Labyrinth
Labyrinth
7.1
Now I'm not the hugest fan of power metal, but when it's the fast speed metal type then it's almost a given that I will enjoy it for the most part if there's a strong vokillist behind the helm. Labyrinth is exactly that, a speed metal band with a strong vokillist to back up the music.
This self-titled album combines tenacity in both the keyboards and guitars to a great sense of structure to the songs. With weird keyboard effects along with some keyboard solos, Andrea De Paoli adds ambience and full on power and on occasion a good sense of classical music. Andrea Cantarelli has some riffs on here that really shred. A strong sense of melodies and some speed metal riffs with crunch that often lead into some technical proficiency. Just listen to a song like "Terzinato" where he has one riff with some wicked hammer-on/pull offs and another with what sounds like a quick sweep but almost combined with harmonics. I can't fully make it out, but either way it sounds bad-ass, and that's of course all that matters. Mattia Stancioiu does a good job on the drums providing strong rhythm and some good double kicks. Cristiano Berrtochi also does a good job on bass providing some good bass lines, especially when there's a break in the guitars. Lastly, Robert Tiranti does an excellent job with the vokills. He tends to stay in the higher mid-range of things, but he exemplifies that he can shatter windows if he wants to from time to time.
I don't follow the power/speed metal scene too much, so I don't really know how this measures up to what's currently out there. I don't think this offering quite measures up to the new Lost Horizon, but it's pretty damn solid none-the-less. With the speed staying at the fore-front for the most part and only two ballad-type songs (one of which still picks up towards the end anyway) I had a great time listening to this album. I felt no shame in slinging on my air-guitar and jamming along to the solid metal Labyrinth brings to the plate.
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LabyrinthFreeman
3/4/2005