SEA OF LIGHT

A real nice surprise! although I knew Heep´s line up with Bernie Shaw was their best since the Byron years, they were basicly a live band and their two previous studio offerings (Raging Silence and Different World) were very disappointing (like almost all of Heep´s 80´s output, in fact). So I was not willing to hear this release until I read some reviews in PA. Based on that, I decided to give them a shot. Boy, am I glad I did it.

Sea Of Light is their best studio work in a long, long time. Of course it´s not a classic like Demons and Wizzards, but I was not expecting anything like that either. In this CD UH seems to finally decided to do a good Heep album, and they did it very well. All the trademark UH sounds are here: heavy guitar riffs, great bass lines, soaring hammonds, good backing vocals and so on. At the same time it´s not a nostalgia CD. they mixed very well the old with the new. The resulting is an album that sounds like UH and still bears all the modern traits of a new band. The songs are all between good and very good. The arrangements are great and Bernie Shaw again shows that he was the right choice for the group: His vocals are the closest you can get from David Byron and still sound his own. Well done!

On the whole, a new and refreshing Uriah Heep, sounding convincing and powerful like they haven´t done for a long time. I was having trouble to rate this album, somewhere between 3,5 and 4 stars. But I´ll round it 4, because although not as strong as their classic period, this CD represents a fine comeback from a band that I thought had nothing more to say. I´m glad I was wrong and looking forward to hear Sea Of Light follow ups. With a right production, no fillers and a lot of energy, this is a pleasant surprise for all UH fans. So happy to see you back in form.