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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Search The Tarot For Excellent Metal, March 25, 2005
The name Tarot inspires a sense of mystery and power right off the bat when you hear the word. Metal power is most certainly the case from this band with the same name. Their release entitled "Suffer Our Pleasures" will immediately appeal to fans of the band Nightwish for their very own Bassist Marco Hitela performs these duties and sings lead on the tracks. On the guitar is his Brother Zachary and the combination is truly a tasty piece of music. Marco is very impressive on lead vocals, and for those who have seen Nightwish they know he provides a large amount of the backup for Tarja Turunen and does a great job of it as well. It is nice to see him able to sing full numbers for a change. Some of them are damned good.
The band is rounded out by Janne Tolsa on keyboards and Pecu Cinnari on drums. Each player providing the skill I felt best matched the music Marco and Zach had written. Some of the grooves have a little of a Nightwish feel to them, but not as much as you might expect. Marco was in this group before he joined Nightwish so perhaps he brought some of the writing style to them. The sound is definitely in line with a lot of the metal that is coming out of Finland nowadays, and so far so good on that. I have yet to be totally disappointed in the Finns and their quest to dominate modern metal.
My favorites are primarily "I Rule" and "From The Void" since they just kicked when played loud. There is also a semi-epic in "Rider Of The Last Day". This number starts out slow and grinding, yet picks up speed considerably only to slow down to a whisper at the end. It is done very well. "From The Shadows" is perhaps the quickest number on the CD, with its almost Southern Country beginning it was quite fun. One does not expect this feel to come from a band in Finland. Yet music being universal, I guess influences fall into the same track.
Anyone who enjoys Marco's work as a performer with Nightwish should pick this up, to see the other side of what he is also capable of. It is a solid piece throughout and you will find yourself giving many tracks a second and continual listen.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The stars are my brothers, they're calling me to shine.", June 1, 2006
And Marco does indeed shine. I knew from Century Child that he could sing with Tarja. After listening to Suffer Our Pleasures I discovered that he could more than handle the vocals on an entire CD by himself. Unlike most singers, Marco can comfortably project more than one style of voice. In fact, while listening to this CD, you might be led to believe that there are different vocalists from one track to the next. All the styles are good but I prefer when he goes for the power, as in the refrain for Rider of the Last Day, which is my personal favorite, and the source of the above title. The instrumentals are darn good also, but I can't award five stars because the quality of the music seems to go south as it proceeds through the tracks. The first six are very good, followed by two that are OK, but the last two do not appeal to me. However, this item is recommended. And if you want to hear something unique, listen to the first track. Marco, in his gruff style, portrays a monster worse than the devil. Considering this, the very ending of the song is the funniest thing, actually the only funny thing, I have ever heard on a power metal recording. (Please see my profile for a brief discussion of my rating philosophy.)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Straightforward Metal Gem!!, November 21, 2003
In the era of metal sub genres its great to hear a band that just plays straight forward metal in a modern way. Not power, death, progressive, or worst of all nu-metal, just METAL! Tarot not only play it but succeed at a very high level. Tarot are very heavy yet still melodic similar to other great bands like Tad Morose, Brainstorm, and AngelDust. Tarot write great no- nonsense songs with huge hooks, some of the most memorable of all time in fact. 'Pyre of God' and 'From the Void' are two of the best songs of all time IMO, while all of the songs on the album are great and there is no filler material to be heard. All of the band members have just a God given talent as musicians. The guitar player is writing some clever and catchy riffs and can deliver some truly first class soloing. The singer is huge, reminding me sometimes of the great Ronnie James Dio himself, he adds in a ton of epic vocal harmonies to layer the songs with a really big sound. The drums and bass are flawless and can be heard nicely in the well rounded and first rate production. This is a must have album! Check out song samples from the bands site www.wingsofdarkness.net and hear for yourself!
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