A Raven's Confession - Interview with WUTHERING HEIGHTS - 5/3/2026
A Raven's Confession - Interview with WUTHERING HEIGHTS - 5/3/2026
It's my pleasure to introduce Erik Ravn of Wuthering Heights to Crypt's Burden! I have been captivated by his music for some time, and for that my friend Nacht is to blame. Thanks to Erik for the excellent answers, and we look forward to your future endeavors! - Rusty
Thanks for responding so fast! I’ve read up on a bit of the band’s history and your previous interviews, so I hope I’m not treading on old ground here, but I tried to make these questions a bit more interesting.
1. First of all, how are you doing nowadays? How is the label going?
I'm doing pretty OK. I work out a lot, which helps on my chronic back pains. So my general condition has been pretty stable for some years, and I'm able to work on music in my home studio, as long as I'm being careful and not working for too long at a time.
The label Nagelfest Music is going along rather quietly. I sell a few CD's once in a while, but of course it's nothing like a real ”professional” record label. It's really just a way to have an outlet for my music, so that those who remain interested know where to go. I have in reality retired from the music business, as I have little interest in the way things work today. I think the state of the business is depressing, and I don't need that. I just want to enjoy playing and writing.
2. A while back you put out some Wuthering Heights reissues. On these you released some exclusive material, old and new. What’s the significance of these songs, and how did you choose what new material would be included with each album?
Basically the goal was simply to make the back catalogue available again and at the same time try to make the definitive versions of the albums. So the reissues are pretty complete, they contain everything we've released officially and then some – even the first ultra rare demo tapes.
Plus, the sound has been upgraded by Jacob Hansen who has done an amazing job on the new masters. We were even able to remaster the first to albums from original unmastered sources – which especially helped the sound of the second album. The quality of the source material from this period in music recording is somewhat limited, but these editions are definitely as good as they get.
And of course, we recorded a few new tracks for the final installment of the reissue series.
3. With the reissues out of the way, what are the next big plans for Nagelfest?
I'm working on the second album of my Danish language rock project ”Særling”. The recordings are done and I'm currently mixing it. I'm hoping to be able to raise the money for pressing it on vinyl this time as this is more suitable for the style. It's really my last big unfulfilled ambition to apper on vinyl!
As with all our releases the first album went pretty much under the radar, as I don't really have the means to do any promotion. But, if you read this – check it out, there are samples at the Nagelfest Music YouTube channel. Of course, it's completely different to WH, but I'm really happy with this project – it's a lot of fun. And, it still has loud guitar solos!
4. On some Wuthering Heights albums you have songs which are broken into parts but contain repeating hooks and riff passages (“Longing For the Woods” being the most notable example). Do these ideas come from an effort to create a theatrical “reprise” pacing on the album, or more so from having so many ideas surrounding the specific chorus parts?
There's never really that much of a master plan. Song writing is a strange thing. I've written a lot of songs over the years, and the process is basically still a mystery to me. It's like entering a different level of consciousness, and afterwards it's more or less impossible to trace back how the songs came into existence. But I've always been interested in arrangement – making the songs exciting and effective throughout. And of course, since WH do somewhat ”progressive” stuff, I have never imposed limits on how long or how weird the songs could be.
5. What would you say is the biggest risk you’ve taken on a song/album?
I think some people were maybe unsure about the heavy folk influences on ”Far From The Madding Crowd”, but I never really doubted it would work. What felt like the biggest risk were the lyrics for ”The Shadow Cabinet”. They were the most raw and honest I had written, but I felt it might be a bit much to indulge in my own issues like that. But in the end it was a much needed exorcism of personal demons, and probably the artistic achievement I'm most proud of.
6. You’ve stated before that you don’t regard Wuthering Heights as a Power Metal band but rather just Heavy Metal. Do you reject the term Power Metal overall or do you think that label suits other bands better?
It's probably an age thing – what we used to call power metal back in the day were the harder American bands – but those who weren't thrash. Today the term is associated rather with the European melodic bands who are usually very much into fantasy stuff.
And though everybody will probably think I'm nuts, I don't consider WH to do fantasy stuff. To me, there's a big difference between poetic renderings of personal experiences or world issues and then making up stories about dragons and what not. I rarely listen to what is nowadays considered power metal, as I find most of it quite silly and irrelevant – and often terribly clinical sounding.
What drew me to metal originally was real musicians playing raw and edgy stuff with lyrics about real things – as opposed to pop music. I get quite tired when I hear bands say that they don't want to comment on politics or world events – I think it's the artist's obligation to do so. Don't get me wrong, I love a good hit – music doens't have to be all clever and artsy, but pure escapism doesn't really appeal to me much. Said the grumpy old man – haha!
7. How often do you get requests to work on other projects? I read somewhere you dabble in film score, what kinds of films have you worked on in the past?
Sadly, almost never. I enjoy working at my studio, but I do miss interacting with other musicians from time to time. I should really get a working band together again to play my Danish songs, but it's not that easy, as I now live a bit remote.
I did one score for an Australian short film, and it was the plan to do some Shakespeare adaptation as well, but the director seemed to disappear during the Covid period, so nothing more came of that, I'm afraid.
I've also worked on a few other things that didn't take off eventually, but maybe something will come around. But, as I said, I'm not really part of the business anymore, so I suspect people maybe think I wouldn't be interested.
8. I also read somewhere that you used to conduct band interviews, perhaps like this, yourself. I couldn’t find anything else about it, but is that true and whatever happened with that? Who were some of your targets?
Well, I haven't heard about that either – I once sat in on a Blind Guardian interview, and I've been asked to write a few album reviews, but that's it really. Funny.
9. Regarding your solo project Beltane Born, can you tell us the influences that lie there as opposed to with Wuthering Heights? You’ve always said Wuthering Heights is very personal to you lyrically, is Beltane Born any more personal now that the project is solely in your hands?
It's a pretty banal story, really. It's no secret that I'm a huge Gary Moore fan. And when he died he was working on a follow-up to his ”Wild Frontier” album, which is probably one of the biggest influences on my music. I had been looking so much forward to this, so I kinda decided that I then had to make that album myself, if I wanted to hear it. That was the starting point. But of course, other influences crept in along the way as the project took shape. It was my way of embracing the classic rock I love so much, something I always wanted but didn't think I could do.
Actually, Andreas Lindahl our keyboard player once commented that the WH songs were really just rock songs underneath all the metal flash. So maybe I should have dared this a long time ago.
But yes, it's a very personal album – really the kind of album I would want to hear myself. It was of course made under very limited conditions, but I'm really happy with it – I think it contains some of my best stuff.
Also, as a side-note: I played in another band from 2008 to 2017 – the now sadly defunct ”Brökeback Mountaineers”. It was just a fun thing for a few friends to get together (we did do an album though). But the point is, my guitar playing and sound greatly developed during these years. And the results can be heard on both Beltane Born and the ”Særling” album. I'm much happier with my playing these days. That of course makes it a bit hard for me now to listen to my playing with WH, but you can't have it all, I guess.
I'm doing pretty OK. I work out a lot, which helps on my chronic back pains. So my general condition has been pretty stable for some years, and I'm able to work on music in my home studio, as long as I'm being careful and not working for too long at a time.
The label Nagelfest Music is going along rather quietly. I sell a few CD's once in a while, but of course it's nothing like a real ”professional” record label. It's really just a way to have an outlet for my music, so that those who remain interested know where to go. I have in reality retired from the music business, as I have little interest in the way things work today. I think the state of the business is depressing, and I don't need that. I just want to enjoy playing and writing.
2. A while back you put out some Wuthering Heights reissues. On these you released some exclusive material, old and new. What’s the significance of these songs, and how did you choose what new material would be included with each album?
Basically the goal was simply to make the back catalogue available again and at the same time try to make the definitive versions of the albums. So the reissues are pretty complete, they contain everything we've released officially and then some – even the first ultra rare demo tapes.
Plus, the sound has been upgraded by Jacob Hansen who has done an amazing job on the new masters. We were even able to remaster the first to albums from original unmastered sources – which especially helped the sound of the second album. The quality of the source material from this period in music recording is somewhat limited, but these editions are definitely as good as they get.
And of course, we recorded a few new tracks for the final installment of the reissue series.
3. With the reissues out of the way, what are the next big plans for Nagelfest?
I'm working on the second album of my Danish language rock project ”Særling”. The recordings are done and I'm currently mixing it. I'm hoping to be able to raise the money for pressing it on vinyl this time as this is more suitable for the style. It's really my last big unfulfilled ambition to apper on vinyl!
As with all our releases the first album went pretty much under the radar, as I don't really have the means to do any promotion. But, if you read this – check it out, there are samples at the Nagelfest Music YouTube channel. Of course, it's completely different to WH, but I'm really happy with this project – it's a lot of fun. And, it still has loud guitar solos!
4. On some Wuthering Heights albums you have songs which are broken into parts but contain repeating hooks and riff passages (“Longing For the Woods” being the most notable example). Do these ideas come from an effort to create a theatrical “reprise” pacing on the album, or more so from having so many ideas surrounding the specific chorus parts?
There's never really that much of a master plan. Song writing is a strange thing. I've written a lot of songs over the years, and the process is basically still a mystery to me. It's like entering a different level of consciousness, and afterwards it's more or less impossible to trace back how the songs came into existence. But I've always been interested in arrangement – making the songs exciting and effective throughout. And of course, since WH do somewhat ”progressive” stuff, I have never imposed limits on how long or how weird the songs could be.
5. What would you say is the biggest risk you’ve taken on a song/album?
I think some people were maybe unsure about the heavy folk influences on ”Far From The Madding Crowd”, but I never really doubted it would work. What felt like the biggest risk were the lyrics for ”The Shadow Cabinet”. They were the most raw and honest I had written, but I felt it might be a bit much to indulge in my own issues like that. But in the end it was a much needed exorcism of personal demons, and probably the artistic achievement I'm most proud of.
6. You’ve stated before that you don’t regard Wuthering Heights as a Power Metal band but rather just Heavy Metal. Do you reject the term Power Metal overall or do you think that label suits other bands better?
It's probably an age thing – what we used to call power metal back in the day were the harder American bands – but those who weren't thrash. Today the term is associated rather with the European melodic bands who are usually very much into fantasy stuff.
And though everybody will probably think I'm nuts, I don't consider WH to do fantasy stuff. To me, there's a big difference between poetic renderings of personal experiences or world issues and then making up stories about dragons and what not. I rarely listen to what is nowadays considered power metal, as I find most of it quite silly and irrelevant – and often terribly clinical sounding.
What drew me to metal originally was real musicians playing raw and edgy stuff with lyrics about real things – as opposed to pop music. I get quite tired when I hear bands say that they don't want to comment on politics or world events – I think it's the artist's obligation to do so. Don't get me wrong, I love a good hit – music doens't have to be all clever and artsy, but pure escapism doesn't really appeal to me much. Said the grumpy old man – haha!
7. How often do you get requests to work on other projects? I read somewhere you dabble in film score, what kinds of films have you worked on in the past?
Sadly, almost never. I enjoy working at my studio, but I do miss interacting with other musicians from time to time. I should really get a working band together again to play my Danish songs, but it's not that easy, as I now live a bit remote.
I did one score for an Australian short film, and it was the plan to do some Shakespeare adaptation as well, but the director seemed to disappear during the Covid period, so nothing more came of that, I'm afraid.
I've also worked on a few other things that didn't take off eventually, but maybe something will come around. But, as I said, I'm not really part of the business anymore, so I suspect people maybe think I wouldn't be interested.
8. I also read somewhere that you used to conduct band interviews, perhaps like this, yourself. I couldn’t find anything else about it, but is that true and whatever happened with that? Who were some of your targets?
Well, I haven't heard about that either – I once sat in on a Blind Guardian interview, and I've been asked to write a few album reviews, but that's it really. Funny.
9. Regarding your solo project Beltane Born, can you tell us the influences that lie there as opposed to with Wuthering Heights? You’ve always said Wuthering Heights is very personal to you lyrically, is Beltane Born any more personal now that the project is solely in your hands?
It's a pretty banal story, really. It's no secret that I'm a huge Gary Moore fan. And when he died he was working on a follow-up to his ”Wild Frontier” album, which is probably one of the biggest influences on my music. I had been looking so much forward to this, so I kinda decided that I then had to make that album myself, if I wanted to hear it. That was the starting point. But of course, other influences crept in along the way as the project took shape. It was my way of embracing the classic rock I love so much, something I always wanted but didn't think I could do.
Actually, Andreas Lindahl our keyboard player once commented that the WH songs were really just rock songs underneath all the metal flash. So maybe I should have dared this a long time ago.
But yes, it's a very personal album – really the kind of album I would want to hear myself. It was of course made under very limited conditions, but I'm really happy with it – I think it contains some of my best stuff.
Also, as a side-note: I played in another band from 2008 to 2017 – the now sadly defunct ”Brökeback Mountaineers”. It was just a fun thing for a few friends to get together (we did do an album though). But the point is, my guitar playing and sound greatly developed during these years. And the results can be heard on both Beltane Born and the ”Særling” album. I'm much happier with my playing these days. That of course makes it a bit hard for me now to listen to my playing with WH, but you can't have it all, I guess.
10. My personal favorite Wuthering Heights album is The Shadow Cabinet. Which release of yours do you most often revisit? Do any of Kristian/Nils’ vocal lines ever get stuck in your head?
Yeah, ”The Shadow Cabinet” is probably my favourite too. It's pretty consistent, is well balanced soundwise and, as I said, has some rather biting lyrical content. And guitar sound wise it was a step forward as well. But I very rarely listen to WH, I must admit. I revisited it all intensively during the preparation for the reissues, so now I think I can go some years before it will be exciting to listen to it again. I still listen to the ”Særling” album regularly. It turned out pretty much like I intended, which has not really happened to that extent before.
11. The big question is: Being that your last full length release was 16 years ago (I was 5 years old!!), can we expect any more from Wuthering Heights in the future?
Well, if you feel the years passing, how do you think I feel with the 40th anniversary of ”The Final Countdown” approaching, which is what started it all for me? Haha...
Anyway, you never know, but right now I can't really see it happening. But if one day I want to say something that is best said in that setting, then perhaps. But it would be a bit like trying to be the person you were all those years ago, I'm not sure that would work. The last thing I would want was for the fans to be disappointed by something that was not up to the expected standard.
Some oddball questions to end:
1. Have you seen the new Wuthering Heights adaptation film starring Margot Robbie?
No, although I will try to catch it if it comes on the telly. It got really poor reviews and from what I've read it sounded pretty ridiculous. But I try to see as many of the movie adaptations as possible – but there are so many.
Actually, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg did a version of ”Far From The Madding Crowd” some years back, which I remember as rather good and visually stunning.
And of course, I've come to realise that many English speakers loath ”Wuthering Heights”, because they were forced to read it at school. But I love that period of English litterature. The Brontë family were fascinating and tragic characters, and I think Emily Brontë was a true genius. Her poems ought to appeal to the metal crowd – she was goth before goth!
2. Have you ever had a paranormal encounter?
Unless different recollections of a shared experience counts – then no. To be honest, I find the normal world strange enough.
3. Have you found the ideal Gary Moore guitar tone yet?
Haha! Yes and no. It probably sounds nothing like Gary Moore, but my current main setup of my 7-string Ibanez S with DiMarzio pickups and my Marshall JVM410H amp is pretty much the tone I always wanted.
So of course, now that that's in place I'm exploring new sounds – I'm quite into 80's sounds at the moment, and I've even ventured into classic fuzz territory. And I'm enjoying Fender guitars these days as well. There are always new sounds to search for.
Thanks for the interview and your time! I hope you had a good time answering these questions, I know I enjoyed writing them (because I was listening to The Shadow Cabinet the whole time). If there’s anything else you’d wish to add, you may do so below:
It's been a long time since I've done something like this, so it's all fine. For those interested in my doings, all info is on the Nagelfest Music website, and I can always be reached through that as well.
Yeah, ”The Shadow Cabinet” is probably my favourite too. It's pretty consistent, is well balanced soundwise and, as I said, has some rather biting lyrical content. And guitar sound wise it was a step forward as well. But I very rarely listen to WH, I must admit. I revisited it all intensively during the preparation for the reissues, so now I think I can go some years before it will be exciting to listen to it again. I still listen to the ”Særling” album regularly. It turned out pretty much like I intended, which has not really happened to that extent before.
11. The big question is: Being that your last full length release was 16 years ago (I was 5 years old!!), can we expect any more from Wuthering Heights in the future?
Well, if you feel the years passing, how do you think I feel with the 40th anniversary of ”The Final Countdown” approaching, which is what started it all for me? Haha...
Anyway, you never know, but right now I can't really see it happening. But if one day I want to say something that is best said in that setting, then perhaps. But it would be a bit like trying to be the person you were all those years ago, I'm not sure that would work. The last thing I would want was for the fans to be disappointed by something that was not up to the expected standard.
Some oddball questions to end:
1. Have you seen the new Wuthering Heights adaptation film starring Margot Robbie?
No, although I will try to catch it if it comes on the telly. It got really poor reviews and from what I've read it sounded pretty ridiculous. But I try to see as many of the movie adaptations as possible – but there are so many.
Actually, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg did a version of ”Far From The Madding Crowd” some years back, which I remember as rather good and visually stunning.
And of course, I've come to realise that many English speakers loath ”Wuthering Heights”, because they were forced to read it at school. But I love that period of English litterature. The Brontë family were fascinating and tragic characters, and I think Emily Brontë was a true genius. Her poems ought to appeal to the metal crowd – she was goth before goth!
2. Have you ever had a paranormal encounter?
Unless different recollections of a shared experience counts – then no. To be honest, I find the normal world strange enough.
3. Have you found the ideal Gary Moore guitar tone yet?
Haha! Yes and no. It probably sounds nothing like Gary Moore, but my current main setup of my 7-string Ibanez S with DiMarzio pickups and my Marshall JVM410H amp is pretty much the tone I always wanted.
So of course, now that that's in place I'm exploring new sounds – I'm quite into 80's sounds at the moment, and I've even ventured into classic fuzz territory. And I'm enjoying Fender guitars these days as well. There are always new sounds to search for.
Thanks for the interview and your time! I hope you had a good time answering these questions, I know I enjoyed writing them (because I was listening to The Shadow Cabinet the whole time). If there’s anything else you’d wish to add, you may do so below:
It's been a long time since I've done something like this, so it's all fine. For those interested in my doings, all info is on the Nagelfest Music website, and I can always be reached through that as well.
Comments
Post a Comment