Crimson Kings

Be sure to take a closer look at Touched By The Crimson King, by Demons & Wizards, when released in late June. This band is the brain child of Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch and Iced Earth's Jon Schaffer (I'll leave it to the listener to figure out which one of them is the demon and which is the wizard). What we get is a thrash-y/power metal hybrid, that, oh so surprisingly, sounds like what we shall call "Iced Guardian" or "Blind Earth". Check out a sound sample of their yet to be released CD to see what I mean.

I have their self-titled release, which is a pretty decent ride. A couple of songs tread too dangerously in the waters of what the founder of Snakenet Metal Radio "lovingly" likes to call "Gay Hobbit Metal". Would we expect anything less from such gems as "Fiddler On the Green"? But even those tunes are a guilty pleasure. Recommended.