Review Summary: This is where the underground legend began.....
For the uninitiated, Tarot are Finland's best kept secret. For better or for worse (depends on how you look at it), these guys have remained relatively unknown outside of their motherland. Worldwide recognition came to this kick-ass band when their bassist and vocalist Marco Hietala, joined up with
Nightwish. In 2006, all the albums previous to
Suffer Our Pleasures, were Re-released, and their debut album which I'm about to start reviewing is that very same re-release version (though I'll just review the original 10 songs). So, on with it.
Tarot are primarily known for the eerie atmosphere and the dark lyrics which they employ in their music, but on their debut, that atmosphere has not quite been perfected (which I think is mainly due to the lack of keyboard artist, Janne Tolsa, who would be added on the album,
To Live Forever). Having said that, I still prefer Tarot's older works better than their later works, that's not to say that their newer albums are bad, quite the contrary. So, anyway
Spell Of Iron was originally released in 1986 and the fact that it contains quite a few fan favourites is in itself proof of the band's talent for writing memorable and catchy tunes from early on in their career. The album starts off with a sound effect of blowing wind on the track
Midwinter Nights, which in my opinion is one of the standout tracks on this album. Marco's vocals as always are amazing, even though they are slightly Dio-esque. Marco's brother Zachary is not bad either. His leads and solos though nothing extraordinary add that kick-ass factor to Tarot's songs. Primary examples of this are the solo on
Midwinter Nightswhich starts around 2:40 and the intro to the amazing
Back In The Fire. The lyrics as was the norm with Tarot early on in their career are either about sorrow (love's not made for my kind, dancing on wire), pain (midwinter nights), fantasy (pharao) or in the case of the outstanding
Wings Of Darkness, about Vikings (yeah, I said vikings).
The songs on this disc sound very fresh and very original. That originality has always been one of the reasons why Tarot have been a great band since their inception, even though unlike their contemporaries,
Iron Maiden they didn't really revolutionize the genre they were based on. Their music has always been held together by the crisp vocals and great bass-work (of Marco Hietala) and melodic riffing (of Zachary Hietala). As already mentioned, album-opener
Midwinter Nights and the monster track
Back In The Fire show us what Zachary is really capable of. But, these two are not the only ones on this disc that showcase his (or the band's) talent. The second track
Dancing On Wire (with a cool background electronic effect around 0:35) keeps the momentum going and then you are hit by the epic that is
Back In The Fire. Also of note are the tracks
Love's Not Made For My Kind with its sweet bass and the high-pitched comical screaming of Marco's (towards the end) ably supporting and sometimes even over-shadowing Zachary, or the fan-favourite
Wings Of Darkness with its VIKING-themed lyrics or even the instrumental
De Mortui Nil Nisi Bene. Apart from all the kick-assery (Yeah, I know that's not a word), Tarot also show their talent at writing ballads, with the ending song (on the original version of this album)
Things That Crawl At Night being one of the best ballads ever written by Tarot. Even though comparison with other heavy metal bands of their era may make people believe that apart from Marco, other band members are not as unique musicians as their peers, all of the tracks on this disc serve to exemplify the "Sum is greater than its parts" theory. Apart from the originality, Tarot's other strong point is the ability to write memorable songs like Back In The Fire, Wings Of Darkness (a staple concert song for Tarot), Midwinter Nights and Love's Not Made For My Kind. The point that I'm trying to stress here is that TAROT may not satisfy the technically inclined metal-heads but if you listen to them with an open mind, you may just like them (or as the case is with me, go on to love them).
Having praised this album I'd also like to add that not everything is right with this album. The primary fault with this album lies in its same-y nature, with quite a few songs sounding the same. The drummer, Pecu Cinnari is also just not good enough. All of his fills and patterns seem bland and unispired almost all the time. Also, not every song is enjoyable on this album. The cheesy and boring NEVER FOREVER (this may as well be a blot on Tarot's discography) and the bland PHARAO (despite the cool guitar-work at 1:39 and the unexpected little fade-out at 1:55) fail to impress altogether.
Tarot is a band that I chanced upon while searching for power metal bands which were less cheesy than their contemporaries, and this is the first album of theirs that I ever listened to. My first Tarot track was 'Back In The Fire', which to this day remains a favourite of mine from the Tarot discography. They may not be as well known as say SONATA ARCTICA, DRAGONFORCE, or STRATOVARIUS but all of these bands could certainly learn a thing or two from TAROT about how to write songs that can be enjoyed by people other than Dungeons and Dragons geeks (no offence intended, since I am one of them) or Nintendo fanatics as the case may be.
STANDOUT TRACKS:
MIDWINTER NIGHTS
BACK IN THE FIRE
LOVE'S NOT MADE FOR MY KIND
SPELL OF IRON
WINGS OF DARKNESS
