Fans cannot be fooled. Particularly the most loyal fans, who will see right through any insincere motivation behind a band's sudden shift in style or change of direction. Twenty years ago, when Scorpions made the bizarre decision to release a dance pop album titled Eye II Eye, their puzzled fan base collectively groaned and tossed..
Opeth – In Cauda Venenum (Nuclear Blast)
There is a kind of divinity in the darkness that has pervaded Opeth's music in the quarter century since their debut album Orchid floated into an unsuspecting world, an unassailable character that prevents it from ever crossing into 'cheesy' territory. It's like an old, mossy stone angel in some forgotten graveyard: otherworldly and foreboding, but..
Marko Hietala – Mustan Sydämen Rovio (Savonian Rooster)
Marko Hietala, he of the long blonde locks and outlandish twin beards, is most known as the bass player and a (sometimes lead) vocalist with Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, as well as fronting the Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band Tarot - a band who were never as well known as they deserved to be...