Demons & Wizards (band)

Lore & Background

The idea for Demons & Wizards arose in spring 1997 when Kürsch and Schaffer, longtime friends, wanted to make music together. Schaffer wrote the music and Kürsch wrote the lyrics. The band name was inspired by Schaffer's wife calling them 'Demons and Angels,' but Kürsch corrected her, referencing Uriah Heep's album Demons and Wizards. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in 1999 and released in 2000, featuring Mark Prator on drums and Jim Morris on lead guitar. The second album, Touched by the Crimson King (2005), was partially based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series and included Bobby Jarzombek on drums.

Reader's Guide

Demons & Wizards holds significance as a notable side-project in power metal, bridging the distinct styles of two major bands. Their music, particularly Touched by the Crimson King, demonstrated a literary influence from Stephen King. The band's legacy is marked by their three albums and the abrupt end due to Schaffer's legal troubles, which severed the partnership. Their work remains a point of interest for fans of both Blind Guardian and Iced Earth.

Did You Know?

• The band name was inspired by Uriah Heep's album Demons and Wizards.
• Touched by the Crimson King is partially based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
• The band's third album, III, was released in 2020, and they disbanded in early 2021.
• Jon Schaffer turned himself in to the FBI on January 17, 2021, after the Capitol storming.

Origins & the Name Behind the Band

The project was born in the spring of 1997, when Kürsch and Schaffer—longtime friends—decided to channel their shared creative energy into a joint venture. The stated aim was to fuse Iced Earth's dark, melodic atmosphere with the soaring vocal power of Blind Guardian into a single cohesive sound. The band's name carries a personal anecdote: Schaffer's wife habitually called the two musicians "Demons and Angels," but Kürsch, insisting he was "not at all angelic," corrected the label to "Demons and Wizards," a deliberate reference to Uriah Heep's classic album. The title thus served as a shorthand for the two contrasting musical personalities being combined. The recording of the self-titled debut in 1999 brought in Mark Prator, a drummer who had contributed to several Iced Earth records, and Jim Morris, a former Iced Earth engineer, on lead guitar. The album was released in 2000. Though the project achieved a fair degree of commercial success, it never quite matched the audience reach of either parent band.

Discography & the Creative Division

The creative division between the two principals was straightforward: Schaffer composed all the music while Kürsch wrote every lyric. The self-titled debut (2000) set the template, and the second album, Touched by the Crimson King (2005), drew its thematic framework from Stephen King's The Dark Tower novel series, specifically the antagonist known as the Crimson King. For that record, Bobby Jarzombek stepped in on drums while Morris retained his lead guitar seat. After a fifteen-year silence, the third and final studio album, simply titled III, was released on February 21, 2020, earning a spot on Paul Stenning's list of the year's best albums in Brave Words magazine. Schaffer reflected in 2009 that he felt the second record had been rushed by external deadlines, and he expressed a strong desire to approach the next project with more creative freedom, working at a pace that felt natural rather than dictated by a release window.

The Long Road to III

The road to the third album was long and punctuated by repeated near-misses. In a March 2009 interview, Schaffer announced plans to reconvene with Kürsch by late 2009, targeting a mid-to-late 2010 release, and stressed they would not let a fixed schedule dictate the creative process. In March 2011, Kürsch posted on the Blind Guardian website that the two had finally found time to connect during the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise and resolved to write material during the European summer festival season. By February 2015, Kürsch admitted their packed schedules made a new album unlikely before 2017, though he called the prospective record "a very important one." In May 2017, Schaffer confirmed to Metal Wani that active songwriting was underway. The patience finally paid off in 2019: the band played Hellfest in June, Wacken Open Air in August, headlined ProgPower USA in September, and launched their first-ever North American tour that same month.

Disbandment & the Final Chapter

The project's end was sudden and driven entirely by events outside the music. On January 6, 2021, Schaffer was photographed among the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. He subsequently appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted list and turned himself in on January 17, facing six felony charges. The consequences for the band were swift: Century Media removed Demons & Wizards from their roster just two days after his surrender. On February 1, 2021, Kürsch formally ended his collaboration with Schaffer, bringing the partnership to a close. This dissolved a creative bond that had stretched from their first meeting in spring 1997 through the release of III in early 2020—a span of more than two decades. The disbandment was not a creative or artistic decision but a direct consequence of legal and personal events, leaving the three-album catalog as the complete and final body of work for this collaboration between the two musicians.