Tarot (band)

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Tarot is a Finnish heavy metal band. They are most famous for being one of the earliest metal bands in Finland, and for the song "Wings of Darkness" from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band did not become notable elsewhere until gaining new success in recent years, when singer and bassist Marko Hietala was in the largely successful Nightwish for nearly two decades. With a more global audience, the band re-recorded Spell of Iron for its 25th anniversary.

History

Tarot was originally formed by the Hietala brothers in the early 1980s.Template:Sfn Back then the band was called "Purgatory".Template:Sfn As Purgatory reached the point when they got the record deal, they changed their name to "Tarot" at the insistence of the label Flamingo Records. The line-up settled into the form of Marko Hietala (bass/vocals), Zachary Hietala (guitars), Mako H (guitars) and Pecu Cinnari (drums).Template:Sfn

The "Wings of Darkness" single saw the daylight in April 1986Template:Sfn and in December that same year Tarot released their first full-length album Spell of Iron.Template:Sfn In April 1988, following the release of a single "Rose on the Grave", their second album Follow Me into Madness was released.Template:Sfn<ref name="Tarot Discography">Template:Cite web</ref>

After the second album, there was a hiatus in the band. During this "vacation" the line-up changed a little bit and a keyboardist was added to the band as Janne Tolsa joined Tarot and replaced the second guitarist Mako H.Template:Sfn After long preparation, the third album To Live Forever came out in February 1993.Template:Sfn Tarot received good publicity in Japan, making their first live album To Live Again to be released as a Japanese special edition in November 1994.Template:Sfn The live album was recorded at Tavastia Club, Helsinki in August 1994.Template:Sfn Some of the songs from the live album were released the following year on a limited edition bonus CD with the next studio album, Stigmata.Template:Sfn To Live Forever was remixed and re-released in 2006 together with all the previous albums.<ref name="Tarot Discography" />

Much anticipated For the Glory of Nothing came out in 1998. Shining Black, a Tarot compilation album, came out in Japan in December 1998. While Tarot was inactive, Marko also played in the bands Conquest and Sinergy. Together with other members of Conquest, Marko played cover songs under the name Metal Gods. Marko became a member of Nightwish in 2001. Tolsa played the keyboards for Virtuocity's Secret Visions album as Marko sang a few songs on it. In summer 2002 Tarot played a special '80s gig in Kuopio, playing material only from the first two albums.<ref name="Tarot Discography" />

In March 2003, the compilation Shining Black was released again in the rest of the world. Tarot signed a new record deal with Spinefarm Records and the new studio album Suffer Our Pleasures was released. While the album did well in Finland, it was barely noticed elsewhere.<ref name="Tarot Discography" />

During these years Marko was busy with his other band Nightwish by recording and touring around the world. Tolsa worked on an album with Eternal Tears of Sorrow and toured with the industrial metal band Turmion Kätilöt.

Tarot performing in 2010

Early 2006, Tarot's earlier label Bluelight Records released a collection of the band's first six albums remastered with a large amount of bonus material, unreleased demos, live and special versions of the songs and some covers. Some of the albums were also remixed.<ref name="Tarot Discography" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The fans had been expecting the re-releases for years and the collection was so successful that in May 2006, when Tarot released the new single "You", it made number one on the Finnish charts for the first time in the history of the band.<ref>[1] Template:Dead link</ref> During that time, the band formalized their long-time roadie/backing vocalist Tommi Salmela as a band member after being with the band for more than a decade.

Early 2006, Tarot was signed to KingFoo Entertainment in Finland, with Nuclear Blast covering the rest of Europe. During summer of 2006, the band not only toured various clubs and festivals but also composed, demoed and recorded new material. The album Crows Fly Black was released in October 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 11 June 2008, Tarot released their first live DVD, Undead Indeed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The DVD also had a live album counterpart. They followed the release with a short tour in support of Undead Indeed, which began 30 January 2009.

Their new album, entitled Gravity of Light, was released in Finland on 10 March 2010, in Europe on 23 April 2010,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the UK on 26 April 2010, and in North America on 8 June 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 11 September 2016, it was announced on Facebook that drummer Pecu Cinnari had died due to a long-term illness. Since then, the band was on hiatus, during which Marko departed from Nightwish,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though he stated in an interview that new material from Tarot is still "up in the air".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2023, the band announced they will reunite for a one-off show on 26 July in Kuopio, Finland,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with Turmion Kätilöt drummer Antero Seppänen filling in Cinnari.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They performed at Tuska Festival in June 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Band members

Current

  • Marko Hietala – lead vocals, bass, acoustic guitar (1982–2016, 2023–present)
  • Zachary Hietala – guitars (1982–2016, 2023–present)
  • Janne Tolsa – keyboards (1988–2016, 2023–present)
  • Tommi Salmela – sampler, vocals (2006–2016, 2023–present)
  • Antero Seppänen – drums (2023–present)

Former

  • Mako H – guitars (1982–1988)
  • Pecu Cinnari – drums (1982–2016; died 2016)

Timeline <timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/2024 #it is best not to use auto-updating timelines as it can cause problems when the graphic updates on a daily basis TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1982 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1982

Colors = 

id:Vocals      value:red      legend:Vocals
id:Guitar      value:green    legend:Guitars
id:Keyboard    value:purple   legend:Keyboards
id:Bass        value:blue     legend:Bass,_acoustic_guitar
id:Drums       value:orange   legend:Drums
id:Sample      value:lavender legend:Sampler
id:Studio      value:black    legend:Studio_album

LineData = 

 layer:back
 color:Studio
 at:12/01/1986
 at:04/01/1988
 at:02/08/1993
 at:06/30/1995
 at:02/06/1998
 at:05/26/2003
 at:10/27/2006
 at:06/08/2010
 at:04/06/2011

BarData = 

 bar:Marko text:"Marko Hietala"
 bar:Tommi text:"Tommi Salmela"
 bar:Zachary text:"Zachary Hietala"
 bar:Mako text:"Mako H"
 bar:Janne text:"Janne Tolsa"
 bar:Pecu text:"Pecu Cinnari"
 bar:Antero text:"Antero Seppänen"

PlotData= 

 width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4)
 bar:Marko from:01/01/1982 till:end color:Bass width:3
 bar:Marko from:01/01/1982 till:end color:Vocals
 bar:Zachary from:01/01/1982 till:end color:Guitar
 bar:Mako from:01/01/1982 till:06/30/1988 color:Guitar
 bar:Janne from:06/30/1988 till:end color:Keyboard
 bar:Pecu from:01/01/1982 till:09/10/2016 color:Drums
 bar:Antero from:02/03/2023 till:end color:Drums
 bar:Tommi from:01/01/2006 till:end color:Sample
 bar:Tommi from:01/01/2006 till:end color:Vocals width:3

</timeline>

Discography

Albums

Studio

Live

Singles and EPs

  • Wings of Darkness (1986)
  • Love's Not Made for My Kind (1986)
  • Rose on the Grave (1988)
  • Angels of Pain (1995)
  • As One (1995)
  • Warhead (1997)
  • The Punishment (1998)
  • Undead Son (2003)
  • You (2006)
  • I Walk Forever (2010)

Compilations

  • Shining Black – The Best of Tarot (2003)
  • Metallic Emotions (2007)

DVDs

Music videos

  • Wings of Darkness (1986)
  • Love's Not Made for My Kind (1986)
  • I Don't Care Anymore (1988)
  • The Punishment (1998)
  • Pyre of Gods (2003)
  • Ashes to the Stars (2006)
  • I Walk Forever (2010)
  • Wings of Darkness (2011)

References

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Sources

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