Labyrinth: The RtHD sound is BACK!!!

[Metaldrumz]

Just found another Headrush sample over at CD Inzane. Yes, it is better than the Frontiers sample which was pretty good:

http://www.cdinzane.com/MP3/HEADRUSH-ST.mp3

Yes, the DeRosso/Luppi project should be awesome. I really enjoyed Luppi's solo disc, "Heaven". And as you pointed out with Tiranti, I think Luppi's voice is better fitted for the hard rock vibe present on his solo CD. That said, he is also spectacular w/ VD. Two different animals with two very different sounds.

Ahh now theres a fuckin sample!!! Just listen to that shit man!!!

Labyrinth who? Sorry but that clip smokes anything on the new Labyrinth platter.

If you want the full mp3 of this tune above to hold you over lemme know.

 

[Bryan316]

The production on "Sons of Thunder" was pehaphs the worst production I ever heard on a metal disc. But if I remember, there was a riff between the original producer (Neil Kernon) and Olaf on how it should have sounded. I like a lot of the songs on the disc, but the production makes it absolutely painful to listen to. I bought the Japanese version on Victor as I was so pumped for this release and was just speechless at how bad the sound was.

Absolutely agreed. My drummer and I are huge fanboys for old Labyrinth, and after hearing Save Me, we were instant fans. Then Sons of Thunder came out, and we were heartbroken. Almost as bad as when Patrick Rafling left HammerFall. The drums on this album sound like it was forgotten about! There's no work on them at all to make them sound balanced and powerful, it's just a room with mics, and all the channels had their EQ knobs on 12:00 and that's it! Couldn't they get the bass drum to SOUND like a bass drum? The cymbals were harsh and sharp, and the toms were dead flat with no resonance at all. Sounded like a high school's 30-year-old drum set with the original drum heads still on. Terrible. The guitarwork was bland and lost the precise tightness from Return to Heaven Denied.

The self-titled album was even worse for me. The guitars got looser and looser. Sounded like trying to play Slayer through a Fender Twin from the 60's with the gain turned off. Slow and boring songs, and the same awful drums. The keyboards are the only thing that saved that album. Their keys man had some wild sounds and passages, and really filled the songs.

Freeman is my wake-up alarm in my CD alarm clock, cuz that crap will not let me stay asleep. It frustrates me into consciousness.

THANK GOD FOR VISION DIVINE.

 

[Daybreaker]

While I am glad to hear this news I guess I'm one of the three people in the world that really liked Freeman. With that album they got out of the box that so many other bands from Italy are trying to copy. So now I'm interested in hearing this new one to see how they've gone back.

BTW has anyone heard the Odyssea cd Tears in Floods. It was the new Labyrinth's gettar east's project that had more to do with No Limits than anything else. Labyrinth fans into the electronic side of the band will nut over this one.

 

[Metaldrumz]

BTW has anyone heard the Odyssea cd Tears in Floods. It was the new Labyrinth's gettar east's project that had more to do with No Limits than anything else. Labyrinth fans into the electronic side of the band will nut over this one.

Of course. I own it. I also own ORACLE SUN as well. Now thats a damn good disc!

If the bands on any sort of semi known label, chances are I know them.

 

[Metaldrumz]

Oh I also keep forgetting to post this as well.

The 2nd song is such a wannabe Conception song from the Flow album. "Would it be the same". To bad it doesnt even come close.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Btw, I guess I need to clarify my RtHD comparision. I did not mean that the overall heaviness and speed of that disc was back. Apologies if that is what you want out of Labyrinth. What I do believe is back are the lush melodies and strong song-writing along with soaring guitar leads.

I'm a fan of this band no doubt, but RTHD stands out like a sore thumb in their catalog due to the lush atmosphere that you speak about. Very cool disc indeed!

 

[Imagikafan]

Add me to the "it didn't do much for me" list; however, I listened to it right after I listened to Saxon's excellent The Inner Sanctum, so that might have had something to do with it. The new Saxon has a good chance of being in my top 5 at the end of the year. \m/

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I liked Freeman.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Add me to the "it didn't do much for me" list; however, I listened to it right after I listened to Saxon's excellent The Inner Sanctum, so that might have had something to do with it. The new Saxon has a good chance of being in my top 5 at the end of the year. \m/

That Saxon disc suprised me ... very good. It reminded me at times of a suped up AC/DC or something. It's just so strong and catchy all the way thru.

Britt

 

[The Fiddler]

The self-titled album was even worse for me. The guitars got looser and looser. Sounded like trying to play Slayer through a Fender Twin from the 60's with the gain turned off. Slow and boring songs, and the same awful drums. The keyboards are the only thing that saved that album. Their keys man had some wild sounds and passages, and really filled the songs. THANK GOD FOR VISION DIVINE.

How can you say on one hand that the songs are slow and boring and then say the band is trying to play Slayer? And I'm not an engineer, but the production on the s/t disc was super to my ears.

I thought you and other fans of RTHD would have loved the s/t disc. I think it has more in common with RTHD than any other Labyrinth disc. IMO, it's the heaviest Labyrinth disc in their catalog (and just as heavy as anything from Vision Divine). Of the s/t disc, when I read people saying that they lost their balls when Olaf left , I had to wonder what they were smoking (or what they were listening to).

Just listen to songs like, "The Prophet", "Living in a Maze", "Just Soldier", "Terzinato", and "Synthetic Paradise". Slow and boring???!!! No way!!! Those songs are as heavy, fast, and loaded with as much double-bass as anything from RTHD and should be a treat for the European Power Metal folks. Actually, that aspect of the s/t turned me off initially, but I got to like it really "fast". Can't say the same for other Euro Power Metal bands. Then there are the heavy and melodic groovers, "Slave to the Night" and "This World". Great combinations of melody and power.

And how in the world can anyone say that the two killer ballads, "Never Ending Rest" and "When Will I Fly Far" aren't as lush in melody as any song off of RTHD? I just don't get it. And I'm glad that "I don't get it" as the s/t disc from Labyrinth is a 10/10 for me. I think everyone who's slammed this disc or was so/so on it needs to go back and listen to it again.

My favorite Labyrinth discs in order:

1. Return to Heaven Denied
2. Labyrinth
3. No Limits
4. Freeman
5. Sons of Thunder

 

[FatesFan]

I love Labyrinth. I have enjoyed the entire catalog and would buy the new one on blind faith. I am glad to see some positive feedback as most over the last 2 albums has been anything but. Although I did like them.

 

[Michael TEOF]

I think what people are trying to say is that Labyrinth had a certain level of elegance and class when Olaf was with them -- something a band like Slayer or Saxon certainly does not have. Their music was very clean, melodic and epic. It wasn't rough, stripped down and ballsy. The S/T Labyrinth album is actually very enjoyable, but it certainly lacks the touch Olaf had with the band.

Labyrinth is the epitome of what power metal haters hate about power metal... but that quality they had with Olaf is what defined them as band and in turn defined a genre of music. When I first heard power metal and Return to Heaven Denied in '98, I hated it because it wasn't ballsy or proggy enough. A year later, I realized what an idiot I was. Labyrinth are great... and so is that style of music they helped define.

Personally, I enjoyed all the Labyrinth albums... but it seems the band lost a little bit with Freeman. It had an alternative/pop sensability to it that I didn't care for. Still, Labyrinth are a great band.

The Michael

 

[booB]

Personally, I enjoyed all the Labyrinth albums... but it seems the band lost a little bit with Freeman. It had an alternative/pop sensability to it that I didn't care for.

that's called prog influence.

As much as I like Return to Heaven Denied, I enjoy the fact that Labyrinth has been moving on from that sound, and I'll be bummed out if the new one actually ends up sounding too much like it. However, from what people here are saying, that doesn't quite seem to be the case.

Freeman is excellent.

 

[PriestMetalGods]

The production on "Sons of Thunder" was pehaphs the worst production I ever heard on a metal disc. But if I remember, there was a riff between the original producer (Neil Kernon) and Olaf on how it should have sounded. I like a lot of the songs on the disc, but the production makes it absolutely painful to listen to. I bought the Japanese version on Victor as I was so pumped for this release and was just speechless at how bad the sound was.

I always stayed away from this album because of countless people telling me how horrible the production was. To this day I still don't have it. Actually RTHD is the only one I have from Labyrinth. I do wanna check out this new one(I heard Crossroads so far and it sounded absolutley amazing) and the S/T release. As a whole though, Vision Divine to me is the old Labyrinth.

Anyway, my naive, yet, daring friend decided to pick up Sons of Thunder. He claims there are ways to work around the production. He toggled something on his car stereo system while we were driving around and it sounded pretty damn good. He also told me the album generally sounds better with headphones than on a stereo system itself. Anyone else play with these options? Personally, I think its too much damn work in order to enjoy an album..LOL.

All this got me thinking though..why doesn't Labyrinth just reissue Sons of Thunder with better production, kind of like Nevermore did with Enemies of Reality? I mean yea, this probably should have been done around the release date frame. But better late than never I say. It seems the production is the only real thing holding this album down. I dunno about the business itself, and all the rights behind what it would take to remaster the album. Especially since this is the album that gave Labyrinth their bad blood among themselves. I do think its in the band's best interest though. I think a lot of the piss poor scores i've seen for this album around the web would definitely change with a better production job. From what i've heard of the album, it sounds like it has the potential to be in league with RTHD, its just that annoying production holding it down. Here's hoping anyway.

 

[The Fiddler]

All this got me thinking though..why doesn't Labyrinth just reissue Sons of Thunder with better production, kind of like Nevermore did with Enemies of Reality? I mean yea, this probably should have been done around the release date frame. But better late than never I say. It seems the production is the only real thing holding this album down. I dunno about the business itself, and all the rights behind what it would take to remaster the album. Especially since this is the album that gave Labyrinth their bad blood among themselves. I do think its in the band's best interest though. I think a lot of the piss poor scores i've seen for this album around the web would definitely change with a better production job.

All good points. If the members and Olaf can cash in on a new release, it would certainly make business sense. And since most metal bands don't make tons of money anyways, I can't see them passing up an opportunity to add to their bank accounts. It's interesting to note that the prelude single to, "Sons of Thunder", called "Timeless Crime" had very good production. "Save Me" on the single actually sounds better on the single than it does on SOT. Also of note in the SOT CD jacket, Olaf thanks were to, "Absolutely no one!" Guess that sums up his SOT experience in a nutshell.

Just look at all the bands (record labels) that are re-releasing their catalogs with every 5th anniversary of the bands existance or a album's release. It's all about trying to cash in on the extremely faithful and loyal metal fanbase. Some are worthy of a re-release (especially the decade-old stuff when the CD technology was still in it's infancy), but most are not, IMO. The original release does just fine for me. New artwork and re-mixed songs or demos aren't enough to get me to spend money on a re-release. Sons of Thunder would be a huge exception and an excellent choice for a re-release.

 

[Michael TEOF]

that's called prog influence.

As much as I like Return to Heaven Denied, I enjoy the fact that Labyrinth has been moving on from that sound, and I'll be bummed out if the new one actually ends up sounding too much like it. However, from what people here are saying, that doesn't quite seem to be the case.

Freeman is excellent.

Freeman is inconsistant. There are some great songs on it... but there are some crap ones too. I really didn't find too much prog in there... just some sampling, strange keyboard sounds and more midtempo songs. Compared to most metal though, I will grant you it is composed intelligently. I wouldn't exactly call it Prog Metal though.

The Michael