Dark Sarah

Formation and creation of Behind the Black Veil (2012–2015)

Vocalist Heidi Parviainen started working on Dark Sarah's debut album Behind the Black Veil after having made the decision to leave her former band Amberian Dawn.^[6] When writing her first lyrics for the song Save Me, which is about a character named Sarah, who gets left at the altar by her fiancé, and runs off into the woods in tears, she eventually decided to make a concept album which would be about the dark side of Sarah.^[7] It was also then that she came up with the name of her project. To bring her project to the attention of audience, she asked musicians Kasperi Heikkinen, Teemu Laitinen and Jukka Koskonen to record the first two songs Save Me and Poison Apple for what would turn out into Dark Sarah's debut album Behind the Black Veil.

To finance the whole project, three separate indiegogo campaigns got started, which all received full funding by the fans.^[7] The cd would be recorded into three parts, called episodes, the first episode containing the first 4 tracks, the second tracks 5 to 8, and the third tracks 9 to 14. For promotional purposes the EP Violent Roses, which contained episodes 1 & 2, went on sale during Metal Female Voices Fest 2014.^[8] Only 250 copies got pressed, and all got signed by the then live line up.

In the meantime the rest of the recordings for Behind the Black Veil continued. On 27 September 2012 it got announced that Manuela Kraller (ex-Xandria) would participate in a duet for the song Memories Fall, as the Fate character. Two more collaborations got announced later on as well, on 13 January 2013 that of Inga Scharf (character Queen of No Good) and Stefan Schmidt from German metal band Van Canto for the song Evil Roots,^[2] and on 29 August 2014 that of Tony Kakko (character The Moon) from Finnish metal band Sonata Arctica for the song Light In You.^[9] Heidi completed the lyrics with the help of Emy Frost, Janne Storm and Perttu Vänskä, and the music with componists Emy Frost, Janne Storm, Mikko P. Mustonen and Stefan Schmidt. Guitarists Sami Salonen and Erkka Korhonen, drummer Lauri Kuussalo and bass player Jukka Koskinen got added to the official line up of Dark Sarah, which now had turned into a live band, with Heidi remaining the main figure. On the way, bass player Jukka Koskinnen left, and got replaced by Rude Rothstén, while on 29 April 2015 it got announced that drummer Lauri Kussaloit had left Dark Sarah to be able to concentrate more on his own music, and got replaced by Thomas Tunkkari. Video's for the songs Memories Fall (feat. Manuela Kraller), Hunting The Dreamer and Light In You (feat. Tony Kakko) got released.

The Puzzle (2015–2017)

On 16 December 2015 Heidi announced through her Facebook page that recordings for the first songs of the next album had started. On 6 March 2016 the first teaser got released together with the title of the new album, which would be named The Puzzle. The story of the album is going to continue from where it ended on the previous album. Heidi explains it as: ""The Puzzle" is a concept album and it continues the story that started on the debut album called "Behind the Black Veil". After the evil tree had died and Dark Sarah´s soul with it, she was sent to drift along the river of death. The streams took her on an island where the banished souls are taken to. To get off the island she needs to solve the puzzle and find three keys."^[4]

Heidi Parviainen and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto singing live as the characters "Dark Sarah" and "The Dragon" at a concert in November 2017

Once again an indiegogo campaign started to finance the album, this time without several episodes.^[5] Full funding was reached at the end of the campaign. The first video for the album got released on 15 April 2016, called Little Men. On 24 April Heidi revealed on her Facebook page that once again three guests will perform on the new album. Manuela Kraller (Ex Xandria) returns as her character Fate on the song Rain, and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto (Charon, Northern Kings) plays the character The Dragon on the song Dance With The Dragon.^[10] On The 13 September the third guest got announced, Charlotte Wessels (Delain, Phantasma) plays the character Evil Siren Mermaid on the song Aquarium, along with the information that The Puzzle shall be released in Europe and North America on 18 November. On 18 October a lyric video from the song Aquarium got released.^[11]

The Golden Moth (2017–present)

In March 2017, it was announced that a third album was in the works, with JP Leppäluoto returning to reprise his role as The Dragon, as well as join the band lineup^[12] and compose music for the album together with Heidi. Another crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a new music video was also announced. The description on the crowdfunding page read; "The concept of Dark Sarah is built around a story that tells about a young woman called Sarah and her fight against her evil side persona Dark Sarah. The albums tell a story about her journey through three worlds - The Middle World, the world of living ("Behind The Black Veil" album) and The Under World, where the dead dwell ("The Puzzle" album) and The Upper World, where spirits and gods reside."^[13] The new album was also described as a continuation of the story of Dark Sarah and The Dragon (the ruler of the Underworld), who meet again in The Upper World. On 26 October the next Indiegogo campaign started, which reached full funds on 14 December.^[14] Along with it came the title of the new album, The Golden Moth, and a new music video for the song Trespasser.^[15] On November 2, singer Zuberoa Aznárez from Spanish metal band Diabulus in Musica was revealed as the first new guest on the album as the fierce goddess Iron Mask on Dark Sarah's Facebook page. Later on December 3 the other two guests were revealed, singer and bassplayer Marco Hietala from Finnish metal band Nightwish as the god White Beard and accordion player Netta Skog from the Finnish metal band Ensiferum as an accordion playing Fortune Teller.

Current members

• Heidi Parviainen — vocals (2012–present)
• Sami Salonen — guitars (2014–present)
• Erkka Korhonen — guitars (2014–present)
• Thomas Tunkkari — drums (2015–present)
• Rude Rothstén — bass guitars (2014–present)
• Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto — vocals (2017–present)

Former members

• Jukka Koskinnen — bass guitar (2014)
• Lauri Kuussalo — drums (2014–2015)

Session Musicians

- Behind the Black Veil:

• Kasperi Heikkinen (guitars on Save Me and Poison Apple)
• Manuela Kraller (as the character Fate on Memories Fall)
• Inga Scharf (as the character Queen of No Good on Evil Roots)
• Van Canto (backing vocals on Evil Roots)
• Tuomas Nieminen (backing vocals on Silver Tree and Light in You)
• Tony Kakko (as the character The Moon on Light in You)

- The Puzzle:

• Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto (as the character The Dragon on Dance With the Dragon)
• Charlotte Wessels (as the character Evil Siren Mermaid on Aquarium)
• Manuela Kraller (as the character Fate on Rain)

- The Golden Moth:

• Zuberoa Aznárez (as the character Iron Mask)
• Marco Hietala (as the character White Beard)
• Netta Skog (as the character Fortune Teller)