Tarot (Band)
Tarot is a heavy metal band from Kuopio ( Finland). The band is known in her native country as the " godfather " of the Finnish heavy metal. The best known member is the lead singer and bassist Marco Hietala, who is also active in Nightwish since 2001.
Band History
The brothers Marco and Zachary Hietala founded in the early eighties the band " Purgatory". After the band got a record deal asked the company to change the band's name because there was already a lot of other bands with this name. Since then the band operates under the name Tarot.
Appeared in 1986 with Wings of Darkness, the first single. The title of this song is also the address of the official band website. This was followed by the debut album Spell of Iron. A year later, the second album Follow Me into Madness. Both albums were successful in Finland and Tarot toured with great equipment through the land of a thousand lakes. Even the roadies of Metallica were amazed at the large number of boxes, used the Tarot for their concerts.
After the second album, it was quiet for a few years around the band. The second guitarist Mako H. left the band and was replaced by keyboardist Janne Tolsa. Only in 1993 the third album To Live Forever, which was particularly successful in Japan. The recording of a concert at the famous Tavastia Club in Helsinki was released in Japan as a live album. Some songs of this live album was released in Europe as a bonus CD on the album Stigmata.
Published in 1998 the fifth album For the Glory of Nothing. In Japan also the Best of album Shining Black was still found in the stores. In the following years the band played only sporadically concerts. Marco Hietala joined the band Sinergy. In 2002 he left Sinergy and became the new bass player of Nightwish. After the tour the Century Child album Tarot signed a new contract with Spinefarm Records and the album Suffer Our Pleasures was released.
While the album was very successful in Finland, took the rest of Europe from the plate hardly noticed. Spinefarm did very little to promote the album. It was not until the beginning of 2006 the band was active again. With King Foo Entertainment, the band found a new record company, which also takes the band's management. The single reached number one You the Finnish single charts and also the new album Crows Fly Black was very successful. In summer 2006, the band played many concerts and festivals in Finland. The end of 2006 Tarot signed a contract with Nuclear Blast for the rest of Europe. Nuclear Blast released the album in German-speaking countries on 19th January 2007. Tarot In February 2007 went for the first time in Germany on a concert tour. They were accompanied by Diablo.
In April and May 2007 eventually joined the Tarot, at the Earth Shaker Roadshock tour - together with Finntroll, After Forever, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Machine Men All Ends - on several concerts in Belgium and Germany. Originally planned appearances in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands have been canceled by the tour organizer Metallysee due to financial problems.
On 17 August 2007, the band recorded their concert in Kuopio and the material published on 11 June 2008, both as a double CD as well as a double - DVD under the name Undead Indeed.