Wuthering Heights (band)

Wuthering Heights is a Danish heavy metal band, with a somewhat eclectic musical style which falls in somewhere between progressive, folk, and power metal.

Biography

The group formed in 1989 under the name Angelica. They recorded nothing under this name, changing the name to Minas Tirith for the release of a demo cassette, entitled Tales From the Woods in late 1992. By the release of their second demo in 1995 the band had changed their name to Vergelmir. They were inactive in the studio for a few more years until, as Wuthering Heights, they released Within in 1999. They followed this up with To Travel For Evermore in 2002 and Far From the Madding Crowd in 2004, which has received some critical acclaim amid the underground power metal and folk metal communities. In the summer of 2004 the band played outside Europe for the first time. The gig took place at the ProgPower festival in Atlanta, GA.^[1] The show was filmed and was supposed to feature as a bonus DVD on the fourth album, but it was later changed to a bonus live recording instead. The band's fourth release was The Shadow Cabinet from 2006.^[2]
The band's line-up has changed a great deal over the years, and Erik Ravn is the only founding member remaining in the group today. They are currently signed to Scarlet Records. The band released their fifth studio album, Salt, in 2010.^[3]

Musical style and genre

Wuthering Heights' musical style is relatively unique, combining various elements. Classic heavy metal and power metal along with the highly virtuosic speed metal style, are mixed with strong folk influences. Bagpipes, violins, flutes, and other traditional instruments are included in many songs. As is typical of power metal, the songs feature strong melodies and clean vocals. The band is often described as being progressive metal, though they are not strictly in-line with the genre. They are quite musically distinctive, with their closest musical neighbors probably being Falconer and Elvenking.

Lyrical themes

Wuthering Heights' subject matter is somewhat varied, but typically includes Tolkienic fantasy (sometimes with specific references to locales or creatures from Tolkien's works) and more traditional folklore-influenced works, with an additional emphasis on fantasy-tinged, new-age-style nature themes.

The band does not reference 19th-century literature in their lyrics to any real extent, despite the fact the band takes its name from the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and despite the allusion in the name of their 2004 album Far From the Madding Crowd to Thomas Hardy.

Line-up

Current members

• Erik Ravn – guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals (1989–present)
• Morten Gade Sørensen – drums, percussion (2002–present), also member of Pyramaze
• Nils Patrik Johansson – vocals (2003–present), also member of Astral Doors, Civil War and Lion's Share
• Teddy Möller – bass, drums, guitar, vocals also member of Loch Vostok and F.K.Ü.(2004–present)
• Andreas Lindhal – keyboards (2004–present), also member of Audiovision
• Martin Arendal – guitar (2004–present), also member of Manticora

Former members

• John Sønder – guitar (1989–1990)
• Morten Birch – bass (1989–1994)
• Kenneth Saandvig – drums (1990–1998)
• Martin Røpcke – guitar (1991–1992)
• Jannik B. Larsen – guitar (1992–1994)
• Troels Liebgott – vocals (1993–1996)
• Tim Christensen – keyboards (1993–1996)
• Tim Mogensen – bass (1994–1995)
• Rune S. Brink – keyboards (1996–2004), now with Cornerstone
• Morten Nødgaard – vocals (1996–1997), drums (1998–2000)
• Kasper Gram – bass (1996–2000), now with Manticora, previously with Evil Masquerade
• Kristian Andrén – vocals (1998–2002), previously with Tad Morose, Memento Mori
• Peter Jensen – guitar (1999), now with Communic, previously with Sinphonia
• Lorenzo Dehò – bass (2002)
• Henrik Flyman – guitar (2002–2004), now with Evil Masquerade and Lacrimosa, previously with Moahni Moahna, ZooL
• Eric Grandin – bass

Discography

References

• http://www.hardrock.hu/?q=node/1928
• http://powermetal.de/review/review-Wuthering_Heights/The_Shadow_Cabinet,8424.html

External links

• Official website
• Wuthering Heights on Myspace
• Wuthering Heights site by Intromental Management