ALBUM REVIEW: Roses From The Deep – Marko Hietala

MARKO HIETALA is a name synonymous with Scandinavian heaviness. Whilst his CV holds credits for founding TAROT and being a member of supergroup SINERGY, it’s the Finn’s work with NIGHTWISH that really put him on the map, his bass playing and rich, baritone voice complimenting three vocalists and spanning six studio albums over nearly two decades. Since his departure, he’s also branched into television work, appearing in the latest series of music-oriented entertainment show Vain elämää in his native country, which has been viewed by millions. Friday 7th February sees Marko‘s follow up to his 2019 debut Pyre of the Black Heart emerge – Roses From The Deep, released by Nuclear Blast Records.



As one very often finds with solo releases, they may have the foundations, blueprints and influences of the projects they are best known for, but the layers and styles that are built on top are much more varied and a truer representation of said individual. Roses From The Deep may exhibit certain elements of Marko‘s former outfits – there is still the grandeur within songs, the underpinning of symphonic metal and a strong progressive edge, but the towers crafted on top of these are significantly different.

Opening track Frankenstein’s Wife is driven by a classic, JUDAS PRIEST-esque riff and sci-fi inspired synthesisers; the final swirl sounds just like something out of a Horror Hammer film or episode of Dr. Who. Proud Whore manages to dip its toes in both SABBATH and OZZY territory, the doom-laden guitar lick reminiscent of the former combined with the soaring, more commercially edged chorus of the latter. The Devil You Know begins acoustically, the impression of MARKP HIETALA telling a folklore story around a campfire before it explodes into a full band stomper, and Rebel Of The North has the vintage, gothic edge of ALICE COOPER in his pomp.


The absolute highlight, however, is the album’s central track, the eight-minute epic Dragon Must Die. It could have been inspired by any number of fantasy worlds within popular culture musically, but the strings intro, methodical and purposeful pace and military style drums and brass section bring to mind the world of Game Of Thrones more than anything else.

Delve a little deeper into the lyrics, however, and it’s noticeable that the ‘dragon’ being spoken of is less in a classic sense, but a darker, more politically-edged metaphor for the evils of the world, which gives the song added grit. The other key track is Left On Mars, which sees Marko reunite with former bandmate Tarja Turunen and trade vocal lines as effortlessly as they did all that time ago; it’s suitably imaginative in feel and will whet the appetites of those who have pined about both musicians since their respective NIGHTWISH departures.

Marko‘s first album was a solid, if not spectacular collection of songs that served as a litmus test for how his sole creativity would fare away from the constructs of an album wit an established band. Roses From The Deep is far more cohesive, immersive and interesting in every single way. It rises and falls as gracefully as the man himself who, after a self-imposed sabbatical to tend to his mental health, sounds vibrant and energised once more.

Rating: 7/10



Roses From the Deep is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.

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LIVE REVIEW: Bullet For My Valentine & Trivium @ The OVO Hydro, Glasgow

Make no mistake: The Poisoned Ascendancy tour, on which BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and TRIVIUM are celebrating their seminal records’ 20th anniversaries by playing them in full, says more about the metal scene in 2005 than 2025. Both The Poison and Ascendancy are major stops along the way in the story of 21st century metal and both attracted different audiences at the time. But, 20 years later, all tribalism has been put to the side, trumped by nostalgia for another era.

Bullet For My Valentine live @ The OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

Both bands are taking it in turns to close out the night across the tour. In Glasgow, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE are up first, but not before a grainy montage of interviews, gigs, and magazine covers from around The Poison’s release. It’s a reminder of how quickly BULLET’s stock rose in a short time, achieved by having a toe in the burgeoning metalcore scene and another in the aesthetics of the dominant emo movement. If genre purists could look past how primed for MSN Messenger BULLET’s lyric were, there were plenty of riffs and harmonies to sink their teeth into.

BULLET celebrated The Poison for its 10th anniversary too, but never on this scale. This time round, they’re taking in the country’s biggest rooms and they’re bringing screens, lasers, and a METALLICA-like ‘hell hole’ at the front, in which fans have paid a pretty penny to be surrounded by rockstar walkways.

The album’s front-half is greeted with elation; the explosive power chords of 4 Words (To Choke Upon) and Tears Don’t Fall’s intro – the biggest crossover banger from both sets – bring the biggest cheers of the night. The real treat in full-album sets are the deep cuts, with Hit The Floor, Room 409, 10 Years Today, Cries In Vain, and The End absent from BULLET shows since the record’s last anniversary. The five-star b-sides represent what was a fertile period for the band, who have struggled critically to reach the acclaim of this early era (although undoubtedly still out-draw TRIVIUM worldwide).Bullet For My Valentine live @ The OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

As far as nostalgia shows go, this one is a reminder of how essential BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE were when they came out of the gates with something to prove. They looked good on posters, knew how to structure a song, and made heavy music that didn’t feel like a boys’ club. It is when they kick off their encore with Knives, from 2021’s self-titled album, that the feeling the band’s best days are long behind them is hard to shake. BULLET came on the scene with a voice and something to say with it, but by comparison, Knives is formulaic and lacks identity among modern metal playlists.

But tonight is about The Poison and the thousands of people who’ve had all these choruses committed to memory for two decades. When it comes to records that paid homage to metal with its circle-pit mosh calls while gunning for the big leagues with radio-ready hooks, it is almost unrivalled since the turn of the millennium. A chance to hear it in full (sans Spit You Out, which is replaced by Hand Of Blood as on the anniversary edition of the album) is savoured and celebrated. For one night, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE sound ready to take over the world again.

Rating: 8/10Trivium live @ The OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

If BULLET brought the melodrama in 2005, TRIVIUM brought something more faithful. Frontman Matt Heafy spoke at the time of his love of METALLICA, and on this night, bassist Paolo Gregoletto is sporting one of their tees. Like Master Of Puppets before it, Ascendancy inspired a generation of metalheads to pick up a guitar and shout along to Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr in their bedroom.

For those who’ve followed Heafy’s vocal ups and downs over the years, this tour has an added note of anticipation. After years of training, metal’s foremost disciplinarian has managed to recreate his raw vocals from the Ascendancy era. On social media, he’s hyped just how much this will bring to TRIVIUM shows going forward. The verdict? He’s never sounded better. As soon as he opens his mouth, it’s clear he’s levelled up and gone full beast mode. It’s utterly monstrous.

The Ascendancy half of the show is therefore less nostalgic; this is a victory lap, a pitstop along the way to a future still full of potential and artistic development. TRIVIUM’s recent run of records, from The Sin And The Sentence through to In The Court Of The Dragon, are all fine-tuned pieces of heavy metal. With Heafy on the form of his life and the band coming off of a creative purple patch, nothing is stopping them reaching for the lofty heights of Ascendancy and Shogun for years to come.Trivium live @ The OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

The division between both bands in 2005 is noticeable still: BULLET’s set is an ode to emotional adolescence, while TRIVIUM’s worships the canon of thrash and Swedish melodic death metal. TRIVIUM don’t have a Tears Don’t Fall, despite the respite of Dying In Your Arms, so it’s the chaos of late-record songs like The Deceived that elevate their set. In Scotland’s biggest arena, it sets multiple circle pits in motion and gets crowd surfers over the barrier again and again, while Heafy stands like a tattooed Spartan encouraging the melee.

An encore of In Waves is a safe option after a night of deep cuts for devoted fans, but TRIVIUM bow out with their flame as ferocious as ever. Heafy is noted for his perfectionism and has spoken about the band rehearsing for this tour since early 2024. It shows: the set is an effortless and straight-forward clinic in which 20-year-old songs sound as vital as ever. If there’s any element of competition between the co-headliners – who could headline Glasgow’s Hydro on their own, for example – TRIVIUM are the ones who still feel truly ascendant.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Alan Swan Photography here:













































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INTRODUCING: Obeyer

If we were to be overly pedantic, OBEYER shouldn’t really be considered a ‘new band’. The Northampton-based quartet are veterans of the UK circuit and originally got together in 2010, so have already enjoyed a career longer than most bands could dream of. They’ve got some serious underground pedigree and even wound up in The Guardian once, so by most metrics would be considered an established act.



However, OBEYER are not the band they once were. Previously known as LAY SIEGE, they have experienced a dramatic change in sound and attitude, and it’s revitalised them. LAY SIEGE were a decent but predictable metalcore band, but OBEYER are a far more nuanced and progressive-minded act. They’ve added ethereal soundscapes and off-kilter songwriting, and the result is one of the most exciting metalcore debuts of 2024.

“We went into this this album as more of a vanity project, I guess, wanting to prove to ourselves that we could write these songs, and that we could step up,” explains vocalist Carl Brown. “You know we had no vision of being in this situation that we’re in now. We had no expectation that it was going to happen until the masters came back, and we were all sitting there listening to it and thought, ‘you know what? It is essentially a new band, a new sound.’”

He’s talking about Chemical Well, their recently released full-length. Across ten tracks and forty-two minutes of runtime, OBEYER showcase a forward-thinking style of metalcore that is bound to raise eyebrows. Where a lot of their peers are have turned towards nu-metal or electronica for influences, OBEYER are more interested in post-metal and sludge. This gives Chemical Well a distinct vibe, akin to GOD FORBID covering CULT OF LUNA, and they’re heavier and nastier than before.

A big reason for this is that OBEYER are very much a group project, with all four members taking part in the writing process. “We write old school,” explains drummer Lewis Niven, “We all sit in a room, and Jamie [Steadman, guitars] will play a riff or something, and then we’ll put some drums to it and start to structure a song like that. I know a lot of bands have one guy that writes everything on a computer and just sends it out and everyone learns it. We’ve never been like that. It has its pros and its cons. It means writing can take a while. It can be quite a back-and-forth process, but the songs build in a more natural fashion.”

As a result, Chemical Well is a very “organic” sounding record. The likes of A Momentary Death, Second Sun and the immense opener Witness are all chaotic pit-igniters with a hefty amount of chug, possessed with all the fury of a man who just bit into a KitKat with no wafers in it. But they also feel like they’ve developed over time, rather than being bolted together in a metalcore factory.


That being said, Chemical Well is accessible enough that OBEYER could tour with BURY TOMORROW and not feel out of place. It’s an aggressive and occasionally very dark record, but the thunderous riffs and earth-shaking breakdowns will appeal to any professional fist-swingers out there. And yes, they’re not averse to sneaking the odd clean vocal line in either, even if it was never their original intention. The more melodic parts are all thanks to a happy accident.

“Seven or eight years ago, we were on tour and the mic dropped from the stand on one of the shows. Jamie, instinctively picked it up and just started singing. Our jaws all dropped and we just thought, ‘what the fuck was that? Where did that come from?’” Carl laughs. “It’s taken seven years of bullying, and we’ve finally got him to contribute some vocals.”

You’ll spot a few genre cliches in there, but for the most part, OBEYER’s debut album is perfect for anyone that wants their ‘core to push boundaries. They’ve already attracted the attention of PERIPHERY‘s Misha Mansoor and signed to his 3DOT Recordings label, and with the hype machine behind them, the future seems bright for OBEYER.

But as violent, abrasive and uncompromising as Chemical Well gets, there’s a wholesome side to OBEYER as well. They’ve known one another for years now, and despite spending a hefty chunk of their adult lives rehearsing, gigging and stuck in vans together, they’re still mates. The line-up is largely unchanged from the LAY SIEGE days, and having responsibilities like full-time jobs and families hasn’t diminished their enthusiasm. If anything, the band is a way to keep their friendship intact. As Carl says; “we’re all dads. We’ve all got jobs. Being able to meet up on a regular basis and scream my head off is a good excuse to see my mates.”

Chemical Well is out now via 3DOT Recordings.

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