DEMONS AND WIZARDS

Filled with some heavy metal moments, some progressive rock moments, and some flat out rock and roll moments, this album can suite anyone's needs for music. Gary Thain had joined the band as full time bassist, and so did Lee Kerslake on percussion and drums. Along with those two musicians, or wizards, David Byron can really shine on vocals, Mick Box can shred on guitar, and Ken Hensley can rock out on the organ. This album is a masterpiece.

The opener "The Wizard" is very much a ballad, with the chorus section being a bit more rocking and much more heavy metal sounding. The lyrics are mystical, though they might not be as well thought out as well as Yes or King Crimson songs. The bassline is very nice, thanks to the additional bassist, Gary did not play on this track. David's vocals are amazing on this song, perfection. The electric guitar in the background is very nice. "Traveller in Time" has much more abstract and mystical lyrics, but the music overall is much more heavy metal for this time. The wah-wah pedal is very intereseting in this song, and it adds some nice interest. The vocals are amazing, David sings some clear falsetto. "Easy Livin" has a laid back title, but it knows how to rock so well. The guitar and hammond organ played by Mick and Ken respectivly are played so well. The bassline is melodic and very fast, holding down the bottom end very well. The lyrics aren't as good as some of the other songs, but they are very good with the song. Drumming is excellent. This is one of Heep's only popular songs in the United States, actually. "Poet's Justice" is a nice blend of prog and some metal. The vocal harmonies are very nice with the music, working very nice with the excellent lyrics. The bassline is nice, fast and melodic, and the guitar is very nice throughout the song. This maybe one of their more proggy songs. "Circle of Hands" is another fairly proggish song, longer than their poppy song standard length, it runs about six minutes. The organ intro is very nice, and the hammond is very well played by Ken throughout. Mick is really rocking it on this song, his guitar structures are nice. The lyrics are amazing, for some reason, the words just seem to pull me in. David, of course, just has that charm. "Rainbow Demon" is a scary song, it makes you feel uneasy, making you wonder if there really is a demonic force coming. David, of course with his theatric voice and wails, sings the lyrics perfectly. The drums seem to work well in this track, hitting right on the perfect time. "All my Life" isn't the proggiest, and maybe the worst track on the album. There isn't very interesting, if just kind of sounds like, been there done that with all their previous albums. The guitar is respectable. The vocals sounds a little bit by Steven Tyler for some reason on this track, with that echo and that tone of voice just sounds like Steven. Aerosmith is very far from prog though, but I can respect them as musicians. Back to the album, "Paradise/The Spell" is their, more or so, prog epic for the album. Starts ballad like, with acoustic guitar, tuned down a whole note, it sounds, it's very haunting. The bassline is very flowing. The drums are forceful for this kind of track, and work well. David sings sweet and frightening falsetto, though maybe not as high as some of their songs from previous albums. Then, the second part starts a more or so rocker type of sound and is very different. It still has that frightening type of sound because of those interesting lyrics, and the hammond organ just seems to gel with that kind of song. It's a masterpiece of the heavy prog sub-genre.

With the Roger Dean cover art and some sweet lyrics, you cannot go wrong with this album at all. Beautiful musicianship, I have to give it a 5 stars because of my love with Uriah Heep, and because it's one of my favorite albums.