Marco Hietala, having fallen in love with choral singing during his stint as a choir leader in the Finnish version of the TV talent show Last Choir Standing, has, after a long consideration, reached a difficult but unavoidable decision. He will quit his band career and concentrate solely on choral singing in the future.

Says Marco: "I’ve banged my head against the wall in various troupes ever since the early 80’s and raced around the world like a chicken with its head cut off. It took me 30 years to find the source of ultimate musical orgasm. In Last Choir Standing I realized there was no sense in making a fool of myself on stage with a bunch of hippies and spend my nights dazed in afterparties, while I could concentrate my energies on real musical art in the form of choral singing. It’s a process of growing up. With me, it just took a bit longer than usually."

In order to orientate towards his new lifestyle, Marco will retreat into a monastery to study choral singing. Brother Zacharius, a master of liturgical chant, will mentor the new “choirboy".

"I am not familiar with Marco’s former music", confesses Brother Zacharius, “but based on the photograph enclosed with his application, he does have certain visual characteristics required of a good brethren. We wish to welcome him warmly to our monastery and believe that he will find his place among the brotherhood."

"It is general knowledge that they appreciate fine drink in the monasteries", Marco muses, "so basically the transition shouldn’t be as radical as you might initially think."

Marco’s decision took the Nightwish camp by total surprise, although some seem to understand the bass player’s choice.

Says Jukka: "I can’t say that I would have expected this, but when you think about, Marco has dropped a lot hints of his true calling along the years. I’m sure everybody remembers the scene from From Wishes to Eternity DVD where Marco performs the song "Kolme Kättä ja Kuusi Penistä" backstage and manages to get everybody to join him. I can tell you it wasn’t the only time he assembled an impromptu choir. Also, he never was much of a bass player, so it’s kinda cool that he concentrates on something else from now on."