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Labyrinth: Labyrinth Progressive Metal, Power Metal Century Media Records July 29th, 2003
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Review
The fourth full length Labyrinth album, simple entitled Labyrinth, is upon us. Given the material produced on past albums, one cannot help but have some really high expectations with this release. However, after losing Olaf on guitars, one of the founding members of the band, it's clear when you listen to this release that something is rather different, and does dramatically affect the music created here. The music on Labyrinth is still phenomenal, don't get the wrong idea. Right from the start you will be swept up by the intense openner "The Prophet". But, as the album goes on, it starts to lose steam as far as the intensity goes, opting for many more mellow and catchy progressive tracks with power metal inspired guitar riffs and moments vocally. The only thing holding these newer songs back, really, is the production of this album. While "The Prophet" is simply astounding, there are other great tracks on here, such as "Just Soldier (Stay Down)", that just don't sound as heavy as previous releases, and the vocals seem a bit hollow in comparison, a problem that could have been easily fixed with a little layering, which it appears the album lacks. The drums are nice on this release, but also suffer, as the snares and kicks also seem a bit hollow. Luckily this doesn't seem to affect the most emotionally performed track on this release, "Neverending Rest", which really shows off some great vocal and keyboard talent. But, as stated, the music has been dramatically affected with the recent line-up change. The music found on Labyrinth seems to lack a lot of the technical work that was present in previous works outside of the keyboards, which are as phenomenal on this release as usual (check out "Neverending Rest" and "Synthetic Paradise" as examples of this). This has also affected the band's guitar solos a bit. Even though they are very well done, the duels and duets just don't seem to be as good as on previous releases. With all that being said, this is not the same Labyrinth as it was from the past, as the music found on this release has been toned down and relies moreso on the music being catchy then the music being complex. The lack of complexity in the guitars also affects some songs moreso then others. While much of the album is still solid, "Terzinato", which has the chance to be one hell of a song, winds up lacking severely during the chorus with guitars that don't support the keyboards, and a solo duet between the guitars and keyboards that ultimately winds up sounding like rubbish. With all things considered, the music found on Labyrinth is a catchy, solid effort that winds up lacking the complexity of previous works, and falters from rather poor production. This could have been a very impressive release, but instead the impact isn't as dramatic outside the first three, maybe four songs that start off the album. Labyrinth is definitely worth a listen, especially if you are new to the band, but if you have heard the bands previous material, this album will seem a lot tamer in comparison, but still enjoyable for how catchy the music is.
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