Album Review: Demons & Wizards – III (Century Media Records)

Carl Fisher 2 min read

“III” is the highly anticipated new album by Demons & Wizards to be released on February 21, 2020 by Century Media Records worldwide.

Demons & Wizards is one of the most legendary collaborations in the history of heavy metal, uniting the talents of Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) and Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) who are friends for nearly three decades. Demons & Wizards musically embodies both musician’s stylistic trademarks and has resulted so far in two hugely celebrated studio albums, 2000’s “Demons & Wizards” and 2005’s “Touched by the Crimson King”. Both records have been reissued in 2019 on time with the group’s extremely successful return to the world’s stages.

The first new Demons & Wizards album since 2005, what an exciting moment this is. If you’re hoping for something epic and huge, befitting of the legendary status of this band then you can relax. III is a vast ocean of magnificent power metal tunes, one that combines the strengths of both Schaffer and Kürsch. The former bringing the riffs to make even the mightiest gods bow down and the latter delivering a vocal masterclass as only he can do.

As Hansi Kürsch sings on the humongous opener, Diabolic… “we shall rise”.

Perhaps one of the most amazing things about III and Demons and Wizards as a whole is how neither side dominate the other. On the one hand, tracks like Invincible, Timeless Spirit and Children of Cain sound more Blind Guardian. On the other though, tracks like Wolves in Winter, Final Warning and Midas Disease have such an Iced Earth feel. However, no one track sounds exclusively like it belongs on either’s individual work. These aren’t Iced Earth or Blind Guardian songs, they’re Demons & Wizards’ songs!

It’s a classy, well-produced and ‘walk that little bit taller’ release that does the history of this band justice.

Demons & Wizards – III Full Track Listing:

1. Diabolic
2. Invincible
3. Wolves In Winter
4. Final Warning
5. Timeless Spirit
6. Dark Side Of Her Majesty
7. Midas Disease
8. New Dawn
9. Universal Truth
10. Split
11. Children Of Cain




Links

Pre-order | Facebook | Century Media Records

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Demons & Wizards - III (Century Media Records)
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