''Touched by the Crimson King'' is the second album by the
power metal supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
Demons and Wizards, released in June 2005. The album contains a cover of
Led Zeppelin's "
Immigrant Song." It was also released as a limited edition digipak in Europe with an alternate cover and four bonus tracks on a second disc. For the North American release, all fourteen songs appeared on one disc, which had the limited edition cover in the form of a sleeve around the jewel case.
It appeared on the American
Billboard charts on place 35.
Track listing
Personnel
*Hansi Kürsch - vocals
*Jon Schaffer - lead, rhythm, bass, and acoustic guitars
;Guest musicians
*
Bobby Jarzombek - drums and percussion
*Jim Morris - guitar solos and backing vocals
*Rubin Drake - bass and fretless bass guitar
*Howard Helm - piano and backing vocals
*Kathy Helm - backing vocals
*Tori Fuson - backing vocals
*Jesse Morris - backing vocals
*Krystyna Kolaczynski - cello
Lyrical content
*"Crimson King" is a reference to the
Crimson King, the main antagonist of
The Dark Tower series. The song also strongly references
Randall Flagg, one of the King's many servants. Hansi in an interview has also stated that the Crimson King is
Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
.
*"The Gunslinger" is referring to
Roland of Gilead, the protagonist of the Dark Tower series. The song refers mainly to the plot of
the final book of the series.
*"Terror Train" is a reference to
Blaine the Mono, from the third and fourth novels of the Dark Tower series.
*"Beneath These Waves" is based on
Herman Melville's ''
Moby Dick''.
*"Seize the Day" is based on
Tolkien's ''
The Lord of the Rings''.
*"Love's Tragedy Asunder" is about a man whose wife is terminally ill, and he assists her suicide, and ends up killing himself.
*"Wicked Witch" is about the
Wicked Witch of the West from
L. Frank Baum's ''
The Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' or ''The Wizard of Oz'' most commonly refers to:
*'' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', a 1900 American novel by L. Frank Baum often reprinted as ''The Wizard of Oz''
** Wizard of Oz (character), from the Baum novel serie ...
''.
*"Dorian" is about
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's novel ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray''.
*"Down Where I Am" is about a baby born with
Down syndrome and the struggle of his father and the emotions going in and out of his mind.
References
2005 albums
Demons and Wizards (band) albums
Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording
The Dark Tower (series)
Adaptations of works by Stephen King
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