Demons & Wizards
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor
This self titled debut album - by the highly acclaimed project of Iced Earth guitarist/songwriter Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kursch named Demons & Wizards - is a brilliant piece of songwriting and lyrical ingenuity.
There are a dozen tracks in this masterpiece of a debut, and for those who have seen the album cover can agree that it is just as mystifying as the music present inside the covers. The twelve tracks include two chants - entitled Rites of Passage and Chant - that serve as the album’s intro and outro, respectively. Nothing much here, but Rites of Passage is a cool way to kick off this powerful piece of Power Metal.
Things really get going into full gear when the second track - or first real track - Heaven Denies starts blasting out of the speakers. For those who got the album when it first came out and were curious as to how the music of Demons & Wizards would sound like, then Heaven Denies must have answered their eager question. Demons & Wizards sounds more like Iced Earth than it sounds like Blind Guardian - which would seem better to Iced Earth fans like me.
The principal reason for this is that Jon Schaffer writes all of the music in Demons & Wizards, while the lyrical direction is given to Hansi Kursch.
What happens here is a clever mix of fast, pummeling Iced Earth guitars and drums with a dash of Blind Guardian’s classical and folk music inspired vocals. This formula seems to work wonders, and tracks like Heaven Denies, Poor Man’s Crusade, Winter of Souls and The Whistler are brilliant, energetic Power Metal numbers.
Speaking of the songs in the album, there are no weak tracks present here - but there are good tracks, and there are absolutely brilliant tracks. When I first put my ears to this record I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; Demons & Wizards are simple incredible. Never have I heard songs this good anywhere else - hell, some of the songs here are even better than many Iced Earth tracks!
Hence, it would be pointless (and ridiculous) to name all of the standout tracks present in this superb recording, but I will, however, indulge you by revealing the one track that makes all the difference: Fiddler on the Green.
Fiddler on the Green is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic track at first - capturing the raw emotions present in Schaffer’s guitar melodies and Kursch’s amazing vocals. The melancholic tune progresses into stunning instrumental parts before converging all the elements present in the song into a magnificent outro. Simply amazing!
Twelve out of ten stars for this wonderful piece.
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