?Classics? of power metal #10: WUTHERING HEIGHTS - The Shadow Cabinet (2006), early impressions

Prior exposure to this band/record:  Nada.

 

When I first started blogging about music, the premise was that I'd "react" (think of a text-based and less engaging version of the YouTube semi-professional "reactors")  in some simulation of real time.  That way, my reader* could trace the evolution of my relationship with a work of music.  I've moved away from that to a degree,** but I do hope that these early-impressions posts do capture an interesting moment in time in which a listener hasn't totally absorbed the music yet.  On this occasion, I'd like to work through, as best as I can remember, my basic reactions to The Shadow Cabinet.

First listen, part I (tracks 1-4, while walking)

My big summary statement upon starting the first track was "I was not prepared for this!"  I keep expecting folk-metal to be gentler or more lilting, but clearly Wuthering Heights are aggressively metal first.  The keys, used mostly for bombast, got my attention, as did the rapid-fire riffage and drumming.  The songs of course go on to get proggy too, but first and foremost they're aggressive and metal-y.

 

And then there's that singer, band mastermind Erik Ravn.  Before any other evaluations of his work, main first impression was that he was a lot.  When I hear other singers, such as actual stage actor Matthias Blad, described as "theatrical," well, they've got nothing on this.  I definitely had my "not sure if I feel this" moments as I tried to get used to the extent to which Erik wails, moans, generally over-pronounces, etc throughout the course of an hour of music.  Moment to moment I went back and forth between thinking it was overdone and appreciating his commitment to the bit.  If he's playing the victim on the first track and the villain on the second, it kinda makes sense for him to going to extreme vicissitudes with his voice, right?  The way the songs are constructed kept having me expecting some unclean vocals - they just sound like they should be a symphonic death metal band - and they keep not going there.

The big early standout track was "Apathy Divine (Part I: Faith)," starting with the rollicking string part before parlaying that into the song.  I was struck by the way the songs felt unified - no "collection of bits" feelings for the most part - with this track in particular clearly holding together with each section serving its role and familiar elements reemerging.  Very hooky chorus on top of that.  I kept feeling like I'd heard that before but couldn't think of where, exactly.  

Generally got that a lot, trying to process the record in terms of what else it sounded like.  I certainly haven't heard anyone sound quite like Wuthering Heights, so my mind resorted to combos.  Is WH more like some mix of Dream Theater and Tardigrade Inferno?  With the grandiose storytelling and faux-folk meeting raw speed and aggression, maybe better described as Jethro Tull meets Manticora?  Is the only way I can describe new sounds by comparing them to other sounds?  

So at this point I'm pretty hooked...

First listen, part II (track 5 through the end, while sitting in rocking chair on weekend morning waiting for spouse to wake up so we could plan the day)

... to a point.  With practically every song being six minutes or longer, energy is definitely going to flag at some point.  Well, it flagged.  I was stunned towards the end to recognize that I was starting to tune out because it sounded like I expected.  Was it possible that the reason I'm so keen to describe Wuthering Heights in terms of other artists because they're just mashing different familiar elements together without adding anything truly new?  Paint-by-numbers metal ballad "Midnight Song," which I had yet to realize wasn't even officially part of the record, came just as I was coming up with that sentiment.

So at this point I'm questioning whether I completely missed the mark in getting so excited about The Shadow Cabinet in the first place.

Second listen, part I (tracks 1-5, while cleaning)

This spin started out rough.  I wasn't necessarily in the mood for things to go so big so early.  Where the early tracks sounded impressive and massive during listen #1, now they seemed silly and overwrought.  Erik's vocals on "Demon Desire" seemed, like I keep saying, way too much.  I'm willing to acknowledge that I haven't dived into the lyrics to know whether desire is being compared to a demon or something, but if the narrator is actually wailing about being a sex slave to a literal demon... this is really silly shit, I'm sorry.  Like a cartoon.

The Shadow Cabinet started clicking again around the time of "The Raven," which does soar a little like its namesake (I wonder if Mr. Ravn has an affinity for them).  I still like "Apathy Divine" (part one, not so much part two) quite a bit.  "Envy," which didn't stand out much on first listen, resonated once I realized that the main vocal line is a lilting, folky little phrase (da-DA da-DA-da da-da...) that's then extrapolated to metal.  There's a legitimate folk core to these power/folk/prog-metal songs that makes them sing.  Sometimes the record just strips it down to acoustic instrumentation to make it obvious, whereas the rest of the time it just throws the listener in and hopes they can follow along.  I was willing to give that a go, since I do enjoy folk tunes played as metal songs.  To be clear, this is folk music filtered through roughly two derivatives.  Like, Unleash The Archers covering Stan Rogers doing a pastiche of a sea shanty***; that sort of remove from actual folk.  I'll have to think about it a bit more, but I wonder if it's the mix of a fundamentally legato melody line with a music form that's big on staccatos and arpeggios that makes records like Falconer and Cabinet stand out as so special?

So, at this point I've gone all the way through skepticism back to optimism.

Second listen, part II (tracks 6-10, while on the bus)

A little harder to focus on the individual bits, but I tried to grab a melody to follow and it kinda worked.  I quite like some parts of some songs, and tune out others.  And there were definitely times in which I wanted to demand "Erik, just for the sake of musical taste, tone it down a little, willya?"" I mean, "Carpe Noctem" is pretty nice.****  "If you cannot win the day, seize the night!"  Anthemic stuff.

So at this point... I'm not sure what I think.  I really don't.  I obviously need to listen a bunch more, but I wanted to get these thoughts down, without playing the record again, to convey this specific moment in which I'm right smack in the middle of "reacting" and honestly do not know which way the wind is blowing.  Usually by this point I have at least a sense, even if not anywhere near a verdict.  The sense of "I have some doubts, but there's definitely something here!", which is where I was after two listens with Open The Gates and again with Temple Of Shadows.  Or the sense of "there are definitely cool things happening here, so I need to give it more of a chance, but I don't think this is quite it, for me," like with Epica or Irae Melanox.  My thoughts have just not crystallized at all yet about Wuthering Heights, so, uh, come along with me and we'll see where this journey ends.

Favorite track:  "Apathy Divine (Part I: Faith)"

Runner up:  "Envy"

Least favorite track:  "Beautifool"

Rating:  3/5, I guess?

Next:  More on The Shadow Cabinet, whenever I get around to it!

*Optimistic there!

**My first project here, which I started before I wrote anything about metal, was a career run of the discography of indie-rock band The National, during which I actually tried to whip up one early-impressions post after listen #1, and then another one after listen #2.  I'm never doing that again.

***As he does.  (Or did, rather.)

****Minor nitpick, but why is the title the cumbersome "Carpe Noctem - Seize The Night?"  Erik is definitely not the first person to ever use that particular bit of bastardized Latin; if a song is called "Carpe Noctem" and includes the phrase "seize the night," we're all going to get it, no explanation needed.