Demons and Wizards – Touched by the Crimson King – 2005

I have listened enough to this album now. With that I mean that I have had in in my earphones etc. for quite some time by now. Not that I’m tired of it yet, I’m not! It’s a great and interesting album. But I feel I should move on and explore something else for a while. But that’s how it is sometimes. You get stock with some music and you can’t really lay it down. I never heard Demons and Wizards prior to this album.  After some googling I realized that this is not a band in the conventional sense. It’s actually more of a project containing of two members (and some session musicians I would think). Hansi Kürsch, vocals and Jon Schaffer, guitar and bass. It’s not strange if you recognize their names since they usually are members of Blind Guardian and Ices Earth respectively. I also found that there are two albums out these. This from 2005 and the debut from 1999 or there aren’t new albums very often. This strengthen the project-idea I guess. So, not really a band, more like a project.

Demons and Wizards sound is, according to themselves, a combination between heavy Iced Earth and Blind Guardian. That make sense of course and I really like it! It combines the best of both worlds in great harmony. I am fond of heavy guitars and great vocals and Demons and Wizards actually have both. There’s definitely power to the music! Just like it should be. Demons and Wizards are power metal after all!

It’s hard to tell now that I have listened at the album for a long time. But I think I recognize some musical lines here and there. It could be a product of my imagination though, since I have listened very much to this lately. But it really doesn’t matter if I recognize anything or not. It’s still a great album and I can hear the fantasy genre in the lyrics. Not that I really listen that much to the lyrics, and I certainly don’t know them by heart, it just a few words here and there. But that’s enough to hear what type of lyrics there are.

I like this album a lot. I’m pretty cheep with my grades as you may have noticed but this goes right up there. To the highest of the greats without being exceptional or a masterpiece. If you have the possibility to listen to Touched by the Crimson King I think you should. I think you’ll like the power in this metal. But there are also passages that are spare in both tempo and instrumentation. well. As I said, this is good!