SALT

Hailing from Denmark, Wuthering Heights has been releasing their brand of prog metal since 1999. Salt is their fifth album, and although little new ground seems to be broken, and they wear their influences on their sleeves, I just can't help but like this album. Salt is not so much a concept album with a unified story, but a collection of songs around the common themes of the ocean and sea-faring pirates.

"Desperate Poet" is a strong opening track ? lots of lyrics, powerful vocals and frenetic tempos all served up with gusto and passion lets the listener know exactly what's in store for the rest of the album.

"Mad Sailor" has a weird sort of Scottish sea-shanty flavor. Hard to take too seriously with its sing-along choruses?yet it's all in the nature of the concept. "Last Tribe" and "Tears" are more mid-tempo rockers. Things get a little more interesting with "Weather the Storm" which features an atmospheric opening reminiscent of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. "The Field" and "Water of Life" continue with the maritime themes; the latter being the acoustic ballad of the album.

The final track, "Lost at Sea", is where the band pull out all the stops. This sixteen-minute epic seems to have just about everything. Combining the best of Gamma Ray, Rhapsody of Fire, Crimson Glory, Savatage and Iron Maiden, Wuthering Heights combines everything into one epic story-song that effortlessly goes from up-tempo rock to atmospheric acoustic interludes and back again.

As I said at the outset, the band wears their influences on their sleeves, yet they breathe so much life into their material that one can't help but be carried along. If you're a fan of any of the bands I've mentioned in this review, then Wuthering Heights is for you!

It baffles me why there are such different ratings for Wuthering Heights, since all their albums, except for the very early ones, are similar in quality, moderate-to-good. This Danish band play power metal with progressive touches and a very prominent Celtic folk influence. On this album the folk instrumentation (but not the influence) has been reduced somewhat, but instead its packed in a more "modern", New Era nautical package. But it's not our typical Iron Maiden-clone. Instead of wailing, the vocals are gruff. In fact, I picture an unwashed Viking every time I hear their vocalist, ha-ha. And equally gruff guitars sound not as much as riding-in-the-air- with-dragons, but rather as burning wildfire. The closing song, Lost at Sea, is a powerful 16-minute epic, stands its ground against Iron Maiden's Rime of Ancient Mariner as far as historical power metal epics go.