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Demons & Wizards - Demons & Wizards review



Reviewer:
9.7

441 users:
8.44
Band: Demons & Wizards
Album: Demons & Wizards
Release date: 1999


01. Rites Of Passage
02. Heaven Denies
03. Poor Man's Crusade
04. Fiddler On The Green
05. Blood On My Hands
06. Path Of Glory
07. Winter Of Souls
08. The Whistler
09. Tear Down The Wall
10. Gallows Pole
11. My Last Sunrise
12. Chant
13. White Room [Cream cover][Japanese bonus]
14. The Whistler [Alternate version][Japanese bonus]

In any mythology, when two Gods gather it always ends in a terrible battle [even in a raging war most of the time]. In the world of power metal, it ends in a tremendous piece of music. Old friends Jon Schaffer [Iced Earth] and Hansi Kursch [Blind Guardian] finally worked together in 1999 and released their first side-project's opus entitled Demons & Wizards [under the same band name]. Apart from Hansi Kursch on vocals, Jon Schaffer on guitars and bass guitar, the lineup consisted of Mark Prator [ex-Iced Earth] on drums and Jim Morris [producer of Iced Earth, from the Morrisound Studios in Florida] on lead guitar.

From the first to the last sound, each song is perfect: the vocals intro 'Rites OF Passage' and outro 'Chant', the solid heavy songs such as 'Heaven Denies' and 'Blood On My Hands', the mid pace compositions such as 'The Whistler' and 'Path Of Glory', the outstanding ballad 'Fiddler On The Green' [the best metal ballad ever?],... All these songs reach perfection!

About the production of the album, the sound is very clean, Jim Morris didn't hesitate to lower the drums to get more importance to the voices and the acoustic guitars. As a result, some songs could have sound more powerful. But hey, I think that was a deliberate choice and the final result is that even the production of Demons & Wizards shows the ability of the band to control the music perfectly.

As we talk about perfection, let's talk about the artwork. Here, there's no question about it: the cover is a real masterwork and the booklet illustrations are splendid. But for those we have the chance to buy the limited digipack edition, the best part of the artwork is the dead fiddler jumping out into your face as you open the left part of the inside cover [pretty funny isn't it?]!

The main advantage of having this lineup is that D&W can rely on both Schaffer and Kursch as compositors. And obviously, the recipe worked perfectly! You can enjoy this album for many reasons: the rage of 'Heaven Denies', the lyricism of 'Fiddler On The Green', the beauty of the vocals,... It's pretty much an endless list! Demons & Wizards includes the best vocals ever recorded by master Kursch [and it's hard to believe regarding his performances with Blind Guardian] and each song is an authentic diamond. It's one of the best metal albums around dudes! Check it out!


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 9
Production: 9





Written on 08.01.2004 by Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:

"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"

I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math.


Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 190 users
11.04.2007 - 23:27
Dendr0id
Account deleted
I agree totally with you. This album is a real masterpiece. It deserves 9.7 from 10 in my opinion.

Get this album!!!!
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12.12.2007 - 15:17
R.I.Pdeadlegends
Account deleted
good review, awesome band! a good 9.7 !
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10.02.2008 - 20:01
+{Jonas}+
I R Serious Cat
I agree this album is certainly a masterpiece, every power metal fan must have it.
----
"Nobody wants to be the weird kid, you just end up being the weird kid. You don't know how you ended up getting there" - Rob Zombie

http://jonas-bs.deviantart.com My dA, mainly photography, go check it out!
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10.02.2008 - 20:05
Valentin B
Iconoclast
fiddler on the green is a total masterpiece!
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23.07.2011 - 18:08
Rating: 9
mohammedMG

This is a great album it sounds like some thing wicked this way comes by iced earth
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31.10.2011 - 01:48
terrorist

How come this album is so similar to iced earths horror show? has anybody compared these two albums?
----
Will the ones who live after our end
Worship the goddamn cross again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnlG0h7YN_8&feature=related
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02.02.2012 - 17:27
Rating: 10
My2Cents

Yes! Agreed 100%. How the community could collectively give this thing only 8.whatever is beyond me!
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*insert quote that makes me look cultured here*
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06.10.2016 - 00:39
Rating: 7
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Good thing about those 2 that they have just 1 project and theys ticks whit main band, not as many just launch and launch projects what are boring
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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21.04.2017 - 15:29
kukulkan666
Account deleted
Fiddler On The Green is beautiful. After 17 years I still think that.
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