Tuomas Wäinölä is a gifted guitarist and a globe-trotting musician whose previous solo album was released 12 years ago. It seems, then, that the man only releases albums in the Year of the Rabbit, so to speak, referencing the Chinese zodiac. The Return of the Hometown Hero sums up at least a decade of a musician's life, and according to the thick cover letter, even more than that.

Some rock albums are occasionally easily described as having a little something for everyone, but here the words are unusually fitting. This disc, if any, contains a vast amount of material for many listeners. Impossible Music is a brilliant label for an instrumental album that is literally of impossible size, full of layers, surprising corners and closets, arena-sized spaces, and intimate reminiscences.

The album opens with the two-part track The Return of the Hometown Hero, which carves out over 12 minutes for itself. The electric guitar sometimes leads the way, at other times a 50-person orchestra lets it rip, and a random reviewer feels like they’re being launched into the back wall. The journey has spanned the globe, so Germany is represented by Steglitz, charming London, and surprisingly exotic Tokyo, each bursting in its own way, with Britain perhaps winning the internal showdown.

The New World might, however, steal the crown, as New York possesses a golden peaceful charisma, and Anaheim #8 tips the hat to the most famous Finnish lightning bolt, offering the album's heaviest shredding and distortion in the spirit of Eddie Van Halen. God bless America! Mexico was reportedly supposed to be the thematic glue for the whole, but the land of sombreros and tequila is now represented only by a laid-back acoustic moment. A missed opportunity or a wise decision?

The Return of the Hometown Hero is a scale-crushing and proportion-defying album that I have genuinely tried to unpack and weigh. The Wedding March of Lauri and Dalia is, of course, a beautiful and delicate piece, and the closing The Fellowship of Guitar (5 GTR Death Punch), nearly ten minutes long, doesn’t leave you cold, but I still can’t quite comprehend all of this. Should the journeys and the mammoths have been divided into separate albums? I don’t know, but at least here’s something for everyone – for real.
-Mika Roth

The Return of the Hometown Hero is guitarist Tuomas Wäinölä's second solo album. I admit right away that I haven’t heard the first one. I suppose I’ll have to check it out if I get tired of this one. That hasn’t happened yet, although truthfully, my first feeling when I got the CD in my hands was fear. Everyone who lived through the '80s remembers the solo records of big-haired shred guitarists released by Shrapnel Records. They had an enormous number of notes. No vocals. This album also has a lot of dots on the staff, but not all of them are played on guitar. So my fear was unfounded.

They say singers are great talkers. It seems guitarists are good writers. At least Tuomas is. The album’s cover note was the best music writing I’ve read in a while. I usually skip those. This time I made an exception, and it was worth it. Unfortunately, I can’t copy the track descriptions. So you’ll have to make do with my inadequate depictions. Should I even tell the whole story? Maybe not. That might be wrong. Just listen and you’ll understand.

The Return of the Hometown Hero starts with the title track split into two parts. The first is the gentle prodigal son returning home. The second is the same guy telling his tales in a bar to the small-town boys. Did I come up with that, or Tuomas?

So, off on a journey. Japan, the UK, and the US are first up. I wouldn’t have guessed Tokyo, but the latter two I would have. Then again, I don’t fly—how would I have read the hints? Do you pick up on the clues in the music? If not, the album booklet tells of the hero’s experiences. Because the guitarist can write.

New York is my favorite among those. The description hits the mark, too. Along with the horns, the groove is just the best. Sounds authentic.

The great destinations continue. Berlin’s Steglitz is one of the hero’s favorite places. To me, it’s one of the gems of the album. You could get there by land. Someday, at least. My favorite, Alex Lifeson, said he liked jazz because it’s easy. This sounds like that—but probably isn’t.

The wedding march composed for Lauri Porra and his wife Dalia is a beautifully building piece. If you have the imagination, picture the ceremony where this was played—but bring tissues. It’s movingly beautiful. At least in my head.

Anaheim is Tuomas’s Eruption. It works. And Mexico might be a tribute to all of Tarantino’s soundtracks. Through that, we reach the album’s climax. The Fellowship of Guitar (5 GTR Death Punch) is something that world masters like Robert Fripp, Steve Vai, or the late Frank Zappa might have crafted. Here, Finland’s top javelin throwers are at it, and the result is simply stunning. When the style and technique are in order, the piece carries. I recommend watching the YouTube video. It’s an experience.

The Return of the Hometown Hero is a journey worth taking. And you don’t need to worry about your carbon footprint.
-Tero Honkalaso

YouTube’s algorithms apparently figured out my musical taste long ago. Now the app offered me Tuomas Wäinölä’s “The Fellowship of Guitar – 5 GTR Death Punch” recording (link). This is, as I understand, a prog instrumental composed and arranged by Tuomas. With each listen, it sounds better and better, and I enjoy the shredding of five Finnish guitar heroes (Wäinölä, Mikko Kosonen, Timo Kämäräinen, Marzi Nyman, Varre Vartiainen) and the response provided by the horns.

Well, the algorithms kept working and Facebook advertised a Wäinölä concert at Tampere Hall, for which I bought a ticket immediately. The audience in the small hall was moderate in size, considering that this kind of prog-instrumental music tends to go over or past the average listener.

The mentioned track is included on Wäinölä’s new solo album The Return of the Hometown Hero. Unfortunately, it wasn’t performed at Tampere Hall, likely due to the required five-guitarist lineup. However, other tracks from that album were played, as well as from his earlier album Human Being, which I bought directly from Tuomas himself at the Helsinki Book Fair.

Wäinölä’s music spans the entire instrumental spectrum, from heavy to jazz. The listener’s moods vary similarly. Often, with more challenging music like this, there are certain gems and others that don’t spark enthusiasm. Personally, I liked Tokyo and New York. Tuomas’s drummer was the legend Anssi Nykänen, who also performed an amusing drum solo. The band included a horn and keyboard player and a bassist, all of whom did solo improvisations as well. I can’t recall their names now, and they weren’t familiar to me beforehand. Tuomas changed guitars nearly every song and maintained the narrative arc of the set with musical humor.

Wäinölä’s body of work is quite broad—I’ve spotted him on Raskasta joulua TV specials and in Anssi Kela’s band. He also makes music for films, etc. Wäinölä is quite the conductor, somewhat reminiscent of Pekka Pohjola or Jukka Tolonen. I’ve always been a Pohjola fan and saw him live, as well as Tolonen’s prog band once at a free gig in my youth.

I think Finnish prog-instrumental music has its own sound—whether that comes from mother’s milk or our music education, who knows? If an American band played the same pieces, it probably wouldn’t sound quite the same.

This kind of music has, in a way, kept me alive my whole life. My favorite guitar instrumentalist is the American Steve Morse, about whose music I’ve written separately (link). I also wrote earlier about Steve Vai’s Tampere gig (link). Tampere Hall seems to be turning into a stronghold for smaller audiences of guitar artists. I’ve seen Albert Lee there, and also my eternal favorite Paul Gilbert doing his guitar clinic. Steve Morse, I believe, once performed at Hakametsä Ice Hall. Without social media algorithms and apps, these concert experiences might’ve passed me by.

If guitar instrumental music doesn’t grab you otherwise, I recommend starting with that 5-guitarist performance by Wäinölä I mentioned earlier. Oh, and hopefully someone will think to perform the late Pekka Pohjola’s music, arranged for electric band.
-Jukka Konttinen (TW Live @Tamperetalo 2024)

Guitar virtuoso Tuomas Wäinölä has, over the years, become known through various TV shows, the bands of Marko Hietala and Anssi Kela, and the Raskasta joulua collective. In 2011, Wäinölä released his first solo album Human Being.

“That was a big step toward my current ‘form’ as a musician. Even before that, I had made several albums as a studio musician and as a member of different bands, but Human Being was my very own debut,” Wäinölä says.

“Human Being was also important because the gigs that followed taught me to improvise in a completely new way. That time was very important for my playing.”

Now, Wäinölä’s second solo album The Return of the Hometown Hero is here. The maestro is joined on the album by, for example, Anssi Nykänen, Rolf Pilve, Mikko Kosonen, Timo Kämäräinen, Mikko Sirén, and Arttu Takalo.

“The second album has been on my mind for a long time, but time has been tight. I’m prone to work mania, and over the past years, there have been many kinds of projects and tours,” Wäinölä notes.

“With the new solo album, the idea was to make exactly the kind of instrumental music I want. So the album includes, for example, score music, heavy, surf rock, fusion, and acoustic trio-style playing.”

You’ve said the concept of The Return of the Hometown Hero is as follows: “The whole is loosely autobiographical, including songs based on different countries, places, and events.”

“The backstory is that the album’s fictional main character—possibly a fictional alter ego of mine—is a mercenary who has traveled the world on various missions. Eventually, he returns to his home village as a celebrated hero. He has everything, but still feels an inner emptiness,” Wäinölä says.

“This is the framework we operate in, and the individual tracks are then true stories, legends, or something in between. The album’s booklet contains a larger story related to each track, and hopefully these stories deepen the listener’s experience.”

The rest of the year seems busy?

“The mixing of Marko Hietala’s second album is underway, and I’m also the producer of the record. Then I’ll go on a month-long acoustic tour in South America with Marko. Anneke van Giersbergen will also be joining us,” Wäinölä shares.

“In November, the month-long Raskasta joulua tour begins. I’ll also be doing some gigs related to my own album, performing with bandmates and guests—for example, at Helsinki’s Tavastia on December 19. There are all kinds of other things in the works too, like film music!”
-Timo Isoaho (Soundi)

BONUS SECTION: Tuomas’ Highlights of the year 2023 (still relevant for 2025!)

Certainly. Here's the direct English translation of the full text, preserving each section as-is:

Currently touring with the Raskasta joulua collective, guitar wizard Tuomas Wäinölä released his second solo album The Return of the Hometown Hero this fall, and the occasion will be celebrated with a special concert at Helsinki’s Tavastia on December 19 (and by the way, you can win tickets via Soundi’s competition, open until December 12). Wäinölä’s year has included many other highlights as well, and at Soundi’s request, the guitarist now shares five particularly significant and memorable experiences.

Osteria Francescana (restaurant)

– Massimo Bottura’s three-Michelin-star restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, which was ranked the best in the world in 2016 and 2018, has been on my pilgrimage list for a long time. I have a soft spot for good food and the experiences surrounding it, and this dinner truly took me and my companion into a state of true hedonistic indulgence. Afterwards, we even chatted with the Maestro himself about the similarities between music and cooking, concluding that the best results in both come from the heart—that is, from feeling.

Tár (film)

– In my opinion, none of us are safe—from ourselves, from the pressures of any given field, from the influences of history/culture/religions/traditions, from shame, from the thoughts of our fellow human beings and “them” (probably imaginary), from humanity and humanness in both its primal and final forms, from the corrupting effect of power, and from the ever-present change and chaos. Still, we can deeply influence how we experience these things, study what we are and why, and try to avoid succumbing to the weakness we don’t wish to embrace. I find it wonderful to come across an artwork (or rather, I don’t stumble upon them—I search with endless fervor in hopes of finding an explanation for the world) that opens up the mystery inside my head.

The Bear (TV series)

– I ritually watch a few hours of films and series in my home theater each night while practicing guitar unplugged. The Bear depicts the restaurant world very well and has a fierce pull to it—no mile-long backstories, just raw drive, compelling irritation, and intense emotions without over-chewing them. Jeremy Allen White is fresh and great; he already earned a lot of affection and sympathy from me in the role of Lip in the American version of Shameless. Sometimes you just know within seconds that what you’re watching is a gem, and you’re already preemptively sad that it will soon be over. It’s impressive to stand out so strongly in an era when great content is constantly being released!

Michel Houellebecq (books)

– This year I’ve been working my way through the works of French author Michel Houellebecq. He has a reputation as a provocative and even toxic anarchist, a provocateur. While that is certainly true, Houellebecq possesses some sort of gift for explaining the world; the aftermath of reading any of his books is a kind of bewilderment, and if not outright elevation, then at least a sense of seeing life from a different angle. The world needs jesters who dare to say what they want—naturally offending some in the process—but hopefully in service of something greater than their own egos. Alongside topics that challenge religion to the point of legal disputes and his dirty imagination, I find Houellebecq to have brilliant ideas, with haunting “mastermind” plots lurking in the background that, when they explode, leave a mushroom cloud floating in your psyche for days.

Florida Panthers (spectator sports)

– The Florida Panthers’ playoff story last spring swept away even the most cynical NHL fans—apparently including me, a hockey addict who had already distanced himself from the sport. Thanks to an incredible final stretch in the regular season, they secured the last Wild Card spot by just one point. Florida’s play at the beginning of games looked hopeless, yet by the end, hands were raised in victory. As if trademarked, they would allow the first goal right at the start, laugh it off, and keep playing. What a team! In the playoffs, strange things began to happen: championship favorites fell one by one to the “Comeback Cats”—the unbeatable Boston, the virtuoso Toronto, and the tactically skilled Carolina. In the finals, they eventually succumbed to Las Vegas, but that doesn’t take away from the “terrible” joy those thriller series with their overtimes brought. Sure, it wrecked my sleep rhythm for a couple of months, making it even more rock’n’roll, but it was worth it.