Review Summary: This is how you do straight up heavy metal.
Chuck Liddell, Roy Jones Jr, Bruce Lee, what do all these names have in common? Well, they can all kick the living snot out of you. That is how Marco Hietala is as well.
His beard is something the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Chuck Norris would be jealous of, and whose voice makes James Hetfield and Phil Anselmo sound like complete pansies.This my friends is why people were afraid of Vikings.
Marco has two bands that he is apart of; one being Nightwish, where is more the backing vocals. His original band Tarot though, formed all the way back in 1986, and their album releases come about once every generation. Ok, maybe not that long, but it takes forever for them to put something out. Well, the year 2003 came around and Nightwish had just finished touring for their album Century Child, and Tarot decided to hit the recording studio
Oh am I ever happy they did.
Suffer Our Pleasure is the sixth release by Tarot, and it delivers more ferocity, assault, and heaviness to your head than what is recommended by brain specialists. Word of advice, don’t listen to this while driving for it will cause loss of consciousness
The album starts out with
I Rule, which is the greatest self motivating song in history. Zachary Hietala plays simple, but effect riffs to complement Marco’s great voice, making you feel like a complete badass in the process. The guitar and keyboard solos are short, but that’s ok, more of Marco singing is what this listener needs. Oh….I RULE!!!
Marco is what makes this album go, and for good reason; he is my favorite metal vocalist ever. He goes from heavy in
I Rule and
Pyre of Gods to softer in
Painless, to hypnotic in
Rider of the Last Day. His sadistic laughs at the end of
Follow the Blind are just plain haunting. He also supplies the bass duties as well. My standout for him on bass would be the verses of
Rider of the Last Day. It’s quite interesting because the guitar isn’t really used in the verses, it’s all bass by Marco.
Tarot isn’t a one man band though. As mentioned before, Zachary Hietala plays a mean axe. From his chugging riffs in
Pyre of Gods to the catchiness of
From the Void, Marco’s brother is a above average guitarist. Before listening to this album, I’d never heard riffs so heavy before without incorporating death growls from the vocalist. In fact, this is one of the heaviest albums that I have listened to ever. Zachary also as the ability to shred, as impressive solos in
Pyre of Gods and
Undead Son
Janne Tolsa is what I would call the “dark horse” of the band. His synth lines aren’t anything special, but they give a feel to the songs that make them ten times better. The atmosphere he gives off with the keys gives the whole album more of an epic feel to it. One song sticks out for me though,
From the Void. This song is one I could have seen as a single being played on the radio. It’s catchy, intense, and Janne gives a radio friendly type of feel to the tone of the song.
There is one aspect that keeps this album from classic status; the drums. Pecu Cinnari doesn’t do anything special at all during the course of this ride; all he does is keep the beat throughout. I will say that he is great during the very intriguing
Rider of the Last Day. This is the best song on the album because of all the points it goes through. It starts off slow and gloomy, but gets faster about the three and a half minute mark. Suddenly it changes back to the slow, gloomy atmosphere, making it seem like the fast pace earlier was something that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Overall, this is a very great album. I cannot stress Marco’s voice enough though. The various levels of emotion he puts out are unbelievable and he is one of the most underrated metal vocalists of all time. The whole band, sans the drums, put out a very excellent effort. This is how you do straight up heavy metal. No need for growls or blast beat, just a bada$$ guitarist and a vocalist who wouldn’t be able to fit in the largest size Manowar condom.
Recommended Songs
I Rule
Pyre of Gods
Rider of the Last Day
Follow the Blind
From the Void
