Wuthering Heights (group)

The group was formed in Copenhagen in 1989 under the name Angelica . Having recorded nothing under this name, the group changed its name to Minas Tirith , after the name of the fictional city and fortress in the Middle Family of the legendary J.R. R. Tolkien . At the end of 1992 , the band released a demo album called Tales From The Woods . Before recording the second demo in 1995 , the band changed its name again, this time to Vergelmir . The recording was held in Copenhagen at the Sweet Silence Studio, a studio that hosted such giants as Metallica and Blind Guardian . This demo was very well received in Italy and Germany .

Under its current name, the band first appears on Extremity Rising Vol.2 , released in 1996 via Serious Entertainment. The composition "Sorrow In Memoriam" already contains all the features that distinguish "Wuthering Heights", such as folk instruments, orchestra parts, high tempo.

In 1997 , the band signed to German gothic metal label Prophecy Productions and produced the demo Within . The label did not like the orientation towards progressive metal and it breaks the contract before the release of the album. But several other producers are showing interest in the group and in 1998 it was recorded on the American progressive metal label "The Laser's Edge / Sensory". At the request of the label, the demo album Within is overwritten, and becomes the first in the trilogy . The rewriting took place in August and September 1998 under the direction of Jacob Hansen. The group at that time included Eric Ravn (guitar), Rune S. Brink (keyboards), Casper Gram (bass guitar), Morten Nodgaard (drums) and Christian “Krille” Andren (vocals). The design of the album was created by Christian Valin (known for his work with King Diamond , Dissection , Bathory , Morgana Lefay ). The disc was well received all over the world. The band performs in Denmark in late 1999 and early 2000 with Peter Jensen (Sinphonia, Lost Horizons ) as an additional guitar player.

As a result of a split in the group in 2000, it was left by Casper Gram and Morten Nodgaard. To record the second album To Travel For Evermore , the Swedish guitarist Henrik Flyman ( Moahni Moahna , ZooL), Morten G. Serensen (Pyramaze, Aurora ) on drums and the Italian bass guitarist Lorenzo Deho (Time Machine, Khali) as an invitee participant. Recording begins in June 2001 at Jailhouse Studios under the direction of Tommy Hansen ( Helloween , Pretty Maids , Twilight , Beyond Twilight , Chroming Rose ), who also participated as a guest musician. During the summer of 2002 , the album is distributed worldwide, including Russia .

Unable to perform on stage, Eric Ravn immediately begins to prepare the third album - Far From the Madding Crowd . He also recorded at Jailhouse Studios with Tommy Hansen in the summer of 2003 . The vocalist on this album was Nils Patrick Johansson (Astral Doors). The album was released at the end of 2003, and turned out to be more melodic with a roll in folk than the previous album, and the Swedish magazine "HiFi & Musik" assigned it the status of "hard rock album of the year."

Both last albums received good reviews from critics and, after another rotation in the line-up, in the summer of 2004 the group first left Europe. The first non-European concert was held as part of the "ProgPower festival" in Atlanta (USA, Georgia) ^[1] . The performance was filmed and was supposed to be released as a bonus DVD to the fourth album of The Shadow Cabinet in 2006, but in the end it was released as a separate record in the USA.

In the summer of 2005, the group gives its first performance in Europe in the last few years - it plays at the Park Rock Festival in Sweden. Fragments of the band’s performance were broadcast in prime time of Swedish TV. And then there was the recording of the album "The Shadow Cabinet".

By the time the fifth Salt album was recorded in 2010, Eric Ravn was the only member of the band's first cast. A record deal was signed with Scarlet Records.

Since March 2011, the group has been on forced leave due to health problems (back) of Eric Ravn. And although there was no official announcement of the breakup of the group, its members are taking part in other projects.

The uniqueness of the musical style of "Wuthering Heights" is given by the combination of classic heavy metal and power metal with a highly virtuoso speed metal mixed with folk . Bagpipes, violins, flutes and other traditional instruments are used in many songs. The group often refers to prog metal , although strict adherence to the line of the genre is not observed.

The group’s lyrics are varied, but as a rule they include fantasies on themes of Tolkien’s creativity (sometimes even with specific references to places or creatures from his works) and more traditional folklore, with additional accents on shades of fantasy and themes in a new age style.

In its texts, the group makes no reference to 19th-century literature, despite the fact that the group takes its name from Emil Bronte’s Wuthering Heights album and the 2004 allusion to Thomas Hardy’s novel “Away from the Crazed Crowd”.

Current squad

• Eric Ravn - guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals ( 1989 - our days)
• Morten Geid Sorensen - drums, percussion ( 2002 - our days)
• Niels Patrick Johansson - vocals ( 2003 - our days)
• Teddy Möller - bass, guitar, drums, backing vocals ( 2004 - our days)
• Andreas Lindahl - keyboards (2004 – present)
• Martin Arendal - guitar (2004 – present)

Former members

• John Saunder - Guitar (1989–1990)
• Morten Birch - bass (1989–1994)
• Kenneth Saandwig - drums (1990–1998), backing vocals (1990-1992)
• Martin Ropke - guitar (1991–1992)
• Yannick B. Larsen - guitar (1992–1994)
• Troels Libgott - vocals (1993-1996)
• Tim Christensen - Keyboards (1993-1996)
• Tim Mogensen - bass (1994-1995)
• Louise - violin (1994-1995)
• Rune S. Brink - keyboards (1996-2004)
• Morten Nodgaard - vocals (1996-1997), drums (1998-2000)
• Casper Gram - bass (1996-2000)
• Christian "Krille" Andren - vocals (1998-2002)
• Peter Jensen - Guitar (1999)
• Henrik Flyman - Guitar (2002-2004)

Invited Members

• Troels Libgott - flute (1997)
• Henrietta Cordes - violin (1997)
• Lorenzo Dejo - bass (2002)
• Yet Hansen - Bagpipes (2003)
• Lisbeth Sagen - (2003-2006)
• Ulrik Tofte Jespersen - Flute (2003)
• Henrik Swaneker - Banjo (2003)
• Tommy Hansen - electric organ, keyboards, accordion, percussion, backing vocals (2006-2010)

Timeline

• Tales From The Woods (demo cassette) (1992) - as Minas Tirith
• Vergelmir (demo cassette) (1995) - as Vergelmir
• Within (demo CD-R) (1997)
• Within (1999)
• To Travel For Evermore (2002)
• Far From the Madding Crowd (2003 Japan ; 2004 USA , Europe )
• The Shadow Cabinet (2006)
• Salt (2010)

• Sorrow In Memoriam - Extremity Rising Vol. 2 (1996) - as Vergelmir
• Hunter In The Dark - Hard 'n' Heavy vol. 21 (2000)
• The Nevershining Stones - ProgPower USA III Showcase CD Sampler (2002)
• Tree - Hammer World Magazine Compilation - Let The Hammer Fall Vol. 26 (2004)
• Tree - Sweden Rock Magazine Gratis CD Vol.2 (2004)
• The Bollard - Las Nuevas Baladas Rock (2006)
• Beautifool - Hammer World Magazine Compilation - Let The Hammer Fall Vol. 52 (2006/2007)

Video

• Bonus video on DVD ProgPower USA V - Behind The Scenes Documentary (2005)
• Roaming Far From Home - Live At ProgPower 2004 (2006) - The Shadow Cabinet Bonus Disc (USA only)

• Official site "Wuthering Heights"
• Henrik Flyman Official Website