Crows Fly Black

I must admit that I am a Tarot virgin listener. I also must admit that I only found out about Tarot is because I am a fan of Nightwish. The connection; vocalist Marco Heitala. Obviously I knew that Tarot had been around longer than Nightwish, but I didn’t know that the band debuted way back in 1985.

‘Crows Fly Black’ is Tarot’s 7th full-length CD and according to their website, this CD is Tarot’s most darkest and gloomiest of them all. After listening to this CD (many, many times), I must say that this dark and gloomy side suits them to a tea, ‘cos this CD kicks major ass!

The first thing that surprised me was the sound of Tarot. As a Finnish metal band, they don’t quite fit the sound-mould of the majority of metal bands that hail from Finland. I must say that this was a great surprise. The 2nd thing was the voice of Marco Heitala. Again, being a virgin Tarot listener, the only time I’ve heard Marco sing is with a few Nightwish songs. Oh, what another wonderful surprise, as Marco is such a fantastic vocalist. He can mix it up with the best of them, soft to mid-paced or even hard aggression, this guy can do it all, and do it extremely well.

With Tarot’s sound, they play traditional heavy metal, but also with the use of keyboards, which have been used perfectly throughout this CD. I also noticed a lot of groove metal thrown into the mix, which made the riffs and melodies even better. Let me just say that there is a lot of fist pumping and head-banging moments throughout the CD. The CD is full to the brim of catchy riffs, heavy bass guitar, catchy chorus’ and sweet sweet solos. The songs are mixed up well here too, from slow to mid-paced tracks, to fast pounding numbers, heavy metal anthems and even a very good ballad.

The title-track kicks things off and straight away after a slow atmospheric build up, the main killer riff grabs you and the head-banging begins. The mid-paced track rumbles along with Marco’s vocals changing from soft to aggression perfectly. “Traitor” is a fast pounding track where Marco’s signature gruff vocals takes over the song. Another great riff and a killer solo is also accompanied. This one would sound great live.

“Ashes To The Stars” is another good mid to fast-paced track, which could have come straight from a Bruce Dickinson solo CD, especially with the chorus. Marco’s vocals, again, are a standout, as well as a rockin’ solo. “Messenger Of Gods” is another groove-filled metal pounder, which has a “dirty southern rock” feel to it, as if the band had come straight out of Texas in the ‘ol U.S. of A. The solo in this song is friggin awesome and if you haven’t pulled out the air guitar by now, there is something wrong with you.

“Before The Skies Come Down” is the next track, and in my opinion, the best track on the CD. And I would go even further than that and say it’s one of the best tracks for 2006. Yeah, it’s that bloody good. It has another fist pumping, head-banging, groove-filled riff that hits you right in the face. The song is a metal anthem that would go completely off during a concert. Marco’s vocals are soft and melodic during the verses and then high and aggressive during the chorus’. Finally, another ripping solo, that makes you break out the air guitar once again.

“Tides” is a ballad, which slows things down a bit. Here we hear just how great Marco’s voice is and how much range he really has. His soft voice is perfect on this track, full of emotion and melody. Accompanied by back up singer, Tommi Salmela, who was just made a full member of the band after 10 years of service, this track is done very well indeed, as the songs grows from soft to heavy, with a soulful solo at the end.

I’d rather not do a track-by-track review here, as I don’t want to give everything away. So I will just say that the remainder of the tracks are all awesome, especially “Bleeding Dust” and “Howl!” The production is superb on this CD; everything is exactly how it should be... strong, heavy and clear. ‘Crows fly black’ is easily one of the better surprises of 2006, especially for me, and would most certainly fit into the top 10 metal CDs of 2006.

This is an instant purchase for metal fans... you will not be disappointed.

Tarot have never been big outside Finland, but in their home country they are rightfully considered the grandfathers of Finnish heavy metal. While their debut Spell of Iron released twenty years ago may not have been the very first heavy metal release from Finland, it sure as hell was the one to finally put an end to the school of thought that quality heavy metal could not be done within our country’s borders that was so prominent back in those days. Tarot have been plagued by misfortune throughout their career, mostly these problems have been the doing of their label; be it Flamingo Music’s greedy rip-off antics of young musicians or the more recent nonexistent promotional efforts of Spinefarm. Still, despite the support disproportional to their talent the spirit of our resident metal gods has not been broken, not even close. To me, Tarot only reached their highest peak on their last release, Suffer Our Pleasures, and I know I’m not the only one as it was highly praised by both fans and the media, so the expectations for this one were quite high.

Even though Crows Fly Black partly follows the path Suffer Our Pleasures began, Tarot haven’t been afraid of reinventing themselves yet again and have added a few new nuances. Most notably, they have included the former back-up vocalist for over 10 years Tommi “Tuple” Salmela as a full-time member and have given him a portion of the vocal duties. Even though it may sound odd that a band that has Marco Hietala, the man hailed as Finland’s best metal vocalist in their ranks would add another singer, and I admit I was initially a bit annoyed myself, he does spice things up a little and compliments the almighty Marco while not taking too many vocal parts away from him. The best examples of the co-operation between the two gruff heavy metal vocalists are in the typical fast Tarot song Traitor with a simple yet effective chorus (“You’re a traitor, to your species!”), the uncustomary Howl! with its awesome acoustic guitar and the Judas Priest influenced Bleeding Dust. Still, Tuple doesn’t get to sing the major parts and especially during the slow songs we are reminded of who is the real man behind the band. Tides, the token sad ballad (in the same vein as Of Time and Dust from their previous record) for example is sung by Marco alone and really shows off his magnificent voice and is one of the highlights of the album.

Additional vocals aren’t the only thing Tuple is bringing to this album. His work behind the sampler has become more eminent and is working alongside Janne Tolsa’s keyboards to conjure and enhance the dark and atmosphere of Crows Fly Black. Good example of this is the haunting title track, in which both of the aforementioned instruments are used well. They are present and audible, yet not too much as to steal too much attention from the other instruments. The use of electronics, on the minus side, makes this album appear a little lifeless at times. The guitar is still the most vital part though, and Zachary shows exactly why it should be so with some great riffs all round. The epic couple Ashes To The Stars and Before The Skies Come Down give out a kind of a sci-fi vibe and are catchy enough to get stuck in your head for hours after listening to this record. In fact the entire album seems to be full of attempts at catchiness. Perhaps a little surprisingly, this is a bad thing, proven by the song Messenger of Gods falling flat on its faces due to being too reliant on the chorus and having very little substance otherwise.

All in all, Crows Fly Black is not the best thing Tarot ever put out. It took a few listens to actually get into even despite the catchiness of it all, and the whole thing seems far less inspired than their previous albums. There are no glaringly obvious bad songs per se, but the overall quality is far diminished and the songs also get old really fast due to relative lack of content, especially after you overplay them because they’re just so damn catchy and provide such an instant gratification. Perhaps this album serves as a good appetizer for the bands over 20-year career for those who are still unfamiliar with them. Crows Fly Black is worth having in anyone’s record collection, but don’t expect it to become one of your all-time favourites or making constant trips back to your player once the initial fascination wears off.

After hearing this album several times over, my opinion has rather changed. Thus I am re-writing the whole review.

This was the first Tarot album I heard completely, and it's also their newest one. I have no idea what 'Crows Fly Black' means, but the cover art is great, and it sounds fucking cool anyway. This album has a lot of attitude, and if you love riffs, then prepare to get more then your money's worth here. This is a fucking godfather of great heavy metal riffs. That's the main reason to get this album, the monstrous, stomping riff attacks that most of the tracks pack. The soloing isn't as strong, but the riffs here obviously make up for that.

The six and a half minute title track is certainly a good song, and it's rather remniscent of the movie "The Crow" (the cover art for the album further enforces this point), which is very cool. "Ashes to the Stars", "Howl!", and "Before the Skies Come Down" rip your face off with huge riffs and big sing-along choruses. "Tides" is an excellent ballad, and one of the better songs here. And the rest of the songs here are all above-average, although not as good as the ones mentioned here. This is an extremely solid album overall, and any metal fan will eat it right up.

The production is different from 'Suffer Our Pleasures', and heavier, less bass-oriented. Marco Hietala uses cleaner vocals here then his shrieking on the last album, which I don't like as much, but he still sounds amazing. Unlike 'Suffer Our Pleasures', the songs here can stand on their own (as opposed to how the previous album needed to be listened to as a whole, to get the best effect), and I find myself playing "Ashes to the Stars" and "Before the Skies Come Down" regularly.

I don't think the lyrics here are as good as the ones from the previous albums. More straightforward and simple, although still very cool. Not as occult-sounding either, which is a detractor of a sort for me, as I loved the occult, evil lyrics from 'Suffer Our Pleasures.' And the music follows suit, not as obscure and melodic as the last album. I don't mind too much, as this album kicks ass too, but it's a slight letdown.

I can still highly recommend this to fans of good, solid heavy metal. Two fucking horns up. Tarot have been around for 20 years in the underground, and I hope we can look forward to another twenty years of their excellent music.

(I'm at a loss as to why the reviewer before me mentioned a song called 'Brother's Bane', as there is no track named that to my knowledge.)

If you picked this up thinking you were in for a Nightwish spin-off then you are in for a shock. Marco and Zachary Hietala have been tending this band for 17 years with other projects coming and going but keeping Tarot as a constant throughout their respective careers. Marco will always be best known for his work with Nightwish on bass and backing vocals. Here he takes on the role of lead vocalist and bassist and the result is nothing like Nightwish.

Following on from the much-lauded "Suffer Our Pleasures", Tarot's sound has matured to realise an album that is straight and aggressive with few references to the new wave of Power Metal. There is next to no keys or double-bass drumming here, instead Tarot use powerful traditional guitar and bass to get their point across. Each song is a lesson in confident, mature song-writing, the riffs being as tight and solid as you would expect with the wealth of experience on show. Not a note is wasted.

The opener and title track is a microcosm of the band from the choral intro to the pounding opening riff. All the bands strengths are on show here from Zachary's simple but infectious strumming to Marco's vocals. And what vocals! I have to single out Marco's vocals as a highlight here. His voice has enormous character and charisma, and his performance is impassioned and aggressive. Why Nightwish don't install him as their full-time singer is beyond me. Flowing from a clear midrange howl to a savage growl he never failed to hold my attention. The bass here is also quite strong, standing out more than is usual especially on the title track.

From there they build in an almost progressive style through tracks such as "Bleeding Dust" which showcases Marco's versatility and also gives Zachary a soapbox to display his technical ability. Also "Ashes to the Stars" with it's catchy and tuneful chorus stands out. None of the tracks here are happy or clappy, the whole album sounding dark and angry without becoming angsty. Witness the honest-to-god acoustic intro to "Howl!" that rolls seamlessly (and convincingly) into the song's stomping riff. On hard and heavy in-your-face stompers like "Traitor", "Brother's Bane" and the totally fucking cool "Messenger Of Gods" Tarot show what heavy fucking metal is really all about.

Some may question the relevance of a band such as Tarot in this age of "symphonic" and "epic" Power metal and it would seem to the casual listener that Tarot have taken a step backwards where Power metal needs a push forwards. This is where Tarot's strongest point comes in. In an age of quick-fix music and self-indulgent pretention a band as mature and intelligent as Tarot will go unnoticed. The real rewards are there however for the listener willing to put the time in to sit with this album. I have rarely if ever encountered lyrics and songwriting as good as on this album. Every song is intelligently and insightfully written, the true strength of Tarot is the maturity of the music. Something rare indeed.


Highly recommended.