Demons and Wizards (2000)

Demons & Wizards are a power metal band conceived as a side-project by vocalist for Blind Guardian, Hansi Kürsch, and the guitarist for Iced Earth, Jon Schaffer. Schaffer writes the music and Kürsch writes the lyrics. The band's line-up during the recording of their first album in 1999 (Demons & Wizards) also featured Mark Prator, who was the drummer on a few Iced Earth albums, and Jim Morris doing most of the guitar solos, Morris also having worked with Iced Earth in the past. The personnel for the second album (Touched by the Crimson King), released in 2005, included Morris at lead guitar and Bobby Jarzombek on drums
The original goal of the band was to forge the different musical styles of both Iced Earth's dark melodies and Blind Guardian's powerful vocals into one sound. In fact, according to the musicians, the band name is meant to describe the two styles: the self-proclaimed demon-like themes and sounds of Iced Earth and wizard-like themes and sounds of Blind Guardian (the moniker "Demons & Wizards" was inspired by Schaffer's wife always referring to him and Hansi as "Demons and Angels". Hansi always corrected her, since he claims to "not be at all angelic", and that it is more properly stated "Demons and Wizards", in reference to Uriah Heep's album of the same name). The band met with a fair deal of commercial success, though not as much as either of their individual bands.

The idea for the band arose in the spring of 1997 when Kürsch and Schaffer wanted to make music together, after being friends for several years.

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength

1. "Rites of Passage" (instrumental) Jon Schaffer, Hansi Kürsch 0:54
2. "Heaven Denies" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:20
3. "Poor Man's Crusade" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 4:02
4. "Fiddler on the Green" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:56
5. "Blood on My Hands" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 4:45
6. "Path of Glory" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 4:59
7. "Winter of Souls" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:47
8. "The Whistler" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:15
9. "Tear Down the Wall" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 4:48
10. "Gallow's Pole" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:22
11. "My Last Sunrise" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 4:44
12. "Chant" (instrumental) Schaffer, Kürsch 0:48
13. "White Room (Cream Cover) (Bonus track for limited edition, vinyl, and Japanese releases)" Pete Brown Pete Brown, Jack Bruce 5:01
14. "The Whistler (alternate version) (Bonus track for Japanese release only)" Schaffer, Kürsch Schaffer, Kürsch 5:21
and 3 songs bonus

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