DEMONS & WIZARDS released their eagerly
awaited self-titled album at the beginning of the year 2000. Combining the
music of JON SCHAFFER with the vocals of HANSI KURSCH produces a musical production
greater than the sum of its parts. Some of the material they have produced
rivals some of the best ICED EARTH and BLIND GUARDIAN songs ever written,
largely because their collaboration has allowed them to try new ideas that
would perhaps would not suit the style of their usual bands.
The material on this album is a lot heavier and darker than what Hansi would
normally write with his band, and Jon was able to step back from writing vocals
harmonies and let Hansi contribute totally different ideas than he would have
come up with on his own.
There are lot of killer songs on this album, but the highlight is surely the
brilliant "Fiddler On The Green", which was also the inspiration
for the album's cover art. The song has special meaning for Hansi, as it was
written around two tragic events he once witnessed, retold with a magical
fantasy twist. Another classic is the song "The Whistler", which
takes the classic Pied Piper Of Hamlin tale to a darker level , and another
epic fantasy is represented with a trilogy
encompassing the tracks "Tear Down The Wall", "Gallows Pole"
and "My
Last Sunrise", about the gnome Azrael who is unhappy with the universe
he created and begins to disassemble it. The subject content of the tracks
also deal with real life incidents such as the Nibelungensage ("Blood
On My Hands")
and the so-called Crusades.
Jon played most of the music on the album, including the bass guitar parts,
and JIM MORRIS played all the guitar solos, having outdone himself on his
guest appearance on the ICED EARTH SWTWC album. MARK PRATOR, who played on
the past couple of ICED EARTH albums stepped in to play drums, after original
candidate BRENT SMEDLEY was no
longer available..
DEMONS & WIZARDS
have only released one album to date, their critically acclaimed self-titled
debut in 2000.
This section featurers info on this release, and the COLLECTABLE
section features some other rarer items.
HANSI KURSCH - , Vocals
JON SCHAFFER - Rhythm, Bass, & Lead Guitars
GUEST MUSICIANS:
JIM MORRIS - Lead Guitar
MARK PRATOR - Drums
Artwork by DANNY MIKI and TRAVIS SMITH (Crimeseem)
Design, Layout, and Logo by TRAVIS SMITH.
The sleeve artwork is based on the story behind the track, "Fiddler On
The Green", and features the grim reaper
fiddler character appearing before the children. The artwork is by the same
artists that were behind the ICED EARTH ALIVE IN ATHENS and SWTWC artwork.
The drawing is more in the style of a comic book and is less dark than they
would perhaps normally do for an ICED EARTH album sleeve.
The packaging is impressive, in particular the Limited Edition Digipack version
of the CD, which has a very novel
"pop-up" of the Fiddler inside the cover.
