Dark Sarah – The Golden Moth

September 21, 2018 by Inner Wound Recordings / crowdfunded through Indie Go Go

Dark Sarah, for those of you, who STILL don’t know, who this is – well, it is the project of one talented Heidi Parviainen (former Amberian Dawn), telling the story of Sarah, who gets left at the altar, and then becomes Dark Sarah and goes on a journey through different realms and worlds. Already 2 albums are out there, ”The Dark Veil” and ”The Puzzle”, and this is the final part The Golden Moth, supposed to tell us, how Dark Sarah’s story ends. Well, I hope it doesn’t end, but will continue for quite some while.

How to describe it? Hmm, take some Phantom of the Opera, add some Nightwish, with pinch of Avantasia and voila, you get some idea maybe. Heidi herself describes it as cinematic metal. Maybe a litte more symphonic metal, focusing on story telling. There is no box to put them in, simply because Dark Sarah is just – Dark Sarah! I couldn’t get the CD out of my player, once you start to listen, you just want to follow the story ’til the end, just like as a kid, when listening to some fairy tales or stories from your cassettes – yes, I am the generation C-cassette. There are dialogues, and musical elements as well as solid metal. There really is nothing like it, and I just love it!

The album opener is ”Desert Rose”, as Dark Sarah wanders through the desert towards the sun, when she is approached by the Dragon, continuing with one of my favorite songs, ”Trespasser”. On this album, Heidi has gotten herself a permanent counterpart, JP Leppäluoto (Charon),being now a permanent member of the band, and I couldn’t imagine anyone better to match Heidi’s crystal clear voice, but JP’s. As I see, JP was involved in composing on a few songs as well.
The story continues, as Dark Sarah and Dragon escape from the desert during the energetic ”Wheel”, vowing to trust each other in the beautiful ballad ”My Beautiful Enemy”, Dragon telling of how he was stripped of his wings in ”I Once Had Wings”. ”Pirates” and the beautiful ”Sky Sailing”, that has been playing in my head ever since the concert (REVIEW HERE), as well as ”Wish” tell us how they steal some airship to fly to the Gods and from their journey there. ”The Gods Speak” and ”Promise” are the showdown of the story, ending in the sentimental ”Golden Moth”, concluding the album with Dragons narration, of how the moth flew towards the sun, and the sounds of some winding key and a clock ticking. Throughout the entire story you are left wondering, are Dark Sarah and Dragon a team? Or are they enemies? Or might there even be a romance? Did Dragon betray Dark Sarah in the end? Or did he have a plan after all, to save them both? Or was he just selfish? Will Dark Sarah take her revenge from the other side? Well, we will have to wait, what Heidi has planned for us, how the story continues.
(Melanie Kircher)

CD produced by Mikko P Mustonen – Pathos Music
Official Band Lineup: Heidi Parviainen, JP Leppäluoto, Erkka Korhonen, Sami Salonen, Rude Rothstén, Thomas Tunkkari
Guest list: White Beard – Marco Hietala (Nigthwish), Iron Mask – Zuberoa Aznárez (Diabulus In Musica), Fortune Teller – Netta Skog (Ensiferum)

Tracklist: 01. Desert Rose 02. Trespasser 03. Wheel 04. My Beautiful Enemy 05. I Once Had Wings 06. Pirates 07. Sky Sailing 08. Wish 09. The Gods Speak (feat. Marco Hietala & Zuberoa Aznaréz) 10. Promise 11. The Golden Moth 12. The Gate of Time

https://www.darksarah.com/