Biography
Demons & Wizards, a progressive power metal group based in Tampa, Florida, adopted its title from Uriah Heep’s landmark 1972 album. The project functions as a long-running yet intermittent collaboration between Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kursch and Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer. Their music fuses vintage symphonic power metal with up-to-date production techniques and progressive leanings.
The two first connected during a co-headlining run through Tampa with their respective main bands. Primary commitments kept them from entering the studio with any regularity after the release of their self-titled debut album in 1999, which earned widespread praise. Even with only Kursch and Schaffer as core members, they have consistently brought in elite session players while preserving the signature Demons & Wizards framework of layered choral-style backing vocals, harmonized twin-lead guitars, crisp engineering, propulsive drumming, and keyboard passages rooted in classical traditions.
Following a 2000 world tour augmented by additional musicians, the pair waited until 2005 to issue Touched by the Crimson King on Steamhammer/SPV. That session featured lead guitarist, co-producer, mixing and mastering engineer Jim Morris, keyboardist Howard Helm, bassist Ruben Drake (who appears on every Schaffer-related recording), and drummer Bobby Jarzombek, formerly of Halford and later of Fates Warning. Critics responded more strongly to the album than to its predecessor, citing its expansive sonic palette and pronounced progressive direction.
Kursch’s ongoing work with the perpetually active Blind Guardian, together with Schaffer’s outside ventures such as Purgatory (on guitar and lead vocals) and the synth-metal endeavor Sons of Liberty, created a nearly fifteen-year gap before the duo could record again. In late 2019, with their main projects either tracking or resting after road work, Kursch and Schaffer reassembled Morris, Drake, and drummer Brent Smedley, added the PA’dam Chamber Choir from the Netherlands, and enlisted several additional vocalists. Advance performances included a standout appearance at Wacken Open Air 2019 that featured vocalist Marcela Bovio of Mayan and formerly of Kamelot. After several clips from the festival and the official Ivan Čolić-directed video for “Diabolic,” the album III arrived via Century Media Records in February 2020 and reached the Top 20 on multiple major streaming charts. Plans for a world tour were subsequently delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two first connected during a co-headlining run through Tampa with their respective main bands. Primary commitments kept them from entering the studio with any regularity after the release of their self-titled debut album in 1999, which earned widespread praise. Even with only Kursch and Schaffer as core members, they have consistently brought in elite session players while preserving the signature Demons & Wizards framework of layered choral-style backing vocals, harmonized twin-lead guitars, crisp engineering, propulsive drumming, and keyboard passages rooted in classical traditions.
Following a 2000 world tour augmented by additional musicians, the pair waited until 2005 to issue Touched by the Crimson King on Steamhammer/SPV. That session featured lead guitarist, co-producer, mixing and mastering engineer Jim Morris, keyboardist Howard Helm, bassist Ruben Drake (who appears on every Schaffer-related recording), and drummer Bobby Jarzombek, formerly of Halford and later of Fates Warning. Critics responded more strongly to the album than to its predecessor, citing its expansive sonic palette and pronounced progressive direction.
Kursch’s ongoing work with the perpetually active Blind Guardian, together with Schaffer’s outside ventures such as Purgatory (on guitar and lead vocals) and the synth-metal endeavor Sons of Liberty, created a nearly fifteen-year gap before the duo could record again. In late 2019, with their main projects either tracking or resting after road work, Kursch and Schaffer reassembled Morris, Drake, and drummer Brent Smedley, added the PA’dam Chamber Choir from the Netherlands, and enlisted several additional vocalists. Advance performances included a standout appearance at Wacken Open Air 2019 that featured vocalist Marcela Bovio of Mayan and formerly of Kamelot. After several clips from the festival and the official Ivan Čolić-directed video for “Diabolic,” the album III arrived via Century Media Records in February 2020 and reached the Top 20 on multiple major streaming charts. Plans for a world tour were subsequently delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Albums
Singles
