Today, NIGHTWISH singer, bassist and co-composer MARKO HIETALAannounces that he’s signed with Nuclear Blast for his upcoming solo album ‘Pyre Of The Black Heart’, set to released on January 24th. HIETALA himself describes the style of the upcoming release as “Hard Prog”, but to give his fans a first impression of what the new album is going to be like, he’s also revealed the first single, the undeniably catchy ‘Stones’.

Artist: Marko Hietala
Title: Stones (Radio Edit)
Album: Pyre Of The Black Heart
When: 22nd November
Genre: Hard Rock/Folk/Prog
Clean Edit: YES

In regards to the goal behind his solo album, MARKO HIETALA comments,

“Well, let’s put it this way: NIGHTWISH is without any doubt my main band, and thanks to income from that direction, I don’t have to be that commercially aware… What I mean is that when I was coming up with the ideas for this solo record, I was able to do simply anything without limits. So if I had a goal, it was to not have any kind of limits, but to prepare an unpredictable, spontaneous, adventurous, ferocious and intimate solo record. And now when I listen to the final album, I can say with my hand on my heart that I – or rather us – pulled it off… The record is a really diverse musical roller coaster ride that takes eager listeners into a world of strong emotions and deep feelings!”

HIETALA‘s voice has barely faded away, and he is already honouring his skilful band mates. “Even if Pyre Of The Black Heart is definitely my solo album, I didn’t compose everything on my own. When the song writing process was really in full swing, I kept sending all the ideas to my long-time collaborators Tuomas Wäinölä [guitar] and Vili Ollila [keyboards], and this ingenious two-some came up with great additions and arrangements, one after another. Drummer Anssi Nykänen – who is simply a wizard behind his set – completed the line-up like no other.”

Check out the official new music video for ‘Stones‘ here:

More info:
facebook.com/markohietalaofficial/
instagram.com/marko_hietala_official/