Tarot (band)

Tarot
Tarot live in Nürnberg
Background information
Also known as	Purgatory (1982–1984)
Origin	Kuopio, Finland
Genres	Heavy metal, power metal
Years active	1982–present
Labels	King Foo Records, Spinefarm
Associated acts	Nightwish, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Turmion Kätilöt, MESS, Cardiant, Impaled Nazarene, Northern Kings, Sinergy, Marenne, Lazy Bonez
Website	http://www.wingsofdarkness.net
Members	Marco Hietala Zachary Hietala Janne Tolsa Tommi “Tuple” Salmela
Past members	Mako H Pecu Cinnari

Tarot is a heavy metal band from Finland. They are most famous for the song “Wings of Darkness” from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band has never been very famous elsewhere until gaining new success in recent years when their singer and bassist Marco Hietala joined Nightwish in 2002.

Tarot was originally formed by the Hietala brothers in the early 80's. Back then the band was called “Purgatory”. As Purgatory reached the point when they got the record deal, the label wanted them to change their name. Since then the band has been known as Tarot. The line-up settled into the form of Marco Hietala (bass/vocals), Zachary Hietala (guitars), Mako H (guitars) and Pecu Cinnari (drums).

The "Wings of Darkness" single saw the daylight in April 1986 and in December that same year Tarot released their first full-length album Spell of Iron. In April 1988, following the release of a single Rose on the Grave, their second album Follow Me Into Madness was released.

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. After long preparation, the third album To Live Forever came out in February 1993. Tarot received good publicity in Japan, making their first live album to be released as a Japanese special edition in November 1994. The live album was recorded at Tavastia Club, Helsinki in August 1994. 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. To Live Forever was remixed and re-released in 2006 together with all the previous albums.

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, Marco also played in Conquest and Sinergy. Together with other members of Conquest, Marco played cover songs under the name “Metal Gods”. Marco became a member of Nightwish in 2001. Janne Tolsa played the keyboards for Virtuocity’s Secret Visions album as Marco sang a few songs on it. In summer 2002 Tarot played a special 80’s gig in Kuopio, playing material only from the first two albums.