ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer has confirmed that he and BLIND GUARDIAN frontman Hansi Kürsch are working on material for the long-awaited third album from their side project DEMONS & WIZARDS.

DEMONS & WIZARDS was launched in 1997 and has released two full-length albums so far: 2000's self-titled effort and 2005's "Touched By The Crimson King". The latter was partially based on the "The Dark Tower" series of books (written by Stephen King) in which the Crimson King is the main antagonist.

In a brand new interview with Metal Wani, Schaffer revealed that songwriting sessions for the follow-up to "Touched By The Crimson King" have officially begin, but cautioned that "it's gonna take some time. [Hansi] did work up two songs that I sent him of vocal melodies and cadences and I still have to fly him into the sessions and move him around and experiment with him and stuff and see how it's feeling," he said. "We're gonna take our time, but at least now we're actually doing it. So I would hope that next year we'll have it out. I hope that we can get the songwriting all dialed in in this calendar year in between the holes — he's busy, I'm busy — but at least we're actually moving forward with it for the first time in twelve years or whatever."

DEMONS & WIZARDS, the side project of ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer and BLIND GUARDIAN singer Hansi Kürsch, is tentatively planning to release its long-awaited third album in January 2020.

Schaffer spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2005's "Touched By The Crimson King" during an appearance on the ICED EARTH-centric podcast "Podcast In Stone". He said (see video below): "I have written some of the best instrumental pieces in my entire career in the last few weeks, and I'm very, very excited to hear what Hansi does on top of these things. So, the feeling is really good. He's very into what I sent him. He's gonna start doing some recording tomorrow.

"We had three songs going that we started working on a few years ago, but everything got busy for me with ICED EARTH and him with BLIND GUARDIAN," Jon continued. "But now, once he's really at the finish line on the [BLIND GUARDIAN] orchestral record, and come January, it's gonna be all DEMONS & WIZARDS for both of us for the foreseeable future. So, lots of work going on. But I'm stoked with the stuff that I've written — I mean, very, very happy. We're gonna be taking people on a journey, man — for sure."

According to Schaffer, the plan is for DEMONS & WIZARDS to complete the new album recordings prior to the launch of the summer 2019 festival season, which will see the band performing at a number of Europe's biggest metal gatherings, including Germany's Wacken Open Air, Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting and France's Hellfest.

"There's so much movement in the DEMONS & WIZARDS world now," Jon said. "It's a big thing that's happening — it's a very big thing. We put the band on sale on a Friday with promoters in Europe, and by Monday, we had secured a headline position on a Friday night at Wacken. That's big. For a project that hasn't been active since 14, 15 years [ago], and didn't even have a Facebook page and hasn't performed since 2000, so by the time we're on stage next summer, it'll have been 19 years since we've played live, to be securing headline positions and co-headline positions at the biggest festivals in Europe… Hansi and I are going, 'Wow!' We knew the demand was big, and how aggressive all the labels are after the products — for the new record and stuff, and to re-release the back catalog — there's a lot happening, and that can't be denied. And the work is going to happen."