Tarot - Gravity Of Light

I don't know why I hadn't heard of Tarot before. The Finnish heavy metal band, while quite obscure outside their home country, is also Marco Hietala's band. He started it with his brother, Zachary, in the early 80s, 20 years before he was to join Nightwish. They were originally known as Purgatory, and released their first album under the name Tarot in 1986.

I discovered Tarot while browsing Marco's musical history on Wikipedia after discovering that he also sings for Delain, another recent discovery. He has one of the most recognisable vocals in metal, and I knew it was him the second I heard him singing on Lucidity, Delain's first album. When I discovered the imminent release of their 8th studio album, Gravity Of Light, I quickly acquainted myself with as much older material as I could.

Tarot are a heavy metal band. If you prefer your metal with a never ending list of genre prefixes, you might look away. It's not melodic, it's not symphonic, it's not operatic. It's not post-anything. It's unashamedly heavy metal, even when some in the industry are looking to ever tighten genre definitions to differentiate themselves from the pack.

And it works. It works well.

Already a big fan of Crows Fly Back, I was hoping it would be more of the same style, and I wasn't disappointed. From the opening riff in Satan Is Dead, a descending, detuned guitar drone leading into a nice, heavy riff, you know what you're going to get. All sorts of tricks, riffs and tempo changes are used to keep your interest, and keep you listening. It's done tastefully, though. It's not cheesey. It's metal.

The first standout track comes in at number 3. Rise! has everything. Quick, precise drumming, twiddly guitar riffs and chugging bass combined with a strong chorus and clear enough vocal to keep you singing along for the rest of the day. I'd love to be in the crowd when they play this track live.

Another one that will have you nodding along is Magic And Technology. Much slower, more deliberate, still heavy. Calling Down The Rain, the very next track, changes again and has some solo riffs that will have you breaking all the strings on your air guitar.

Later on in the album everything softens just a little for I Walk Forever, which is almost balladic with its softer piano solos and wailing, heavy chorus. Sleep In The Dark includes more synths than other tracks, and so has a more ethereal, slightly symphonic feel. It soon dispenses with all that, though, and returns to the business at hand; good, heavy metal riffs that assault your ears when you're least expecting it.

This album isn't immune to filler, unfortunately. Not every riff or chorus will have you hooked. Hell Knows, the second track, is a bit overshadowed by it's neighbours Satan Is Dead and Rise! Others, like Caught In The Deadlights, are great songs but not as awe inspiring as maybe they could be. That said, there's not a bad song among them, and I think it's more a case of the outstanding tracks grabbing the attention before others get a chance.

The great tracks are evenly spaced though. It's no front-loader. Whenever you think it's starting to slip, they produce a bass heavy riff to wake you up and make you take notice. If you've replaced the strings on your air guitar and are trying to keep up, you'll have fingers like bloodied stumps by the end of Sleep In The Dark.

Toward the end of the album, things slow down again for Gone, which builds from a quiet, almost acoustic sounding ballad to a heavy, chugging finish. My copy also bonus track, End Of Everything, which effectively punctuates the end of the album and is, I think, a better closing track than Gone, which suffers unnecessary-fade-out syndrome. Fortunately, it seems that all editions have this bonus track, but that makes me wonder why it's labelled as a bonus?

Gravity Of Light is a competent, enjoyable heavy metal album. It's definitely worth a listen, and it's definitely worth checking out Tarot's extensive back catalogue. If you want your metal heavy, without the knobs on, this should be right up your street.