DEMONS AND WIZARDS

DEMONS AND WIZARDS
ST (1999)
320 KBPS

All-star membership certainly doesn't ensure a quality recording, but the duo of guitarist Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) and vocalist Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) does deliver a first-rate product on this, their eponymous debut. The music is sharp and punchy power metal, and Kursch's voice is in excellent form, but the utter predictability of Demons & Wizards may disappoint fans curious about the possibilities of a Kursch/Schaffer collaboration. Every song would fit nicely on a Blind Guardian or Iced Earth outing. Demons & Wizards could disappoint listeners expecting a fresh take on power metal from two of the genre's more successful practitioners.

1. Rites of Passage
2. Heaven Denies
3. Poor Man's Crusade
4. Fiddler on the Green
5. Blood on My Hands
6. Path of Glory
7. Winter of Souls
8. The Whistler
9. Tear Down the Wall
10. Gallows Pole
11. My Last Sunrise
12. Chan
13. White Room (Cream Cover)