Demons and Wizards is the self-titled debut album of power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 / heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Demons and Wizards released in February 2000. A limited edition version of the album contains a remake of the classic Cream

Cream (band)

Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...

 song "White Room." The Japanese release also features "White Room," but includes an alternate mix of "The Whistler" as an exclusive bonus track. The Argentinian release included "White Room," along with the demos of "Heaven Denies," "The Whistler," and "Tear Down the Wall." The album was recorded with the help of Jim Morris, who plays lead guitar on almost all tracks, and by Mark Prator on drums.

Standard Issue

• Distributed in Europe and North America by SPV and in Japan by Victor Entertainment.

1. "Rites of Passage" – 0:54
2. "Heaven Denies" – 5:20
3. "Poor Man's Crusade" – 4:01
4. "Fiddler on the Green" – 5:56
5. "Blood on My Hands" – 4:44
6. "Path of Glory" – 4:58
7. "Winter of Souls" – 5:47
8. "The Whistler" – 5:15
9. "Tear Down the Wall" – 4:48
10. "Gallows Pole" – 5:22
11. "My Last Sunrise" – 4:43
12. "Chant" – 0:54
13. "White Room
    White Room
    "White Room" is a song by British "supergroup" Cream. The song was a psychedelic rock number written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown. It originally appeared on the US release of their double album, Wheels of Fire, by Atco Records in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968...
    
    " – 5:01 (Bonus track for limited edition, vinyl, and Japanese releases)
14. "The Whistler" (alternate version) – 5:21 (Bonus track for Japanese release only)

Argentinian release

• Distributed in Argentina by NEMS Enterprises.

1. "Rites of Passage" – 0:54
2. "Heaven Denies" – 5:20
3. "Poor Man's Crusade" – 4:01
4. "Fiddler on the Green
   Fiddler's Green
   Fiddler's Green is a legendary imagined afterlife, where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire...
   
   " – 5:56
5. "Blood On My Hands" – 4:46
6. "Path of Glory" – 4:58
7. "Winter of Souls" – 5:47
8. "The Whistler" – 5:15
9. "Tear Down the Wall" – 4:47
10. "Gallows Pole" – 5:22
11. "My Last Sunrise" – 4:43
12. "Chant" – 0:54
13. "White Room
    White Room
    "White Room" is a song by British "supergroup" Cream. The song was a psychedelic rock number written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown. It originally appeared on the US release of their double album, Wheels of Fire, by Atco Records in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968...
    
    " – 5:10
14. "Heaven Denies" (demo version) – 5:09
15. "The Whistler" (demo version) – 5:21
16. "Tear Down the Wall" (demo version) – 4:46

Lyrical content

• "Heaven Denies" is based on Milton's
  John Milton
  John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
  
   Paradise Lost
  Paradise Lost
  Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
  
  , about the downfall of Lucifer
  Lucifer
  Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
  
  .
• "Poor Man's Crusade" is about the Crusades
  Crusades
  The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
  
   in a bit of a mocking tone.
• "Fiddler on the Green" is about a car accident which Kursch witnessed.
• "Blood on My Hands" is based on Wagner's
  Richard Wagner
  Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
  
   version of Siegfried's story, as told in the Ring cycle
  Der Ring des Nibelungen
  Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
  
  .
• "The Whistler" is based on the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Members

• Hansi Kürsch
  Hansi Kürsch
  Hans Jürgen Kürsch, better known as Hansi Kürsch is a German musician, the lead vocalist and lyricist of power metal band Blind Guardian. Together with André Olbrich, he is also the principal songwriter for the band. He was also the bassist in Blind Guardian until the 1998 album Nightfall in...
  
   - vocals and lyrics
• Jon Schaffer
  Jon Schaffer
  Jon Ryan Schaffer is a heavy metal guitarist and songwriter. He is the founder of the heavy metal band Iced Earth. He was nominated for the title "Riff Lord" at the 2008 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.-Biography:...
  
  - lead, rhythm, and bass guitars; music composition
• Jim Morris - additional lead guitars
• Mark Prator - drums

External links

• Demons & Wizards' Official Site
• NEMS Enterprises
• SPV
• Victor Entertainment