Music Reviews

Tarot

Suffer Our Pleasure

Metal Blade

Ladies and gentlemen, we have the latest installment of the Tarot legacy: Suffer Our Pleasures. The press sheet quotes the Finnish ‘zine Imperiumi, noting that “Suffer Our Pleasures is without a doubt the best Tarot album ever!” Congratulations to Tarot for creating your best album ever, but I’d hate to hear the first five, because this album sucks hard.

From the moment the album begins, the silly, overdone, ridiculously operatic vocals basically spoil what could be a decent instrumental record. The guitars are chunky, tough and serrated. Some of the coolest prog-metal riffs I’ve ever heard are on this album, and I give major applause to Tarot’s guitarists for being awesome. The drummer is actually pretty damn good as well, and his drums are recorded wonderfully: each cymbal hit is crisp, the bass drum is powerful and the snare is full of body. Sadly, the stupid morons who call themselves vocalists basically vomit all over their bandmates with their horrible singing.

I cannot put into words how bad Marco Hietala’s voice is. I honestly wish that there was a “Crappy Vocalists’” tax that record companies had to pay when releasing a disappointment like this. I apologize to the rest of Tarot for the negativity of this review, but I think it’s time you guys started looking for a new singer. Please.

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