SONS OF THUNDER

After the great power metal album that was Return to Heaven Denied, Labyrinth are back a couple of years later with an album that... well, an album that for the most part is good. Fast Italian power metal with a lot of cool riffs and guitar solos here, not an overdose of keyboards like Rhapsody and their countless ripoffs provide. The songwriting is a little original, and there's a whole lot of technical skill in the band.

Roberto Tiranti (who calls himself Rob Tyrant) is a great vocalist, one of the only guys with an Italian accent that isn't so thick you can't understand what he's saying. Andrea Cantarelli shreds quickly and has some nice rhythm guitar backing it up, and Andrea de Paoli knows how to be a pretty good keyboardist without killing an entire song with them.

The first song is "Chapter 1", which is a great song. The following song is "Kathryn", which deserves mention because it's one of the best progressive power metal songs I've ever heard. Really. The title track isn't bad either, but through out the album you have some forgettable songs. "Touch the Rainbow" and a cover called "I Feel You" stand out, while the ballad of the CD," Love", isn't half bad. Roberto's vocals need some polishing on a lot of the songs, though. There's also a bit of sub-par songwriting throughout the album, but as a whole it fits to the concept behind it. The production by Neil Kernon sounds a bit too bass-focused and unclear, but it is easy to overhear that problem with the concentration on the music.

If you like your metal played with skill and technicality look no further than this album. Not only that, Labyrinth obviously have some of the most talented musicians in this kind of music and they have the songwriting skills to back it up. The only thing is that this album is harder to get into than their other albums due to the fact that it's quite also a bit more progressive than before. And because of the fact that they don't really follow the typical power metal song structure formula means that this will definately take time to grow on the listener. Chances are you probably will have trouble remembering the names of the songs because they aren't ambigously repeated again and again in every song, but because of the awesome melodies and hook lines this album should be one to stay in the regular rotation of a power/progressive metal fan.

album rating: 8/10 points = 80 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

The first power-progressive metal album that I will review for PA, Labyrinth's SONS OF THUNDER is a true by-the-book release within that genre, with just a few outstanding elements that save it from fading into oblivion.

First, a word about the band itself: just like almost every power-prog metal group listed here on PA, Labyrinth's musicians are very, very talented at each of their instruments, and that holds particularly true about the guitarists: Rain's and Thorsen's fingers have that unique speed that this genre's axe-players usually possess; their solos defy the speed of light, scales go up and down like tornados. The keyboard player is talented, yet doesn't shine. Drums are played as is the norm in this genre: double-bass pounding at high speeds, a few fills here and there, some drum intros consisting mostly of bass drums and a few cymbals abound. The bass player follows suit, too, as he is very fast and precise. Finally, let's say a few words about the singer: Rob Tyrant (actually, Tiranti is his last name, don't understand the point in the name change) is a typical power-metal singer but with a twist: he has a tone that reminds me a lot, at some times, of Enchant's Ted Leonard's voice, high pitched but also very... "boy-ish". I think Tyrant is a good singer but nothing amazing, nor different...

...And that's the major problem with Labyrinth. Their music is, like their playing, completely by-the-book power-prog-metal, with the balance shifted more towards the "power" side than to the "prog" side of things. If we are to compare them with any band, let's say they sound a little bit like Rhapsody but less bombastic, a little bit like Angra but less interesting, a little bit like Stratovarius but more proggy, a little bit like Symphony X but DEFINITELY less prog. Actually, New Jersey's outfit is the band Labyrinth's reminds us the most, but a SIMPLER, MORE RUDIMENTAL version that is. Whereas Symphony X's music has a lot of time-signature changes, a lot of different ryhthms, a lot of melodic instrumental parts, this Italian band's songs are very much straight-forward: same time-signature all the time, same rhythm throughout each whole song, guitar solos only when guitar solos usually go: after the second chorus. So, structures are not one of Labyrinth's most arresting features, as they are rather common, rather trivial, rather uninspired.

And that's the major problem with this album: it lacks variety. Most of the songs follow the same pattern, the same formula; the choruses lack the catchiness that this genre's choruses cry for and need in order to survive (try Stratovarius' or Rhapsody's chorus: you won't easily forget them). And, my biggest objection about power-metal: the drumming: it's fast, no doubt; it's difficult to emulate, no question; it requires great precision and strength, for sure; IT'S REPETITIVE AND UNCREATIVE, that's its pricipal characteristic. All we hear is 16ths played till death in the double-bass drums, with no time for rest and no originality. And I have to say: you CAN be creative with the double- bass. Just listen to Portnoy's drumming, or if you want creative ULTRA-FAST double bass, try Meshuggah: those are bass drums played at the utmost speed, but also with the highest level of UNIQUENESS, with complicate, sometimes incredible patterns. So speed doesn't always have to mean repetitive. It's just some lesser power-metal bands that make us believe that.

Now don't get me wrong, the album is not bad. It has a few good songs (specially the two first songs, they stand out above the rest by a LOT). The story is, incredibly, rather coherent and not as fantastic and ridiculous as many in this genre's albums (we don't have dragons and swords here, though I happen to like the band that deals with that). But the record gets boring halfway down, and what's the main reason? Uninspired playing, repetitive playing. We have a few good guitar solos but NOTHING WE HAVEN'T HEARD BEFORE.

That's my biggest complaint: this album is one more from the lot.

There's a few good bands that play power-metal with prog elements, and only some of those actually manage to truly play PROG-METAL: Symphony X comes to mind; Angra a little bit lower in the scale; Rhapsody, though cheesy at times, plays compelling, entertaining music. Stratovarius plays very melodic, catchy metal. But Labyrinth is just another one, not a great representative of the genre.

Recommended for: fans of power-progressive-metal that tend more to the "power" side; fans of power-metal; fans of speed and blazing solos.

Not recommended for: fans of real progressive metal, fans of unique, original music. Also not recommended for people that love their album covers: this one has one of the ugliest, most awful, cheesy ones.

3.5 for sure

Labyrinth from Italy is one of the bands I've enjoying a lot since their beggining 15 years ago , so here is the review of one of their best albums, at least to me. Don't look at the rating score only 3, because this album is a real good one in power/ progresive metal zone. This is their third album from 2000, released at Metal Blade. I saw mixed reviews, one said is excellent and gave 4 stars, other only 2, the truth is somewhere in the middle, is more then ok album in this field and desearve 3 stars, even 3.5. The music offerd is melodic power metal with progressive metal leanings not far from Rhapsody their country fellows but less symphonic, quite great in places, plus the keybords are used very well combining some very intristing passages with the guitar. Sons of thunder or Behind the mask are good examples of how Labyrinth understands this style of music. Well, overall a fairly good album, not realy something who will blow your mind, but well performed and why not the second best after previous album who was a bomb Return to heaven denid. Fans of prog metal might enjoy this album, even is not very complex is well constructed and have arrangements who will pleases every fan.