galloping and quite speedy Heavy Metal with lots and lots of trademark Hansi vocals… and if you didn’t like their debut, you can probably stop reading already, nothing is new in the Kürsch/Schaffer camp.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t good music offered here. Rather the opposite is true, and some would say when it comes to bombastic Heavy Metal there are very few men with better CV’s than these two gentlemen. Schaffer’s riffing is rock solid throughout, Hansi’s emotional and theatrical vocals are awesome, and the rhythm section consisting of AHAHA and BIBIBI does a marvelous job at keeping it all together.

Of course, though, it is the songs that matter, and for the most part the boys have come up with very high quality material. The opener, “Crimson King,” is awesome in all its bombast and majesty, and this song alone is a great reason not to listen to Nightwish for a while. “Beneath These Waves” is a bit slower, but equally good with its cool melody and Queensrÿche-inspired riffing.

“The Gunslinger” is another highlight as it starts off calm but then explodes into a full-on, double-bass inferno, which later develops into an awesome, melancholic melody from Kürsch and more trademark riffing from Schaffer. “Love’s Tragedy Asunder” is another bombastic beauty with tons of majesty and power, as well as a calm, beautiful intro. Once again, Schaffer impresses with some cool rhythm riffing, and this song has maybe the album’s best chorus.

When it comes to riffing, however, there’s no song on the album that beats “Dorian.” The main riff here is Schaffer at his very best, and this makes for a great track. Hansi’s vocal arrangements suit the track perfectly, and along with the opener and “Love’s Tragedy …,” comprise the foremost highlights on the album.

Doing the math on the above means that at least five of the album’s ten tracks were pretty great. Luckily, this does not imply that the rest suck, but they are considerably more anonymous than the mentioned one’s. “Terror Train” is a completely okay Heavy Metal track, “Seize the Day” and “Wicked Witch” are completely okay ballads, and “Down Where I Am” definitely has elements which could have made for a very good song, but just doesn’t make it this time. The cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” isn’t all that impressive too.

All in all, a good album with about 50% killer material. Any fan should own this, and the rest of you could very well check it out if you’re in the mood for some cool, at times very cool, melancholic and bombastic Heavy Metal.