‘Marko Hietala’, well known in the field of symphonic metal since he is the bassist of ‘Nightwish’, is releasing an album under his own name ‘Pyre of the Black Heart’. Contrary to the style of 'Nightwish' and even if the electric instruments are de rigueur, the compositions are generally less energetic and the titles which remain powerful like 'Stones' and its intonations close to 'Nightwish' or 'Runner of the Railways' with its strong folk influences or 'Death March of Freedom' or even 'Star, sand and shadow' influenced by the 80s, are relatively far from metal but very pleasant to listen to with accessible melodies. As for the other compositions, they are much more intimate, starting with ‘The Voice Of My Father’ which is the first ballad of the album and which emphasizes father-son relationships. In the same vein, we can note the 3 tracks 'Dead God's Son', 'For You' and 'I Am the Way' with a finale that reminds me of the 'Gilmour' period of 'Pink Floyd' with 'High Hopes' (besides 'Nightwish had taken up this title in concert). And it is also with two ballads, 'I Dream' and 'Truth Shall Set You Free' with a magnificent vocal performance by Marko (we are not used to hearing him in this calm and serene register), that the album ends very nicely.
In summary, with this album, 'Marko Hietala' shows us a completely different face than that of the bassist of 'Nightwish', necessarily freer, which allows him, by going to tap into his influences and his origins, to offer us more intimate compositions which for my part have even more emotional force in his native language (see the Finnish version of 'Pyre of the Black Heart' here)... | |
