Marco Hietala, bassist/vocalist of Finnish heavy metal band TAROT - which he founded with his brother Zachary - offers some insight on The Gravity Of Light, the band’s eight studio album set for North American release on June 8th.

“There's no message that the listeners should take heed of on this new album. We just tried to put everything together in a way that would keep the some of the trademarks of the band, and at the same time show the inner growth and some new things. We try to keep the band dynamics and the groove of the seventies at the bottom of everything we do, then we dress it up in the metal harness of 2010 and use everything there was in-between as a source of nuances and such. The creative spark for the new album were ideas for songs I couldn’t get out of my head. We had so many we wanted to actualize.

As far as musical guests on the album go, we had Mikko Mustonen do orchestral work on ‘I Walk Forever’. The song itself is pretty simple so it was fertile for that kind of possibility. The result sounds very huge, which is as we wanted it… especially at the end of the song. We didn´t go over the top in the mix with the orchestra in order to avoid too much comparison with NIGHTWISH. I knew Mikko from his work with NORTHERN KINGS and he was happy to do this one when I asked him about it. Which song is the ‘masterpiece’ on the album? I think it must be ‘Hell Knows’, where we went for something really heavy and gloomy, but at the same time wanted to bring a really fragile sense of being lost into the piece.”

Gravity Of Light was released in Europe on April 23rd and will hit the shelves in North America on June 8th via Nuclear Blast Records. The successor to the 2007 release Crows Fly Black features the following tracks:

'Satan Is Dead'

'Hell Knows'

'Rise!'

'The Pilot Of All Dreams'

'Magic And Technology'

'Calling Down The Rain'

'Caught In The Deadlights'

'I Walk Forever'

'Sleep In The Dark'

'Gone'

Gravity Of Light, recently entered the Finnish charts at #2, the band's highest ever chart position in Finland.

According to a press release, "most of the demo work for this album was done in August and September 2009 by Marco Hietala, Zachary Hietala and Janne Tolsa, the main writers of the band. The actual recordings for the album started immediately after that in November 2009. Mixing has been done by Janne and Mikko Tegelman and the mastering by Mika Jussila at Finnvox studios in January and February 2010. The album feels like meeting an old friend. Some things are the same, but your friend has gained weight. He shows new scars, and tattoos. The beard is longer and he projects a meaner and faster temper. At the same time there´s still a big heart at the center. The blood might rush to your head when your friend takes you to a weightless sauna orbiting the sun. When you hear Gravity Of Light you will believe."

Tarot recently released the video for the new song, 'I Walk Forever'. The clip was filmed in Cairo, Egypt. Check it out below: