Marko Hietala former member of Tarot & Nightwish brings us his sophomore album “Roses From The Deep,” the follow up to his debut solo album “Pyre Of The Black Heart” released in 2019 . Marko who decided in December 2020 to leave the band to concentrate on other projects, which was publicly announced on 12^th January 2021 ,having suffered from depression and other mental disorders for a decade ,even with medication Marko came to the conclusion that leaving Nightwish would prevent things from getting worse. Marko Hietala came away from the public eye, but then in June 2022 after a 12 year hiatus Northern Kings made a comeback performing at the Tuhdimmat Tahdit Festival in Nokia Finland.

This album starts with the spectacular and epic “Frankenstein's Wife” which some great catchy riffs are very strong meaty riffs ,the synths & effects have great touches ,a catchy sing a long chorus a track of spectacle which could easy be on the track of some big budget horror film. “Life On Mars ” features Tarja Turunen also ex Nightwish to deliver a great symphonic metal duet that we thought we would never see due to past tensions. ”Two Soldiers” starts with strings and orchestral elements, folk style melodies is more an act of story telling than a song, accompanied with a very powerful passage of music. ”Dragon Must Die” is an eight minute plus spectacle which draws inspiration from the fantasy mythical worlds with the strings, military drums ,the brass section intro A Celtic twist with the modern style metal fused together gives me House Of The Dragon, Game Of Thrones vibes. ”The Devil You Know” starts with an acoustic vibe before breaking into a foot stomping rocker with Marko Hietala delivering those distinctive baritone vocals. ”Rebel Of The North” is another rocker which has a gothic feel, with a theatrical element. ”Impatient Zero” has heavy guitar riffs & drums with some funky, groove bass touches in places.”Tammikuu” which means “January” in English is sung in Marko's native language has great heavy melody & rhythm. the title track “Roses From The Deep” is a more mellow and immersive tracks to start with before a superb guitar solo mid track mixed with the orchestral touches to bring this track and album to a powerful conclusion.

“Roses From The Deep” was a very interesting listen for me which I embraced. It had theatrical moments, great story telling within the songs and music, for which I appreciated as a listener. It's not my normal go to style of music but getting to review albums like this you discover new bands & artists  I did enjoy "Roses From The Deep"  s I will have to explore more bands & artists in this genre. A great solid release of Symphonic Metal, Folk Metal and Heavy Metal which fans of this genre will really enjoy.