Wuthering Heights

As their name suggests, Copenhagen, Denmark's Wuthering Heights is a band whose eclectic blend of progressive, power, and folk music-into-heavy metal supports the literate lyrical subject matter covered by their many albums. Originally founded in 1997 from the ashes of another group with literary inspirations named Minas Tirith, Wuthering Heights' first recorded lineup consisted of guitarist Erik Ravn, bassist Kaspar Gram, keyboard player Rune S. Brink, drummer Morten Nødgaard, and Swedish vocalist Kristian "Krille" Andrén (a veteran of Memento Mori, Tad Morose, and others). This lineup's first collaboration, 1999's Within, firmly established the band's intriguing musical palette (augmented with traditional instruments like bagpipes, violins, and flutes) and set the stage for consistently engaging follow-ups like 2002's To Travel for Evermore, 2004's Far from the Madding Crowd (which introduced new frontman, Nils Patrik Johansson, of Lion's Share, Space Odyssey, etc.), and 2006's The Shadow Cabinet. A well-deserved break followed for Wuthering Heights, but guitarist and chief songwriter Ravn also kept busy composing the group's next ambitious concept piece, Salt, which emerged in early 2010 and delved into oceanic imagery for inspiration.