After five years we finally have a follow-up to the seemingly fantastical Jon
Schaffer/Hansi Kürsch side project Demons & Wizards. Given how a lot of
releases these days seem to be met with a clucking of tongues and "oh dear
they haven't progressed much since their last album!" (or is that just me?),
one might expect a dramatic development of sound after a five year gap.
The first Demons & Wizards album was less of an
Iced-Earth-meets-Blind-Guardian venture, more of an Uli-sings-along-to-Jon
affair. Touched By The Crimson King continues with this approach, refining
it as it goes along. Dramatic developments can go hang, if we can trust a
band to put out a good solid release after x years then it is equally
welcome.
To a Blind Guardian fan such as myself, it is still a bit disorientating to
hear Hansi singing against such stripped-back music. There is nearly no
overproduced indlugence here at all, just a simple guitar/bass/drums setup.
Hansi rarely uses more than a backing vocal or two to accentuate his voice,
with a few exceptions like Crimson King (which he turns into an excellent
dramatic opener along with some rapid-fire riffing) and Seize The Day. By
operating on their own steam the band are able to emphasise the strength of
the songwriting. There is the full range of fast/slow, heavy/tranquil, with
a dash of the aforementioned Blind Guardian excesses (but I emphasise again,
only a dash!). Acoustic passages are worked in a lot more naturally this
time, compared to how they sometimes felt forced and contrived on the
previous album (see Heaven Denies). If anything on this album would've felt
unnatural, one would expect it to be the cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant
Song tacked on at the end. But no, even that fits in with the feel of the
album! Wow!
This album also allowed me to go back to the debut album and see it in a
more favourable light. It'll be interesting to see how many more albums Jon
and Hansi can continue this formula on for, it certainly seems to work.
Standout Tracks: Crimson King, Seize The Day, The Gunslinger.
Overall Score: 7.5 /10
