A lot has happened with Iced Earth and Blind Guardian since the leaders of those two bands last joined forces six years ago on the first Demons & Wizards CD. Iced Earth underwent a major personnel change by acquiring former Judas Priest vocalist Tim Owens and then released The Glorious Burden in 2004 — a lethal piece of headbanging history. Meanwhile, Blind Guardian toured the world, including a headlining stint in the United States with Symphony X in 2002, and built up an adoring worldwide audience. Last winter, Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kürsch found time to reunite and record the follow-up to 1999's self-titled debut at Morrisound Recording Studios in Tampa, Fla.
The result is Touched By the Crimson King, another prog-metal/power-metal riff fest, complete with Kürsch's gravelly vocals and Schaffer's signature muscular melodies. A handful of other musicians join Demons & Wizards on drums, bass, piano, backing vocals and guitar solos, making for a solid arrangement that lets both Kürsch and Schaffer show off their strongest elements — which they do on tracks like "Beneath These Waves" and ""Crimson King."
While heavy songs and operatic choruses dominate Touched By the Crimson King — think back to mid-period Iced Earth and Blind Guardian — Demons & Wizards also has a more organic component than either of those bands. In fact, time and experience have helped broaden the musical depth of these gentlemen and make Touched By the Crimson King a worthy and logical successor to Demons & Wizards. "Seize the Day," "Love's Tragedy Asunder" and "The Gunslinger" open with acoustic atmospherics and some of Kürsch's softest singing before unleashing explosive furies that reach epic power-metal proportions. On the somber, medieval-sounding "Wicked Witch," meanwhile, you can practically see the smoky haze, feel the dewy grass and smell the evil incarnate, and the spooky epic "Dorian" chugs along at a mid-tempo pace and sounds unlike anything by either Iced Earth or Blind Guardian. Nothing groundbreaking, granted, but these songs certainly make for a hell of a potent listening experience.
I'm not sure we need a Demons & Wizards version of "Immigrant Song," but if these two metal giants feel the need to cover Led Zep in order to show their roots, far be it from me to bitch.
Track Listing:
1) Crimson King
2) Beneath These Waves
3) Terror Train
4) Seize the Day
5) The Gunslinger
6) Love's Tragedy Asunder
7) Wicked Witch
8) Dorian
9) Down Where I Am
10) Immigrant Song
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