Demons & Wizards Touched by the Crimson King
SPV SPV 80000843 June 28th, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Im not much of an Iced Earth junkie, nor do I align myself with Blind Guardian, which means that my purchase of Demons & Wizards was based on, well, randomness I guess. To this day, Im not exactly sure why I was led to Demons & Wizardss debut album other than the fascinating cover art. Fast-forward five years and the world is nearly on the brink of Touched by the Crimson King, which is the second full-length record that fails to enrapture me, much like the original outing.
After a night of heavy drinking, I literally puked all over Touched by the Crimson King, but dont extract the wrong idea from those unfortunate set of circumstances. No, Schaffer (Iced Earth), Kursch (Blind Guardian), and miscellaneous others havent crafted anything that deserves to bathe in my alcohol-soaked vomit. I mean, Crimson King kicks in with power metal glory and speedily acquires substantial ground with its epic chorus lines and blender-esque drumming courtesy of Jarzombek. Beneath These Waves, the second in line, has nice riffage in place though Terror Train elevates the tempo in the vein of Crimson King, and adds casual-yet-frenetic effects that work well. The ballad Seize the Day carries the cross from there until turning over jurisdiction to The Gunslinger, which seemingly begins as a ballad itself until morphing into a fast number. During the albums midsection, the juxtaposition between full-on, speedy power metal and acoustic-driven, ballad sequences is unapologetically explored. And, the musical performances are all spot-on, as one would undoubtedly expect from those involved with veterans Iced Earth and Blind Guardian. Theres also quite the whimsical inclusion in an obvious cover version of Led Zeppelins Immigrant Song, which sounds good when saturated with distortion.
Touched by the Crimson King does further what the duo did with their first incarnation Demons & Wizards but its mostly unappetizing unless youre a tried-and-true fan of all mentioned bands. However, you can certainly do worse than Demons & Wizards and, at this rate, well only receive installments in five-year increments.
7/10
Official Demons & Wizards Website
Official SPV Website
SPV SPV 80000843 June 28th, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Im not much of an Iced Earth junkie, nor do I align myself with Blind Guardian, which means that my purchase of Demons & Wizards was based on, well, randomness I guess. To this day, Im not exactly sure why I was led to Demons & Wizardss debut album other than the fascinating cover art. Fast-forward five years and the world is nearly on the brink of Touched by the Crimson King, which is the second full-length record that fails to enrapture me, much like the original outing.
After a night of heavy drinking, I literally puked all over Touched by the Crimson King, but dont extract the wrong idea from those unfortunate set of circumstances. No, Schaffer (Iced Earth), Kursch (Blind Guardian), and miscellaneous others havent crafted anything that deserves to bathe in my alcohol-soaked vomit. I mean, Crimson King kicks in with power metal glory and speedily acquires substantial ground with its epic chorus lines and blender-esque drumming courtesy of Jarzombek. Beneath These Waves, the second in line, has nice riffage in place though Terror Train elevates the tempo in the vein of Crimson King, and adds casual-yet-frenetic effects that work well. The ballad Seize the Day carries the cross from there until turning over jurisdiction to The Gunslinger, which seemingly begins as a ballad itself until morphing into a fast number. During the albums midsection, the juxtaposition between full-on, speedy power metal and acoustic-driven, ballad sequences is unapologetically explored. And, the musical performances are all spot-on, as one would undoubtedly expect from those involved with veterans Iced Earth and Blind Guardian. Theres also quite the whimsical inclusion in an obvious cover version of Led Zeppelins Immigrant Song, which sounds good when saturated with distortion.
Touched by the Crimson King does further what the duo did with their first incarnation Demons & Wizards but its mostly unappetizing unless youre a tried-and-true fan of all mentioned bands. However, you can certainly do worse than Demons & Wizards and, at this rate, well only receive installments in five-year increments.
7/10
Official Demons & Wizards Website
Official SPV Website
