The Tarot Channel

Tarot - Interview With Dark Moor

As Mark told us back in January, Spanish metal band Dark Moor is releasing a new CD titled Tarot which comes out in the U.S. on May 22, 2007.

In the middle of a tour in Spain, Dark Moor took time out of their busy schedule to answer a few of my questions about Tarot and their musical influences:

Janet: Thank you so much for taking some time from your busy tour, guys! To start off who are your musical influences?

Dark Moor: We have a lot of influences. Principally: classic music, with comoposers like Mozart, Bethoveen, Vivaldi, Holst or more actually like Dany Elfman or John Williams. In the rock style we like bands like Queen, Rainbow, Iron Maiden or Helloween.

Janet: When/how did you become acquainted with Tarot cards?

Judgement of Heaven by Iron Maiden

After checking out Mark's post about Bruce Dickinson's awesome video The Tower from his CD The Chemical Wedding, I thought I'd do a bit of research to find out if Iron Maiden had Tarot-related lyrics. (For those who don't know, Bruce Dickinson is the lead singer of Iron Maiden. Sadly, they rarely come to the U.S. to tour...*sigh*)

Turns out that a song called Judgement of Heaven from their CD The X Factor has a direct reference to Tarot:

You're searching in the dark
Clutching at straws to find a way
You take the Tarot cards
And throw them to the wind
Your question your beliefs, your inner thoughts,
your whole existence
And if there is a God then answer if you will
And tell me of my fate, tell me of my place
Tell me if I'll ever rest in peace

To read the rest of the lyrics, click here.

For fun, post which Tarot card or series of cards you feel describes the sentiments expressed in this song--and why.

(Fun fact: Bruce Dickinson was such a good fencer that he was asked to join the British Olympic team in the mid 80's--but he didn't, choosing instead to tour with the band.)

-- Janet Boyer

My latest heroes!

Can you spot the powerful Tarot archetype in this video for "Les Fleur" by the British drum n bass band 4hero?

Tarot: I Don't Care Anymore

Purgatory, a Finnish "hair metal" band launched in the 1980's, changed their name to Tarot when their record label objected to naming a metal band after a Catholic doctrine.

Having a slow Tuesday? Tease your bangs, break out the White Rain, and bang your head on the desk in time to Tarot's 1995 hit, "I Don't Care Anymore."

Ride the Chariot!

To get your Monday morning off to a hard-rocking start, break out the hair conditioner, black eyeliner, and three-quarter-length leather jackets and immerse yourself in "The Chariot," the latest music video from Madrid-based heavy metal band Dark Moor (previously mentioned here.) Their latest album, Tarot, is based on ... well, you can guess, can't you?

I'm not exactly a head-banger, but I gotta tell ya -- vacuuming the living room goes much faster when I've got this tune pumping through my Logitech Bluetooth headphones. (Ah, the glamorous life of an author!)

Alfonso Maya's "Tarot"

If you can keep from being caught up in the jaunty tune, you can amuse yourself by seeing how many different decks you can recognize in this music video from singer/songwriter Alfonso Maya. (And dig that groovy spread cloth the Tarot reader uses!)

For all you rock fans...

Meet Tarot--a rock band from Tegucigalpa, Honduras!

Rush and Tarot

Canadian trio RUSH have been thrilling fans for over 30 years with their unique blend of prog-rock and cerebral lyrics. In a year's time, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart suffered dual tragedies: in 1997, his only daughter, Selena, died in a car wreck on her way to begin college; a year later, his inconsolable wife, Jackie, died of cancer.

Many RUSH fans wondered if Neil would ever go back to making music--and if RUSH would continue. Fortunately, Neil returned in 2002--penning both a memoir detailing his healing journey and the lyrics to the CD Vapor Trails.  In his memoir Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, Neil relates his 14-month, 55,000 mile trip on a motorcycle in search for a reason to live. Interestingly, Neil describes an accurate Tarot card reading he received in California, even using Tarot himself while reading Tarot for Dummies--with equally good results.

Dark Moor's Latest Album: "Tarot"

We're not sure which astrological phenomena governs "news about foreign heavy metal bands," but those stars are surely aligned, as word of Dark Moor's latest album (titled simply Tarot) is the second metal-band related news item to cross our desk today.

Based in Madrid, Dark Moor is a "Metal / Rock / Classical " group known for their gritty, raw, edgy cuts. Tarot, due to be released in February, features eleven tracks, each of which "explores in-depth the meaning" of the arcana after which the track is named. (We're thinking Track 06: The Devil in The Tower, the only track based on two Majors at once, must pack quite a whallop.)

Curious? The band's MySpace page offers free samples.

Tarot: It's a Card Deck ... and a Metal Band

TAROT is a Finnish (!) heavy metal band, complete with a spooky website, a MySpace page, and a hard-rockin' concert video. Their sound blends cinematic passages with razor-edged rock; it makes for an intriguing sonic blend. But after watching their performance, I'm left with only one question: why can't my hair do that?

-- Posted by Mark McElroy