Demons & Wizards
Touched By The Crimson King

THE REVIEW

Demons & Wizards is a side project born in 2000 with the release of the eponymous album. In this group, there are indeed 'Iced Earth' and 'Blind Guardian' influences (Hansi Kursch, Bobby Jarzombek), respectively singer and drummer. But there's also Jon Schaffer, the guitarist of Iced.

This album unfolds in 10 tracks that are slightly repetitive. But now let's analyze the tracks. This album (the second for Demons & Wizards) opens with Crimson King accompanied by a great riff with a background of choruses that then give way to Hansi's voice with Jarzombek going wild with his double bass (the drums stand out too much in this album) to arrive at a much calmer central part.
We move forward with Beneath these waves a song that begins with the usual powerful riff and ends calmly. We switch to Terror train (riff+drum frenzied) and continue like this for four minutes with Hansi never disappointing. And we proceed with Seize the day a semi-ballad with a good solo by Schaffer. Subsequently comes The gunslinger where the sense of patriotism of Iced Earth resurfaces. We continue with Love's tragedy asunder which, unlike the second track, begins calmly and then bursts into great riffs, letting the 5 minutes and thirty seconds of this song slip by.

So we arrive at the album's best song (in my opinion) because it deviates from the others which are somewhat repetitive, I'm talking about the ballad Wicked witch, truly an excellent song. We reach Dorian, the longest song on the album with its 6 minutes and 36 seconds. You already know how the track goes (riff+riff) and the usual drumming of Bobby that crackles like a pistol. Finally, we arrive at the last two tracks, Down where I am and Immigrant song, a short song that nonetheless succeeds in its intent, which is to close this record beautifully.

The album is not a masterpiece but, after all, it is a side project and thus there's time to improve. Technically all three are excellent, but one could expect more from an album that came out 5 years after their first album. And a piece of advice: the drums even overpower the guitar and moreover, the voice is always distorted by those effects that Matthew Barlow of 'Iced Earth' also used. Nonetheless, even with its repetitiveness, it is a good album.

Let’s hope that their next album will be a small masterpiece.