Tarot (Marco Hietala's older band)

One of my personal favourites, from way back in the 1980s. They were never as famous as Nightwish, whom Marco joined later, but I find them a lot more interesting- I strongly prefer long-running bands. Plenty of Euro Power Metal features exist in their 80s albums, recorded before EUPM was a style by itself. But there's been no news about them since 2011, their Twitter account has been dormant, and whenever Marco appears in the news, it's about Nightwish. His brother Zachary is virtually out of the news, beyond his instrumental album release. Are they on a break, or just sleeping? I hope they don't split up or retire.

They've been around a long time and since I'm sure Marco makes a ton more money with Nightwish, he doesn't really have as much time for Tarot. Their last 2 albums weren't really worth the wait. Their stuff is great up til Crows Fly Back, everything else has been kinda of , meh. I'm sure they are still around, they just don't have time for it.

The only one seriously busy is Marco and possibly Janne. The others don't have much, or their current ventures are relatively new (barely two years old, no more than one full album). They can, briefly, carry on without Marco if Nightwish is keeping him busy, but the projects they're involved in are new and much smaller.

I thought the last two were great too especially 'Gravity Of Light'. They put out a re-recording of their debut 'Spell of Iron' not too long ago, I definitely want a new record.

I finally broke down and bought me some Tarot!

I ordered three CDs:

Suffer Our Pleasures
Gravity of Light
The Spell of Iron MMXI

I got them cheap and it's a band I've had on my want list for a long, long time. In fact, it's nothing short of a miracle I haven't listened to them before! I've always been a metal fan, for more than 20 years now, I practically live right where Marco does. I keep seeing him around wherever I go. Like, really see him so many times it's ridiculous. I think I last saw him at the local convenience store, queueing for whatever. I was ahead of him, did my purchase, I never saw him, walked back to where my wife was and she says "guess who was behind you?", and I'm like "Umm... wild guess, Marco Hietala?". Because it has already become a thing, whenever we see a celebrity I just go "Marco Hietala?". But most of the times I see him is at the airport or at festivals or concerts (even if Tarot/Nightwish aren't playing). I've seen his kid around a lot too. I never talked to Marco, so he doesn't know me and it'd probably be awkward if he ever read this (unlike with Alexi Laiho, whom I did talk to).

Anyway, I love metal, I love Nightwish, I love classic metal, Marco Hietala lives next door, and I HAVE NEVER EVER HEARD HIS BAND.

Or sort of... I have seen Tarot live multiple times, but the point is I've never heard any of their songs outside of that and could not name even one. I finally fixed it, and now I can hardly wait for the mailman to bring me the three CDs I ordered.

I'll give you the genuine first impressions once I get them (just like in the Axel Rudi Pell thread).

  

You're in for good listening!!!

I've had the CDs for a few days, but I've taken it slow. I've only listened to the Spell of Iron MMXI so far. I've given it maybe six listens by now. Sounds strangely like Rage. Especially songs like Never Forever.

I like the album a lot. I'll need to put it down for awhile though and start spinning the other two. It's Christmas though so I don't know if I'll get the time needed for a proper listen. I might save the two discs for later. Wouldn't want to ruin the first listen by playing an album in the car or not having enough time to let it all sink in.

I like to reserve an hour or two to just sit down and listen (like really LISTEN) to music. With maybe some cognac or good scotch.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

They've been around a long time and since I'm sure Marco makes a ton more money with Nightwish, he doesn't really have as much time for Tarot. Their last 2 albums weren't really worth the wait. Their stuff is great up til Crows Fly Back, everything else has been kinda of , meh. I'm sure they are still around, they just don't have time for it.

You crazy, son! Crows Fly Black and Gravity of Light are excellent. The Spell of Iron MMXI is just a re-recording of the debut, and it's also quite good.

Anyway, they took a break after The Spell of Iron MMXI so Marco could do the big tour with Nightwish. They were going to try to start putting songs together after the tour, which ended already, so hopefully they're getting something done. Last I heard, they were hoping to get something new out in 2014. I know they've got some tour dates scheduled.

Either way, great band.

Oh, and for a laugh...

Only like their first two albums. Other than that, some great songs here and there, like "Pyre of Gods".

Eyesore wrote:

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

They've been around a long time and since I'm sure Marco makes a ton more money with Nightwish, he doesn't really have as much time for Tarot. Their last 2 albums weren't really worth the wait. Their stuff is great up til Crows Fly Back, everything else has been kinda of , meh. I'm sure they are still around, they just don't have time for it.

You crazy, son! Crows Fly Black and Gravity of Light are excellent. The Spell of Iron MMXI is just a re-recording of the debut, and it's also quite good.

Anyway, they took a break after The Spell of Iron MMXI so Marco could do the big tour with Nightwish. They were going to try to start putting songs together after the tour, which ended already, so hopefully they're getting something done. Last I heard, they were hoping to get something new out in 2014. I know they've got some tour dates scheduled.

Either way, great band.

I wrote that wrong. I loved Crows, Gravity I didn't care much for.

I added Crows Fly Black to my collection (second hand CD). But I've still only listened to Spell of Iron and the first "side", or first 5 tracks, of Suffer Our Pleasures.

Some real good shit there. I Rule and Pyre of Gods are intense and Rider of the Last Day and Undead Son are terrific, catchy pure heavy metal songs.

I think you'll really dig 'Gravity of Light', too, I know it's not the most popular Tarot record but it has this distinctive color and flavor to it. There is a whole lot of old school influence in there which collides and merges with the newer, tasty keyboard textures and a touch of symphonics, and it just works so well. It has at least a couple of ultimate Tarot songs like 'Hell Knows' and 'Pilot Of All Dreams'.

Now that I think about it, it makes me think of their 'Stigmata' album, like a more accessible sequel to that album. That one is really good too.

Suffer Our Pleasures is a terrific album! I can't belive what I've missed out on all these years! Great sound, powerful lyrics, pounding traditional heavy metal with incredible hooks and melodies. Not power metal or melodic metal, just classic stuff. Marco sounds great, the band is tight and the production gives it a massive sound. Massive but breathing.

I found Tarot's first 5 albums (remastered) for a good price second hand, so I have now completed their entire discography (albums only). I have both the original and the re-recorded versions of Spell of Iron, plus Live Undead DVD and also the CD version of the same show.

It will take a long time to digest all this, but while doing so I felt like resurrecting this thread.

Any general thoughts about Tarot? Any new fans? Any old fans feel like rating or ranking their entire catalogue? So far my favourite is still Suffer Our Pleasures.

Sad news coming from the Tarot camp.

http://www.wingsofdarkness.net/php/news.php

We're devastated to inform that our dear drummer Pecu Cinnari has passed away last night due to a long-term illness.

I'm guessing that's also it for the band.

Sad news. Rip.

Still way behind on tarot. I had just ordered the spell of iron from amazon.

I've been spinning Tarot's three 90's albums lately. I've been playing a golf sim on the Xbox at night after the kids go to sleep while playing music and my portable players says i've had 15 spins of For the Glory of Nothing alone!

I think these three albums are often forgotten because Tarot's first two are celebrated as metal classics (at least in Finland they are credited for kick-starting metal) and the post-Marco-joining-Nightwish albums of course already got their due attention and are great, but the ones in between are quietly all actually amazing.

To Live Forever (1993)
Stigmata (1995)
For the Glory of Nothing (1998)









I love the fact To Live Forever is 74+ minutes and it's all quality. I love long albums.

Part-time lead singer on Crows Fly Black and Gravity of Light, Tuple, is releasing a solo album this summer.

It's a concept album about a 6-year-old boy who fails to comprehend why his dad is in a casket. Tuple was six when his own dad drowned in 1975.

Album is called Wooden Box. Not quite as heavy as Tarot, but there's some definite hooks in there:

Quite good! Gonna have to order that.

Yesterday Marco Hietala won the Finnish "talent show" Masked Singer.







In other news, I recently bought his debut solo album Pyre of the Black Heart which was released in January already, I believe:





It's an interesting listen, but it never takes off fully into heavy metal / Marco Hietala / Tarot levels. It's a collection of songs drawing from a variety of influences, boogey rock to heavy metal, and it's pretty tight, really. I guess that's what solo albums are supposed to be. You have to be a fan to buy it. The backing band is good. Nice sounding record. It's hours and hours of entertainment for me, and I haven't bought/listened too many 2020 releases anyway, so it might crack my top 10. It's on the "good shit" side of the list for sure.

I saw that. Pretty cool stuff.

Though I did wonder if the level of competition wasn't very high in Finland, or if maybe their tastes are a bit different, because I wasn't blown away by any of those performances. Haha.