Recommendation- Wuthering Heights- "Far from the Madding Crowd"

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Tracklist

1. Gather Ye Wild
2. The Road Goes Ever on
3. Tree
4. Longing for the Woods pt. 1: The Wild Children
5. Highland Winds
6. Longing for the Woods pt. 2: The Ring of Fire
7. The Bollard
8. Bad Hobbits Die Hard
9. Longing for the Woods pt. 3: Herne's Prophecy
10. Land of Olden Glory
11. Lament for Lorien
12. The Tapdancer/Gather Ye Wild Reprise (Bonus Track)

This probably isnt very obscure, but it happens to be one of my favourite albums ever. Wuthering Heights are a hard band to pin down one style too. Epic, Melodic, Folk, Progressive, are all adjectives I would use to describe them. The website reads- "Scandinavian Symphonic Folk-speed-prog Metal" so I suppose I'll go with that. The vocalist, Nils Patrick Johansson, has to have on of the most unique voices in metal at the moment. I have a feeling the vocals will make or break this album for alot of you though. His broad thundering voice gives an incredible power to the music. The music itself is very atmospheric, technically well done, and expertly crafted. I cant think of an album that sends more shivers down my spine than this one. This is one of those albums that makes me feel like I've truly harkened back to days of old.

 

[General Zod]

I own this disc. I absolutely love the song "Tree", but the rest of the disc doesn't do much for me.

Zod

 

[Demonspell]

Heard this before, my best description would be "Blind Guardian jollyfolk"...

 

[AsModEe]

very good recommendation, I own myself the cd (and guess what, my parents and I were hanging in a HMV and my mom came to me with this cd saying: I thought it was something for me, but I guess you would like it more). One of the few power metal albums I can listen to more than 5 times. Land of Olden Glory kicks ass and the chorus in the first song "The road goes on and on" just sticks in your head for the entire day.

 

[spaffe]

I can't help laughing to myself when listening to stuff that is so over the top as this -- all subtelty thrown out the window, with raging guitars, jolly melodies, an in your face vocalist, chourouses, flutes, keyboards all crammed into my poor ears at once. But in the end it's acutally pretty enjoyable and the laugh of mine is not scornful, rather amused. Though I doubt I would say the same about the entire album with its eleven additional songs

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

Excellent stuff, though I'm honestly not too hot on "Tree," which everyone seems to love. I'd recommend "The Road Goes Ever On" as one of the top tracks.

 

[Chromatose]

hahahaha, I tried, I tried. It's just, I dunno, I guess too over-the-top for me. I like what the songs contain, and if dished out in smaller portions it'd be fun, but wow, yeah, overloaded on the epic jollyness.

 

[Zack]

Yeah pretty over the top, but I really like it.

 

[jimbobhickville]

well-done, but too cheesy for my tastes. Maybe a few more listens will help it, though.

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Hmm, I guess I should have guessed most people here wouldnt like this. But man, if you guys think this is cheesy...I could throw a dumptruck of bands with a more jolly upbeat sound on you

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

sadly, this is too jollyfolk for me, I like most of it, but it's just a bit too much for moi.

 

[jimbobhickville]

Oh, I know there's a lot cheesier stuff out there. I guess my post sounded more negative than I intended. It's good stuff, but I wouldn't listen to it enough to justify a purchase 'cause the cheese factor puts me off.

 

[dill_the_devil]

I'm with the 'too jollyfolk' crowd. I kept putting it on, then switching over to Psychotic Waltz again instead.

 

[skeptik]

It's not as good as my memory would have me believe, but I still find myself enjoying it. Kind of.

 

[Six-winged Seraph]

I like it!

 

[JayKeeley]

I had/have another Wuthering Heights album...something to do with stepping stones or something....anyway, I thought it sucked balls and even went out of my way to avoid them when they played ProgPower.

That said, this one is supposed to be good so I'll download the samples and check it out yo.

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

I had/have another Wuthering Heights album...something to do with stepping stones or something....anyway, I thought it sucked balls and even went out of my way to avoid them when they played ProgPower.

That said, this one is supposed to be good so I'll download the samples and check it out yo.

Please do, they sound WORLDS different now. I thought the first two were mediocre to good at best.

I guess I really dont see this as very jolly myself. Alot of the folky black metal I see hailed around here sounds much happier to my ears, ehn. You really have to enjoy a decent amount of power metal to like this as well I suppose. SOMEDAY I will recommend a band you jews will like.

 

[Erik]

8. Bad Hobbits Die Hard

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

thats actually probably the most straight up metal song on the album. Its a speed metal-esque instrumental.