Uriah Heep

Sea Of Light

The resurrection of Classic Heep

Review Score:

(10/10)
In 1994, Uriah Heep experienced a beautiful transformation back into the band they used to be in "Demons and Wizards" days (1972), a return haralded perfectly by the fact that the cover was painted by the same artist who did Demons and Wizards' cover, Roger Dean. Honestly, SoL's is probably my second favorite Uriah Heep cover of all time (perhaps after the "gallery of statues" we see on "Wonderworld", which I just love), so the album is already off to a magnificent start before you've even put the disc into the player. Ten years after the release of SoL, the band still shows no sign of slipping in terms of the quality of their music... I for one am anxiously anticipating their next new album, which word has it will be out this summer (possibly in June).

SoL starts off with a loud and true rocker (making a great first impression for any newby you might happen to loan it to, if the thought of listening to music from the seventies immediately causes them to twitch), the excellent "Against the Odds". Love it... it starts off with an ethereal, quiet, synth introduction, immediately bringing to mind the idea of sunshine... or if you want, given the title of the album, a luminous ocean somehow emanating forth light from its waves... giving the listener a feeling of peaceful serenity that lasts only a few seconds before being broken (though not unwelcomely) by a fast and thunderous guitar solo by the one and only Mick Box. The song that follows from that is just great... awesome lyrics sung by the beautifully-voiced Bernie Shaw ("in the court of kings, I look around; My blood runs cold, I close my eyes"), great, only-Uriah Heep-could-do-this backing vocals, wonderful organ playing courtesy of Phil Lanzon... awesome stuff. I honestly can't think of a better way to begin an album.

Though the first two albums from this current line-up of Uriah Heep had their moments but were still, in my humble opinion, no masterpieces, that's no longer the case starting with SoL... Eleven more songs of the same quality come after "Against the Odds", in a nice variety of styles and moods. We get more rockers (my favorite of which is Trevor Bolder's fast and furious "Fear of Falling"), ballads (like the all-acoustic "Dream On" which closes the album), rocker/ballads (the beautiful "Spirit of Freedom", the opening of which always makes me imagine a mountain trying to fly and succeeding), and even some symphonic/progressive rock (the undefinable "Love in Silence", fascinatingly enhanced by an orchestra).

The well never seems to run dry... each track has something about it that can be looked forward to, and the musicianship is excellent in every respect. I was particularly happy to note that keyboardist Phil Lanzon at last discovered that true Uriah Heep music relies not on synthesizers (as it unfortunately did heavily in the eighties, with the three albums featuring keyboardest John Sinclair and the two albums before this one that Lanzon played on), but on piano and organ, primarily. Yes, there is synth to be heard (as I noted in my description of the first track), but it's sparingly and only effectively used and in no way distracting (check out the piano solo on "Mistress of All Time"!). It lends a sort of timelessness to the music that makes it impossible to date... that sort of fantasy, fairy-tale quality that Heep hasn't, with a few exceptions (like the excellent "Night of the Wolf" track from 1985's "Equator", which was organ organ left and right) given us since the Demons/Wizards/Magicians days of the early seventies.

The glory days of Uriah Heep have returned. Anyone who used to be a fan but then lost them once the eighties rolled around, as well as anyone who's never even heard Uriah Heep before listen to me: SoL is a great way to discover/re-discover one of the greatest bands of all time, and I certainly hope you will give it a try. You'll have a lot of fun, experience some great feelings, and by the time it's over you'll feel as though you just sailed around the world.

Carry on Carry on,

MN

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