Tarot "Suffer Our Pleasures" CD
[Metal Blade]
No thanks. Washed up, anyone? This Finnish metal band has been at it forever, since the early- to mid-80's, and while I can't say I've heard that much of their material at all, I can say that this is a weak record. It's straight up heavy metal with some unnecessary keyboard textures that are mixed pretty far back and rarely add to the songs, but the songwriting just isn't memorable at all. There's no power. It's all moderately paced riffing with a few slightly faster moments and strong vocals that just don't get a lot of room to move around. The singer has that raspy sort of clean singing going on, and I think his voice is really good, but he doesn't display a really powerful range here at all, and the vocals lines do little for me. Really the best thing about the record is the presence of some cool guitar solos, but the solos aren't that interesting either. They're just well played leads, and you don't get to hear that kind of thing too often anymore. Everything's just too slow and boring, there are too many softer passages and simplistic chord progressions... if they just sped everything up a bit and played with more feeling it could be alright, but it comes off as bland. I do think the recording is fairly strong. The bass tend to vanish behind the guitars and vocals, but I think all of the tones are pretty good. The drums are clear and dense without getting too clicky, the guitar tone is warm and natural, and the vocals do sound very nice. I like that they keyboards are mixed so far back, but it seems strange since they really don't do a whole lot anyway. The layout's tolerable. I sort of like the cover painting because it does kind of have an 80's metal ring to it, and everything else looks alright as well. I think the lyrics stink but that's life. I figured as much since the first song is called "I Rule", and it also has the worst lyrics on the disc: "Did you ever think that the stink of the flesh I suck, would be you, sad fuck? I rule!" I'll pass. I just can't get into this. I like classic metal, I really do, but this just isn't the way that style was meant to be played. Bits and pieces of the record are dead on, just the way it was in the 80's, but the big picture is just a pale shadow of those classic times. (4/10)
Running time - 47:55, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: honestly, none of them really stand out for me]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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