Danish prog metallers
Wuthering Heights may be unknown to a lot of people. I mean I had heard the name mentioned a few times but not more than that before I was asked to do a review of their last cd
To Travel for Evermore. That is a very good album and you can find my review
here. I had a few things to criticize, read on to see if they listened to my words (ok, ok, I guess it's possible that they
could improve without reading my wise words...).
Progressive folk metal. That's a genre I have never heard about before but these words are the best I can find to describe the sound of
Wuthering Heights' latest release
Far From the Madding Crowd.
We have the rythm breaks, the great solos, the long and complicated songs and generally the amazing musicians we have come to expect from bands of the progressive genre. But there is also something I have never heard from other prog bands. Many of the small melodies that there are plenty of in
Wuthering Heights' music have a distinct folk music sound. Some celtic sounds and melodies here and there. I am generally not a folk-music person but when it's mixed with great prog metal the way that
Wuthering Heights' music is, it turns into a whole different animal.
Wuthering Heights got a new singer since their last album. Even though I really liked the voice of
Kristian Andrén, I must say that they just turned up the quality a notch with
Nils Patrik Johansson. Nils is definitely among the better singers in metal these days. He sings with a rough voice, sort of like
Jorn Lande,
Russel Allen or
Ronnie James Dio. These singers are some of the best out there in my opinion so when I say that Nils comes very close to touch them, I hope you see how highly I think of him.
I have a confession to make. In the first version of this review I was wondering who the second singer was. The one who sang the first few lines on
The Road Goes Ever On and most of
Lament for Lórien. This voice was cleaner, higher pitched and with a different sound to it. Now I have from official sources close to the band (damn, it's cool to be a music critic!) that it actually is Nils who sings all parts on the album. Damn, that's got to say something about a singer's versatility if he can convince me that he is two different singers! Hats off to him. I still say that I prefer his majestic roar to this softer voice but it does create a nice effect with different vocal timbres. And it's just one man behind this; no
Ayreon-bunch of singers here. Especially in the last song on the cd
Lament for Lórien where he sings very clean, the sorrow in his vocals jump right out and grasps the listener.
Guitars and keyboards along with countless other instruments such as bagpipes, flutes and strings fill up the cd with melodies that mix with each other and create a very melodic whole. Guitarist
Erik Ravn's solos tend to focus more on melodies than shred. This doesn't mean that he doesn't have the chops to shred, he just uses them to play melodic pieces most of the time instead. I said most of the time since there are a few guitar/keyboard duels with the very talented
Rune Brink. There is one guitar melody-line that just makes me smile every single time I hear it. In the song
The Road Goes Ever On at around 5:00 there is a melody that could come straight out of a Sergio Leone western. Though it is kind of funny to hear this, it fits quite well with the song. And immediately after, it is modulated and played as a metal guitar solo line. After all, WH is a prog band.
The folk music inspiration becomes more than just inspiration in the song
The Bollard. This is a cover song by the folk music band
The McGalster Clan. This is not metal at all and the folk music part is very strong here since it actually
is pure folk music. Still,
Wuthering Heights pulls it off quite nicely.
There is definitely a Tolkien thing on
Far From the Madding Crowd. Just mentioning the two songtitles
Bad Hobbits die hard and
Lament for Lórien should make this clear for everyone.
Lament for Lórien is one of the most beautiful ballads I have ever heard. The whole atmosphere of this song consists of love, longing and sadness. Just beautiful. This is the song they
should have played in the end of Return of the King as the elves left Middle-Earth.
The production is very good.
Tommy Hansen is an experienced producer who is responsible for the sound of
Pretty Maids and
Helloween just to mention a few. I don't have anything to criticize on the sound, it is at all times very harmonic and lush-sounding which can not have been easy to do considering the amount of different instruments they managed to put in there.
If I really have to pick something out that could have been better, I would have to look pretty hard. The lead guitar sound could be a little better. It sounds a little digital and it's just not
singing as well as it could. Don't know if this is because of the amps or the fingers. Maybe some Yngwie-vibrato would help here, maybe some tube-amplifiers. These are minor things for sure but I
had to say something. I have nothing to put on the drums or the bass. Both are tight and heavy.
If you are a fan of prog and are looking for something different, check out this cd. You will not be disappointed.
Wuthering Heights have perfected a sound that is very much their own. And a sound that works very well, I might add. It is progressive, but with the song in focus. There are folk and celtic music influences all over which blend very well with the pure metal. All songs are very well written and the album stands out as a whole.
Well, what are you waiting for? Run out and buy it already!
Written by
Tajs Tuesday, January 6, 2004
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