Uriah Heep
Wake The Sleeper

It's not yet time for the lady in black.

The paladin is still a little man who, on certain days, cannot make his way through his hair and often does not see the light of the Sun. Even though there are no more demons and wizards celebrating birthdays, he feels he still has something to say with his wha-wha sword. Once he used to say to look at oneself, gently wiping the tears from the eyes. Now times have changed, but there is always a way to escape for a moment and return to fantasy like a time traveler. A new magic, affection in a circle of hands.

I would speak about it with enthusiasm, but I let others talk about the new, excellent work of the old ones. I just wanted to awaken the sleeping with my words, but perhaps I have put the awake to sleep.

The Uriah Heep return in 2008 with "Wake The Sleeper." It is undoubtedly a robust, compact, and energetic work. One of those comebacks worth waiting for, even though the award-winning company now led solely by guitarist Mick Box with bassist Trevor Bloder (remember David Bowie's amiable bearded one?), singer Bernie Shaw, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, had to part ways with the historic (and excellent) drummer Lee Kerslake, who left the group already in January 2007 due to health issues. In this album, he is replaced by Russell Gilbrook.

Let's now try to compare the latest effort of the English band with other albums from the Lanzon/Shaw era. By now, of the first two "Raging Silence" (1989) and "Different World" (1991), heavily influenced by the AOR scene of the time, only distant echoes remain. Since 1995, however, the Heep have shown a strong desire to return to the glorious past: the result was the excellent "Sea Of Light," an album with a robust and sharp sound, which fully reveals the finally achieved harmony of the leading duo in the Box/Lanzon songwriting.

Now this quintet of veterans has indeed become a band that dedicates body and soul to concerts, thus reducing studio production. The choice to focus on quality rather than quantity has thus proven successful even with the softer "Sonic Origami" (1998)... and continues to prove successful with the current "Wake The Sleeper," released ten years after its direct predecessor.

Mick Box has always been a great admirer of the wha-wha, a pedal that seems unwilling to let go throughout the album: "Ghost Of The Ocean", the excellent title track, and the subsequent and very hard "Overload" are excellent examples. "Tears Of The World" is classic Heep, just like the beautiful "Shadow". "Heavens Rain" and "Book Of Lies" are two other good episodes, but of the entire album, the highest peak is reached with "What Kind Of God", inspired by the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" written by Dee Brown, a song with a majestic pace and moving lyrics, defending the Native Americans massacred by whites. The tracks are all of excellent quality, except perhaps for some slight dips in style like "War Child", with vocal lines that become tiring in the long run, and the lighter "Light Of A Thousand Stars".

In short, in a year of excellent music, especially for those more attached to refined sounds, in which great albums like "Trisector" by Van der Graaf Generator or "01011001" by Ayreon were released, certainly even this latest (hopefully not the last) studio effort by Uriah Heep does not pale at all.

Uriah Heep has returned, even if Charles doesn't know it: someone tell Dickens.