The Hiet Is On

The Finnish musical everyman Marko Hietala has been through it all: mental-health issues, leaving the mighty Nightwish and even a stint on reality TV. Fortunately his new album, Roses From The Deep, reveals that he's still as much of a force as ever. Prog caught up with him to find out more.

- Joel Mclver

Prog is not that visible in Finland... but it has a lot of fans!" chuckles Marko Hietala, whose love of all things progressive goes back to a formative experience as a kid in the sub-Arctic Finnish town of Kuopio. "My dad used to be a jazz freak, but he got hooked on Jethro Tull's acoustic music, and after that he started listening to guitar solos. You know, the more the mainstream becomes more about simple music, the more that people who like complex music will move away from it. Maybe it's the same in the UK as well?" It's very much the same, we tell him which is a great thing on this side of the Baltic for Hietala's new album, Roses From The Deep, a hard rock collection with strong prog elements all over it. Highlights include The Dragon Must Die, a prog-metal anthem featuring polyrhythms and celtic melodies; a duet with Charon frontman Juha-Pekka 'JP' Leppäluoto on the anti-war Two Soldiers; and a song called Proud Whore that we ask Hietala to explain.

"That one is about me!" he says with a laugh. "Maybe it's a bit of a controversial title, but that's what we performers are. There's a certain pride in it, even though a lot of people think that we should get a proper job and a haircut. You still encounter those granny attitudes here and there, but you know what? When we go onstage, people go, 'Ooh, great, yeah!' with grins on their faces.

Do you think you'd get the same response if you put a politician or a preacher up there? I don't think so."

Roses... is the second solo release from Hietala, who cut his chops in the metal bands Tarot and Sinergy, the latter of which is wellknown to headbangers worldwide for the presence of Alexi Laiho, the late guitar hero who also founded Children Of Bodom, Finland's second-biggest metal band.