Opening the album is Stones, a precise mid-paced melodic rocker that also acted as the album's first single. There are quite a lot of different vibes present throughout the album, but Stones goes some way to establishing the album's core sound - with a strong classic rock tone and a hypnotic chorus. The track opens with some spiky acoustic guitar lines, with Hietala's vocal croons filling the space above them. This low-key opening works well, and helps to ease the listener in before the track explodes into the aforementioned chorus which sees the rest of the band kick in with a lumbering beat and subtle strings - a perfect backing for the melodic vocal lines. Hietala is used to singing heavier material on the whole, but he approaches this album with the same bravado and passion - with his distinct voice fitting into this more organic collection of tracks surprisingly well. There are a few riffier moments in the song too, such as a tougher bridge portion after the second chorus that sees Wäinölä launch into a pseudo-metal riff and then into a short, but potent solo. It is a great track that introduces some of the vibes that will repeat themselves throughout the album's ten songs - as well as introduce the strong band of musicians that Hietala has put together. The Voice of My Father is instantly different, and is overall a much moodier piece with some dense, atmospheric keyboard work from Ollila and lots of acoustic guitar lines. Hietala has written acoustic-based pieces before, for both Tarot and Nightwish, but this is quite different from, say, The Islander - taking a more doomier approach akin to something that Paradise Lost might have done as a ballad during their Draconian Times-esque era. Hietala's bass and Nykänen's drums form a sombre, ever-present beat throughout - with the guitars and keyboards adding colour. The pace never really changes throughout, which only gives the crawling pace more power - and even when the song opens up a little for a while about two-thirds of the way through the same pace is retained. It is a very different type of song for Hietala, but it is one that he excels at - with his vocals truly dripping with emotion here, with Wäinölä's occasional mournful guitar leads to compliment him. Star, Sand and Shadow opens with some great dancing old-school synths (think Pink Floyd's On the Run with added Moog) that firmly places the song within the retro prog sphere of things. Ollila's keyboard opening to the track is excellent and really sets the tone, but the song takes on a bit of a different vibe when the guitars kick in and a catchy little riff that reminds me a little of FM's Tough it Out forms the basis of the song's groove. The keyboard sounds throughout and the little occasional instrumental breaks give the song a strong progressive feel, but there is also something anthemic and uplifting about the track - especially considering the doomy number that preceded it. Hietala's vocals are once again very catchy here, and the song boasts a great chorus with some excellent twinkly keyboards and infectious vocal lines. It is a song that is hard to remove from your head, and a great example of Hietala's varied songwriting.
Dead God's Son is slower and acoustic-based again, returning somewhat to the vibe of The Voice of My Father but in a much more whimsical and somewhat upbeat way - at least at first. The verses have quite a folky feel, with laid back acoustic guitar chords, floaty keyboards, and a simple drum pattern. Hietala also holds back a little vocally here, which only makes the chorus much more powerful when he really ramps things up and the band kick up into the next gear. The pace never really increases, but the song certainly gets heavier with some really weighty Wäinölä riffing and some of Hietala's trademark howled vocals. Pyre of the Black Heart is not an album that often descends into solo territory, but Wäinölä does take a short solo here that really fits nicely into the song. He never overplays, with the perfectly phrased section perfectly complimenting the emotional tug of the track. For You is the album's longest song, but it largely sticks to the slower pace established during the previous number. It is a tune that takes a little while to properly open up - with a slow-burning opening section with Ollila's distant piano notes and Wäinölä's murky clean guitar melodies forming a strange bed for Hietala's vocals. The track stays this way for probably around four minutes without ever really changing, which really helps to establish something of an unsettling atmosphere - bringing out the best in Ollila and his keyboards in the process. There are occasional changes in the established pattern, with some bluesy guitar licks and a few synth runs - but it is not until the final portion of the song that a true change is brought about when Nykänen joins in on the drums and Hietala takes to singing a wordless vocal line over and over in a hypnotic way. Wäinölä takes this opportunity to lay down some great David Gilmour-esque guitar lines, further enhancing the album's progressive credentials and bringing the song to a soaring, melodic close. I Am The Way is a piano-based track that opens simply with piano melodies and Hietala's vocals, before a strange percussion loop kicks in with Wäinölä effects-heavy guitars also joining the fray. In some ways the track reminds me somewhat of Anathema as it builds up gradually over repeating patterns with more and more being added to the sound as it progresses. The piano base of the track continues to rear its head throughout, and even when a heavier riff kicks in and things open up more the song never seems too far from its basic roots. The short heavier section allows Hietala to open up a little more vocally, but for much of the track he employs something of a mumbled vocal approach - which works well in the downbeat context of the song. Runner of the Railways is probably the closest thing here to his work with either Tarot or Nightwish, with the track being something of a folky metal stomp with a brisk pace and plenty of catchy melodies. Wäinölä's riffs here are complimented by violin lines by Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola, which creates the folk metal vibe and helps to contribute to the overall pace and energy of the piece. Retro organ sounds fill the song out to add some retro sparkle, but on the whole this track sounds like Tarot crossed with Jethro Tull - with a pacy and simple chorus to draw everyone as well as explosive, fast paced violin and Jon Lord-esque keyboard solos.
Keeping with the more upbeat feeling of the previous song, Death March for Freedom continues at a faster pace than much of the album operates at with a great, slightly funky bass-led sound and occasional bursts of warm Hammond. I also find it strange when musicians release solo albums that sound just like their main band/project, but this is certainly not something that Hietala can be accused of here. None of the songs on this album really sound like anything Tarot or Nightwish have ever done previously. There are moments of those bands to be heard occasionally of course, such as during the previous song, but this really is a diverse album with a lot going on. This track is a great example of this diversity, with a strong focus on bass grooves, while still keeping up a strong pace and injecting lots of great classic rock vibes too. Another catchy chorus here makes the song a winner, and another highlight on an album that is filled with strong moments. I Dream instantly rids itself of the pacy shackles of the previous couple of numbers and instead goes back to a sound reminiscent of The Voice of My Father, but arguably even more downbeat and melancholic. Ollila's keyboards once again are employed to create a dense soundscape, with the guitars adding to this melancholy with volume swells and the occasional murky melody. Distant percussion occasionally fills up some of the extra space in the song too, while Hietala mumbles and croons his way through the track - occasionally breaking into a slightly creepy spoken word section that works well. Around the half way mark the song opens out somewhat, with drums kicking in and a sparkly keyboard riff taking over - in a way somewhat reminiscent of fellow Finns Swallow the Sun. This is not really a proper doom track, but there are elements of that band's sound present here, and the final portion of the track is certainly heavy enough to make it onto one of their albums as Wäinölä lays down some crunching slow riffs while Hietala opens up vocally and deploys his trademark howl. The album's final song Truth Shall Set You Free opens in a somewhat similar fashion to Stones, with spiky acoustic guitar melodies and some melodic vocals - which really dominates much of the track. Delicate piano melodies and strings augment parts of the song, as does some basic percussion - but on the whole the song is quite basic, allowing Hietala's vocals to shine among the fairly sparse backing. After such a dense and varied album, this simplicity works well and there is actually something quite uplifting about the song as a whole, with Hietala's vocals sounding upbeat and positive, and the big acoustic guitar chords really filling the speakers. The strings start to dominate a little more towards the end, with a subtle violin-led section that takes some of the vocal melodies and plays with them a little to great effect. It is song that you keep expecting is going to explode into a big closing number, but it never really does although I do not see that as a bad thing. Many of the songs here start slowly and end in a heavier fashion, but this is a track that builds up towards a string-filled, emotional climax - and it works really well after the murk of many of the album's songs. Overall, Pyre of the Black Heart is a great debut solo album from Hietala and one that showcases some different sides to him as a musician and a songwriter that many of us have not seen previously. Whether or not he intends to make more of his solo career going forward remains to be seen, but Pyre of the Black Heart is a worthy entry into his already-impressive body of work.
The album was released on 24th January 2020 via Nuclear Blast Records. Below is his promotional video for Stones.
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