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Wuthering Heights: Far From the Madding Crowd
 Far From the Madding Crowd is the third and final installment in Wuthering Heights' Evermore Saga. What is that? Don't know, don't care. The music here trumps any plot these songs could follow and, in fact, tells its own story. (Truth be told, the Evermore Saga recounts the tale of a lonely wanderer.) Opening with the sound of mournful bagpipes, the album quickly turns epic on the leadoff instrumental "Gather Ye Wild." From there, Denmark's Wuthering Heights engages in a dazzling array of symphonic metal that's sharp, intelligent, technical and played extremely well. The bagpipes return on "Highland Winds" before giving way to rousing, folksy a cappella passages, while the dual vocals and eclectic instrumentation on "The Bollard" offer listeners something far different than most European metal bands these days — save perhaps Blind Guardian. Of course, we all could do without the stereotypical galloping rhythms and cheesy title of the instrumental "Bad Hobbits Die Hard," and at more than 65 minutes, the album gets a wee bit long.
The Jorn-meets-Dio vocals of new Swedish singer Nils Patrik Johansson (Astral Doors, Richard Andersson's Space Odyssey) are an improvement over the voice of original singer Kristian "Krille" Andrén, who despite his fine pipes tended to make Wuthering Heights' first two albums (1999's Within and 2002's To Travel For Evermore) sound too antiseptic. That is certainly not a problem with Johansson, who lends grit and gravity to Far From the Madding Crowd and makes it the band's heaviest album yet. Also worth noting is the performance of guitarist Erik Ravn, the only original member of Wuthering Heights remaining from the band's early days of the early Nineties. Ravn's lethal neoclassical riffs propel the overall sound of Wuthering Heights without dominating these songs — letting the music breathe and take on various personality quirks.
Sounding neither as classically influenced as Within nor as progressive as To Travel For Evermore, Far From the Madding Crowd finds Wuthering Heights floating in some kind of surreal and organic heavy metal realm, continuing to explore new ground and reach new heights.
Track Listing
1) Gather Ye Wild (1:46)
2) The Road Goes Ever On (7:50)
3) Tree (5:04)
4) Longing For the Woods Part 1: The Wild Children (5:36)
5) Highland Winds (6:56)
6) Longing For the Woods Part II: The Ring of Fire (6:15)
7) The Bollard (3:29)
8) Bad Hobbits Die Hard (3:22)
9) Longing For the Woods Part III: Herne's Prophecy (8:39)
10) Land of Olden Glory (6:21)
11) Lament for Lórien (5:51)
12) Bonus Track: Tapdancer/Gather Ye Wild (Reprise) (4:08)
Total Running Time (65:40)
Added: September 24th 2005
Reviewer: Michael Popke
Score: 
Related Link: Official Wuthering Heights Web Site
Hits: 6269
Language: english
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Wuthering Heights: Far From the Madding Crowd
Posted by Murat Batmaz, SoT Staff Writer on 2005-09-24 17:37:31
My Score:
Far from the Madding Crowd is the third album of Danish band Wuthering Heights. This band has evolved from album to album; while their first one Within was a lot more proggier, the second one To Travel for Evermore signalled the band's shift towards a more power metal-oriented style. And now with their new one, they have become a more straightforward power metal act, but quite different from the typical Euro power bands out there. A very subtle Celtic influence abounds the songs throughout the entire album with a rather aggressive new vocalist: Nils Patrik Johansson. Former Tad Morose, Memento Mori and Fifth Reason singer Kristian Andren is gone and replaced with a more suitable frontman for the band's current musical ambitions.
Wuthering Heights is guitarist Erik Ravn's band. Ravn not only composes all songs, but he also writes the lyrics. It's been this way since their debut Within(1999) and seems unlikely to change any time soon. He does let his new bandmates add their own flavour but after listening to this band for a few times the Erik Ravn touch is easily recognised.
The new singer Nils Johansson has a voice that draws comparisons to vocal idols such as Ronnie James Dio and Russel Allen from Symphony X. It may just be me, because of the folk themes of the songs, but I am also reminded of Martin Walkyier from Skyclad. Harry Conklin of Jag Panzer also comes to mind during the more aggressive parts of his vocal delivery. Since all these singers I mentioned are big favourites of mine, it is difficult to ignore such a talented vocalist. As much as I like former singer Kristian Andren's unique style more, I think Nils is a better fit considering the type of metal they have chosen to play on Far from the Madding Crowd. Then again, Nils wouldn't work on the band's first album Within, which is a very prog-laden disc with slight neoclassical interludes and more complex songwriting approach.
The inclusion of flute and symphonic strings that introduce us to the first song "Gather Ye Wild" ties in seamlessly with one of the strongest and catchiest tunes of the album: "The Road Goes Ever On". These Celtic ingredients are available on each and every track but they never take away from the songcraft. The music on this disc borrows a lot of speed metal riffs and combines them with catchy melodies displaying galloping power metal riffs and some neoclassical lead guitar work which was also present on the previous discs. The folk theme runs through all the compositions adding its flavour and defining the sound of this record.
The centrepiece of the album is without question the "Longing for the Woods" trilogy but the tracks are independent of each other. One of them is used in the beginning, the other one is in the middle and the last one is towards the end of the CD. They all contain the same chorus and this is a central motive anchoring the three parts together into a single epic. It could be argued that the choruses being identical in all three songs is a deterrent factor but I personally like it a lot cause it gives the album a sense of unity.
Producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids) has done an outstanding job here and this may be the best Wuthering Heights disc production-wise. While I still like their obscure debut Within the best, I think Far from the Madding Crowd has a more appealing value to power metal fans that look for something different. This is particularly recommended to fans of Skyclad, Symphony X, Blind Guardian and Falconer.
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