My favourite album of 2019 is a dark odyssey through loss, separation, self-doubt, depression, and ultimately survival and strong statements of intent. This is heavy stuff thematically, and frequently also musically.
I will assume that many readers of these pages don’t know who Marko Hietala is, so to recap the basics: he is a Finnish metal musician, easily recognisable for his enormous twin beard, as well as his emotive powerhouse vocals and thunderous yet melodic bass lines.
He is probably most known for his tenure in Nightwish, as well as Tarot which is much more his own vehicle.
Marko’s musical career started in the early 1980s, when he formed the band Purgatory with his older guitar-wielding brother Zachary. By the time they had been signed and were getting ready to release their first album Spell of Iron in 1986, they changed their name into Tarot.
Tarot released nine studio albums and two live albums over the years. They grew into an outstanding band. They spearheaded the metal movement in their native Finland in the 1980s and beyond, over time incorporating progressive elements and epic huge-sounding sonic tableaus in their music.
As they grew as musicians, so would Marko grow as a vocalist. His voice was becoming very diverse and powerful, and a huge part of the Tarot sound. He found that he was able to sing quite loudly across several octaves in a clear and powerful voice, frequently adding a vibrato that sounded mighty enough to shake apart the mountains you’d imagine they were standing atop as they played their epic tunes.
At the same time, the band had many tender moments where Marko would sing with heart-breaking emotion and utter beauty. The diversity in songwriting and performance was incredible, and the band frequently took their music to heights (and depths) barely hinted at in the beginning.
Tarot were never as well known internationally as they deserved to be, although they did see a rise in their profile after Marko achieved fame as a member of Nightwish, which he joined in 2001. He would do double duty with both bands as time allowed until Tarot was put on hiatus in 2016.
Marko has become an indispensable part of Nightwish, not just by being an incredible bass player and male vocalist (mostly backing vocals with the odd lead moment), but by adding to their stage presentation with his very striking personal appearance and showmanship, and as a secondary composer and sounding board to main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen.
If I am completely honest, I have always had mixed feelings about Marko’s stint in Nightwish. I am incredibly pleased that he has seen success with them. He deserves it and there is no way I would want to take that away from him. He has certainly contributed to their success and been a huge asset to the band. Nightwish’s gain is however the loss of those who prefer more Tarot/Marko music, especially during the years when Tarot were still active. I also always thought it was nuts that someone of Marko’s vocal capabilities wasn’t the lead vocalist of whatever project he was in. At least I am pleased that as the years have gone on, he has been able to present some of his own ideas in that group, and he has also gotten a larger vocal role and even some songs that are his to sing.
His vocal abilities are highly regarded by his peers as well, and he has frequently been invited to sing on other artists albums – including Ayreon, Delain, Amorphis, Sinergy, Dreamtale, Raskasta Joulua, Northern Kings, Altaria, and Conquest.
In 2019 Marko released his first solo album. It may be late coming for a 50-something with several albums and a long and esteemed career under his belt. Marco has however always primarily been a band guy, with the music of Tarot in particular being very representative of his own musical tastes and output. As long as they were active, he had no need for going the solo route.
However, after the death of their drummer in 2016 the future of Tarot has been uncertain. With the band on hiatus (at best), and a long break in Nightwish activities, the time was simply right.
Marko assembled a group of trusted musicians around him. In addition to Marko on vocals/bass, they are Tuomas Wäinälä (guitar), Vili Ollila (keyboards), and Anssi Nykänen (drums).
The album would be made available in two versions – Finnish and English. They are musically identical, with only the vocals being different. The Finnish version is called Mustan Sydämen Rovio and was released in Finland only on 24 May 2019.
Pyre of the Black Heart followed exactly eight months later, on 24 January 2020. This was always meant to be the version available for international markets.
What does this mean for this end-of-year review? Well, for starters, as the English language version did not arrive until well into the new year, the version of the album that I lived with in 2019 and have ended up rating so highly is the Finnish language version. A language I do not speak and don’t understand.
It’s like being blind in one sense, in the way that with one line of input severed, you start paying more attention to other things. The way things are sung, the emotion in the voice, the arrangements and the overall stylings. I would not know what the songs were about, but I recognised the feelings in them.
This is certainly an interesting way to listen to an album, and I can tell you that for an album so full of emotion as this one, that really took me all the way there.
About the album itself, Marko commented in the press release: “Nightwish is without any doubt my main band, and thanks to income from that direction I don’t have to be that commercially aware. What I mean is that when I was coming up with the musical thoughts for this solo record, I was able to do simply anything without limits [and to] prepare an unpredictable, spontaneous, adventurous, ferocious and intimate solo record. And now when I am listening to the final album by myself, I can say with my hand on my heart that we pulled it off. The record is a really diverse musical roller coaster ride that takes eager listeners into a world of strong emotions and deep feelings!”
The album comes from a dark place. In recent years Marko has gone through a divorce, battled depression, seen friends and bandmates pass away, and just worked on centring and restarting the personal side of his life. The album title (Pyre of the Black Heart) refers to that darkest pyre that he’d like to leave behind.
While not touted as a concept album, the songs do end up forming a narrative of sorts. They take you through a lot of stuff, and I can imagine writing and performing it must have been cathartic. Most importantly, at the end of the album, after dealing with a lot of issues, we do emerge on the other side with more personal insight. But I am getting ahead of myself.
While Marko is emerging from a tumultuous period in his life, rather than wallowing in pain the album turns out to focus on outcomes and self-discovery rather than the bad situations themselves. It’s about what you learn along the way, about facing some difficult truths, and emerging stronger. This is much easier said than done. This is an album about human nature and psyche, and it can be as scary as it can be beautiful. At the end of the day, this is an unpredictable, wild ride of a record. One moment is filled with emotional gut punches, while the next is a pure outburst of energy and pure power.
The nature of the album makes it a little hard to describe where this album sits genre-wise. Hietala has described the album as “not metal, but hard prog” – although it really contains a cross-section of all the styles he has come to be associated with over the years. It is a varied collection of moods, sounds, and styles.
If there is a common factor, Marko puts his finger on it when he speaks of bringing the listeners into “a world of strong emotions and deep feelings”. This was something I sensed for all those months listening to the Finnish album. I did not know what the words said, but the emotion in the voice and the performances was evident to me.
With the English version arriving, providing specific context for the music and lyrics, the work became even stronger and more impressive. It was a unique experience to familiarise myself so deeply with a work in one way, and much later get into the themes and lyrics. A unique but very effective way of getting into the work.
The first track Kiviä (Stones) is an excellent way to open things. The guitar line that starts it all has a somewhat dramatic flair, and it builds slowly with Marko’s voice coming in before the full band. It grows into a great groove, containing many lovely melodic touches (particularly the piano).
The track was picked as the first single from the English album because people he played it to – including several of his Nightwish band mates while on tour – kept saying that the melody of the song would stick in their minds days after he had played it for them.
Lyrically, I love the idea of stones as problems that – like stones – don’t just go away. They endure, and outlast us all. You can have a heart of stone, be troubled by stones in your shoes, be caught between a rock and a hard place, contemplate the mystical meaning of a circle of stones… and in the end, “the stones keep on sitting over our lost lives.”
Marko has always had a sense of humour and can’t help but slip in lines like “Under my feet the cobblestones clack; Am I the butt of their constant crack?”
The song that follows is a personal highlight, as well as one of Marko’s more personal songs on the album. Isäni Ääni (The Voice of My Father) was the first Finnish album single, the first video, and in many ways the cornerstone of the album. Some memories, such as your father’s voice singing for you as a child, are precious. At the same time, you open the door to a hurt that comes from missing a key person in your life.
In an interview on Finnish TV, Marko said “I think you can interpret the song in many ways. My father’s death and alcoholism – which I also have personal experiences of – influences what kind of things we transfer from our fathers to our sons. And that song has a message we don’t usually realise. We should always remember that we are only humans, we are weak, we fall into different things. No one can really judge or praise themselves, because we have a different vision of ourselves. Forgiving is important.”
Marko touches on all of this in the song, but most of all it is an incredibly heartfelt tribute. It is just lovely. The breakdown passage in the latter half of the song is sung especially tenderly, and in the Finnish version you can hear his voice cracking. One of the most personal moments on the album, no doubt. The song then builds into an epic end section. Just lovely, lovely stuff. One of my favourite songs of the year.
Some atmospheric synth lines make up the opening of next song is Tähti, Hiekka Ja Varjo (Star, Sand And Shadow), but it breaks into more familiar melodic mid-tempo bombast before too long.
The three verses are in turn about the star, the sand, and the shadow, thus adding up to the title. They all are expressions of yearning in different forms, backed by another great Marko vocal.
A more melancholy and emotional tune follow in Kuolleiden Jumalten Poika (Dead God’s Son). “Journey into fear; Home was never here” Marko sings, telling the story of a relationship which has reached the breaking point.
The song is remarkably hook-laden for a song of this type, with the vocal melody being especially strong and made to worm its way into your brain.
The journey is bringing us ever closer to the heart of the darkness. Laulu Sinulle (For You) is a slow-burning song, eerily built up with picking of bass lines that hangs in the air alongside other effects. Without getting too far into the subject matter, it continues the theme of the past song, this time with the subtext that sometimes in the darkest hour, someone may just be there to lend a helping hand.
Marko is baring it all while having a penchant for expressing it as abstract poetry. It’s really lovely, despite the dark nature of it. The plea to not let go is very touching, and one can hope that helping hand did not emerge too late.
One of the biggest earworms of the album is Minä Olen Tie (I Am the Way). I can’t even begin to count how often I’ve been humming the melody of this huge-sounding epic ballad. It feels very mournful in nature – after all the pleas have failed, all we have left now is the possibility of a leap of faith. The realisation is however now there that it might not work. This feels like someone pleading for things not to end after it already has, and either refusing to see it or choosing not to.
Keeping in mind where Marko comes from in his personal life, you got to wonder how much of his own personal life he is putting into these songs. I am always careful in assuming that songs are autobiographical, but by his own admission this is a personal album.
This song is a final plea that comes during a phase when the relationship really has ended. As is befitting a song with its heart poured out and no big hope that things will work out, the song itself is very mournful in nature, yet has such a strong melody combined with utter bombast in its presentation that just intensifies the plea and makes it a very convincing attempt. The song is incredibly powerful.
Musically, this is the kind of song that would close out most albums, not open side 2 (on the vinyl) – but Marko has a luxury problem when it comes to these kind of epic album closers. It’s just that kind of album, so he can afford to put a song like this on the start of side 2.
We get a huge change of gear with the next song, and Juoksen Rautateitä (Runner of the Railways) is a fast-paced folk-metal hybrid with a driving rhythm. It is upbeat in nature yet hiding dark thoughts behind all the bravado.
The singer is now running around having his fun and raising heck, but admits that his heart is “coal black” and his head is “full of shit.” The guy is running away from his problems, not really facing them.
The musical exuberance of the song is however extremely pleasing and it ends up being a good break of sorts from the deep emotion that is so prevalent on the rest of the album.
The following song is Vapauden Kuolinmarssi (Death March For Freedom) which is quite the ominous title. At this point, the protagonist is finally starting to face his demons and dealing with his issues.
Musically, this is a hook-laden rocker with so many memorable melodic passages that you could well find yourself humming any of them. The vocal melody, one of the many guitar riffs, the bass line… what makes the song is really how well they all work together. A powerful statement of intent to face up to things and move on.
That is however easier said than done, and the next track Unelmoin Öisin (I Dream) is describing the emptiness. The failure in moving on. There is acceptance, which is healthy, but that does not automatically give peace. You can still feel naked, alone, and uncertain. These lyrics are bleak, describing the feeling of having reached the end of something, with no clear way onward. The joy is gone. If there is a feeling left, it is anger and frustration directed at oneself for getting into this situation.
Musically, the song starts with a very sparse arrangement with Marko giving a very emotional vocal delivery. He is baring their soul here, and it is done tenderly for the first half of the song.
The second half sees the song flare up and build into a huge arrangement, like so many of the other songs on here. It then ends tenderly again, with the singer waiting for his memories to fade out so he wouldn’t be dreaming on. There is something really beautiful in how this song comes across. On an album of highlights, this becomes yet another one.
How to end an album like this, with so many incredible moments of high quality and peaks of epic-ness? You outdo yourself. The album ends on a high note with Totuus Vapauttaa (Truth Shall Set You Free), which is an immersive statement of intent. It was probably the least immediate song for me, though, but it grew over time. The title says it all – this is the path forward, out of the darkness that has persisted in most of the songs. It starts quietly and keeps building. At the end, the song has built to such a degree that it finds itself on the highest mountain peak and keeps climbing for the stars.
In an interview with Classic Rock Magazine, Marko said of the song: “It started up acoustic, and then we came up with these string arrangements and the whole thing blew up so much that it’s hard to recognise the song as acoustic. On the lyrical side, I try to remind myself that there are things we see beyond mundane reality; the feeling of being alive and embracing it. There’s the line “All roads can lead away from hell if you turn away from the smoke and the noise.” Smoke and the noise – our lives are filled with it; adverts, e-mails, our mailboxes full, national leaders lying with straight faces on TV. We are forced into these narrow visions by social media and TV. Everyone is taught fear. There are things in the world that are there just to fool us. We should concentrate on the living and not fearing – especially not fearing.”
And so an album of many epic moments ends on yet another epic note. Depending on your personal view, this is either a fitting end or too much already, but you would probably not be still reading if you didn’t have some appreciation for the grandiose.
There was a time when people’s idea of “epic” was seeing Slash stand on a cliff’s edge playing a soaring guitar solo. It may be time to update that definition, but in any case, this album is more than capable of showing the world a thing or two about what “epic” truly means in the Norselands region.
And that’s our lot. Ten songs from a hardened music veteran who is standing on his own two feet for the first time, in more ways than one. Although, out of this initiative a new band may have been born.
“It is a solo project, but there is definitely a new band growing from it” Marko said to Classic Rock Magazine. “The album wouldn’t have been done like this if it wasn’t for the guys. I may have written the lyrics and had most of the verses and choruses, but the guys deserve credit. They did a hell of a lot of work for it. They surprised me with some of their arrangements and solutions – they were so brilliant and out of the air, I never would have imagined them.”
Marko spends February 2020 touring behind the album. His main job is however still Nightwish, who will be launching a new album as well in April ahead of a new worldwide tour. With the breaks they allow between their albums and tours there is definitely a chance that there could be more music from Marko and his solo band in the future. Here’s hoping!
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