Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) on guitar and Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) on vocals. So, what do you get then? Of course there's obvious elements from both bands, but Demons & Wizards are more. 'Touched by the Crimson King' is the return of the project after the 2000 debut album.

This sophomore album is my first. I never got the debut because I couldn't find great-looking digipak or double picture vinyl package. My mistake. I managed to grab double CD digipak of this new one, though. For my surprise, 'Touched...' is quite light-sounding and calm album, even though it has dark atmosphere. Demons & Wizards' music is basically heavy metal with proggish elements. Shredding 'Terror Train' is the fastest song here, but also my least favourite, and 'The Gunslinger' reminds me of Iced Earth's 'Dracula' as a composition, but being nowhere near that classic. 'Crimson King' and 'Dorian' are another heavier ones, but better than two aforementioned. Slower 'Beneath These Waves' is a fantastic 1980s style piece, one of the album's highlights. Somewhat Iron Maiden-esque 'Seize the Day' is another gem, presenting non-distorted guitar into the soup. Great 'Love's Tragedy Asunder' begins with acoustic guitar and cello, but gets heavier after a while, including a chorus reminding of newer Blind Guardian. 'Wicked Witch' is a dreamy acoustic song. 'Down Where I Am' is the third gem, mixing acoustics and heavy metal stuff wonderfully, being parlty dark yet anthemic. Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song' gets metallized, but bonus CD has two good metal songs, namely 'Lunar Lament' and wicked 'Spatial Architects', which could have been used instead of the cover. Bonus disc's two varying version are true "for fans only" -material. Anyway, Mr. Schaffer's quite basic guitar playing is familiar and Mr. Kürsch's singing is instantly recognizable, thanks to his highly unique voice (and usually many vocals tracks layered). What kind of confuses me is the fact, that most of the songs are really catchy (but no in Euro-metal way), but still it took surprisingly long for me to start appreciate them. So, this has more to offer than first few spins revealed. I found songs with slower/calmer parts better, maybe due production.

The Jim Morris production job, at Morrisound Studios of course, is bilateral. The sound is clean, but on the other hand, balancing isn't good, though, as bass is too quiet and kick drums are the main source of heaviness. Maybe this fact is disadvantage on heavier songs. Heavier stuff sounds blunt, while calmer quieter parts more colorful. This album could kick way more, to tell the truth. Cover art (looks good especially on 4-way folding digipak) depicts lyrical content, which is, at least for a big part, influenced by literature. I recognize Stephen King's 'The Stand' and 'The Dark Tower' saga and 'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville. Lyrics' quality depend of how well you know those books. Generally the lyrics didn't move me.

'Touched by the Crimson King' is a must for Blind Guardian and Iced Earth fans, but I think any heavy metaller should check the band out. To not doing so, there should not be any other reason but one not liking either musician's ways. A very good, if somewhat flawed album.

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/04/2005 20:53