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HomeInspiration & WellnessFollow Me into Madness |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
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Remastered/expanded etc proto power metal Oct 21, 2008
Prior to fame and fortune with Nightwish Marco Hietala plied his trade in a few bands such as Sinergy and this mob Tarot. And what you get here is pretty solid 80's metal with touches of hard rock. Certainly the band shots are somewhat amusing as given his no nonsense trad metal persona with `wish it's funny to see him glammed up totally in an 80's way.
All up the traditional metal played here isn't earth shattering. But it is very heads down and straight as a die and as such is highly serviceable. In fact it's almost a pity that probably the only buyers for this will be Nightwish fans and people in Finland who remember Tarot from their youth and want to take the chance to get an expanded version on disc. As for the remastering, having not heard the original I can't comment on whether it's an improvement or not. But what I can say is that the dark melodies herein - check out the title track for instance - have a very European feel to them and the whole package has that sense of dark melodrama so beloved in Euro metal. The liner notes are a touch affected by the English-as-second-language thing but they are useful and for someone who is totally new to the Tarot catalogue I found them a handy reference point.
As for the five extra tracks here, we get a 1995 updated version of one track, two live blasts and two demo versions of songs (In My Blood and Born Into The Flame) that aren't even on the album. All in all for me the extra tracks just had the tendency to make the album feel a touch too long. But long time fans may get more use out of them. As for standouts on this handy album I'd have to go for the first four tracks as being the most indicative of what this band are about. The important thing with this album when coming to it for the first time is to not dismiss it on first spin, give it a few whirls until it's melodies and hooks start becoming more apparent to you.
Vintage Finnish Metal - Remastered May 03, 2008
When you think of the great metal bands to emerge from Finland, it's usually bands like Children of Bodom and Nightwish that come to mind, but it's Tarot that has been carrying the true metal banner in Finland for more than 20 years now.
Originally released in 1988, Follow Me Into Madness was Tarot's second album. The band had a sound that could only be described as "heavy metal". They were clearly influenced by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and had a powerful yet melodic, fist in the air, metal sound similar to bands like Overdrive and Warlord. The band still suffered from poor production (and their cover artwork was downright amateur), but you can tell they were improving musically. Zachary Heitala's guitar work in particular is outstanding on this album. There are some incredible riffs and solos on display here.
Ultimately, Follow Me Into Madness is the kind of vintage heavy metal album that is really only going to interest die-hard Tarot fans and/or serious metal collectors. If you're new to the band, you're much better off starting with one of their later albums and working backwards.
Edition Notes: Blue Light Records reissued Follow Me Into Madness (as well as the rest of the early Tarot albums) in 2006. The reissue features brilliant digitally remastered sound and five bonus tracks. The bonus cuts are a 1995 version of "I Don't Care Anymore", live versions of "Shadow in My Heart" and "Descendants of Power" and demo versions of "In My Blood" and "Born Into the Flame".
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