Wuthering Heights (band)

This article is about the musical group. For the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, see Wuthering Heights. For other uses, see Wuthering Heights (disambiguation).
Wuthering Heights
Also known as Angelica, Minas Tirith
Origin Copenhagen, Denmark
Genres Power metal
Progressive metal
Folk metal
Years active 1989–2011 (on hiatus)
Labels Locomotive Music, Sensory, Scarlet
Associated acts Pyramaze, Astral Doors, Loch Vostok Audiovision, Manticora, Cornerstone, Evil Masquerade, Tad Morose, Memento Mori, Communic, Sinphonia, Moahni Moahna, ZooL
Website wuthering-heights.dk
Members Erik Ravn
Morten Gade Sørensen
Nils Patrik Johansson
Teddy Möller
Andreas Lindhal
Martin Arendal
Past members see below

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] The band has been on hold since March 2011 due to Erik Ravn's serious back pain problems.

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

Former members

Discography

Year Title Type
1997 Within Demo
1999 Within Studio
2002 To Travel for Evermore Studio
2004 Far from the Madding Crowd Studio
2006 The Shadow Cabinet Studio
2010 Salt Studio

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.