The best Power Metal album ever!!! - Yup, this is where Labyrinth tied it all together to make this masterpiece of epic proportions. Where to start, metal was in a funk come the mid- 90 s, so about this time, bands had to draw from more current bands/albums for influence. Something fresh, something heavy, something epic...RTHD filled the bill. Olaf and Co. drew upon influences such as American thrash band Toxik, Yngwie s Fire & Ice (the precursor to most symphonic power metal IMO), and Stratovarius Episode album to come up with this sound, and what a sound it is! Just go buy this album, you will not be disappointed! Thrashing riffs everywhere, glorious extended solos, excellent rhythmic time changes, some of the most wicked double-bass drumming from this genre, well written mini-epics, orchestral (not cheesy) keyboards flourish in just the right places, and Rob Tyrant s vocals (think a more operatic Ray Alder) over the wonderful noise makes for one magnificent album . I can t say enough about this molten metal masterpiece...faves cuts include New Horizons (whoa!!! pure adrenaline rush here), Moonlight, Lady Lost In Time, Thunder, and Time After Time. The rest of the cuts are no slouch, either! This is the cream of the Power Metal Crop!
Perfection - This album blows me away,it s fast,melodic,riffs are good,solos are great(shredders),beautiful and the singing is amazing. This is Labyrinth s second album and new comer Roberto Tiranti(vocals).This is their best album.Moonlight starts the album off,which is a perfect song to start the album.The keyboards in the song New Horizons are perfect.Lady Lost In Time starts off very beautiful sounding(ballad),of course the whole album is beautiful sounding,but then the song gets real fast. The song Feel(Legend B. Remix) is a instrumental.Die For Freedom is the last song and my favorite on the album and of all time by Labyrinth,the song is absolutly mind blowing.They make the solos sound like violins in this song. This album is amazing and it s the best power metal album ever made
Labyrinth- Return To Heaven Denied (Metal Blade) 3 1/2 stars - Labyrinth is an Italian progressive metal band that apparently has other titles available.Their sound is similar to that of a few bands of the same genre that emerged in the later 80 s.They tend to sort of master their craft with great harmony vocals,melodic riffs and good song structure.Line-up:Joe Terry-vocals,Ander Rain&Olaf Thorsen-guitars,Chris Breeze-bass,Ken Taylor-keyboards and Frank Andiver-drums.Believe that several of these members left the group prior to the next album.Might appeal to some fans of Armored Saint,Crimson Glory,Helloween and possibly Fates Warning.
How is this so good?!?! - I always forget about this awesome band when I go to pick a CD to listen to. Normally, I reach for Norther, Graveworm, or a new CD that I haven t decided how good it is yet. Those few times that Return to Heaven Denied is the chosen CD to get to my stereo or CD player, I m blown away by what I hear. Not only is Labyrinth one of the fastest bands I ve heard (Dragonforce and Skylark being faster), but they sound so beautiful when they play fast! Imagine older Stratovarius for the speed part. I also must make note of the melodicness. This doesn t mean that the guitar riffs are well written by any means. The keyboards particularly in songs 1-6 and 11 are so perfectly woven in. Unlike bands like Sonata Arctica, the constant keyboards belong in the sound. I know - Sonata Arctica isn t a good example, but that s all I can think of. While I m comparing the 2, Sonata Arctica is better. Why? Because ALL of Sonata Arctica s albums are great. Labyrinth only has this one. I hate the production and lack of keyboards on their newer self-titled album. That album would get 3 or less stars from me. Labyrinth s singer is wonderful. He is no Fabio Lione, but he compliments the drums and keyboards well. You really have to hear it to believe it. This doesn t sound like Secret Sphere, Rhapsody, Skylark, Arachnes, or Highlord. This is more like common power metal with an Italian voice than something you would normally hear coming out of Italy. A lot of credit goes to Labyrinth for this album. The perfectly done keyboards in tracks 1 and 3 alone should catch your attention. Also, I think its track 5 - the singer holds one note for 10 whole seconds! Certain stand-out points like this help this album be such a gem in melodic power metal. Milestone? No - there aren t many of those. Gem is good enough. My idea of a milestone is something like Hatebreeder, Visions, Winterheart s Guild, When the Aurora Falls, or Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part I. When something that hasn t been done before is accomplished to near perfection, THAT S a milestone. So overall, if you don t have this album yet and want to fill your jewelry collection of gems, you need this album! Pay your respects to this great band! When you get the time, go read some of my other reviews and say if they were helpful to you or not.
italian masters!!!!!!!!!! but..... - hello???? has anyone realised or even noticed that 3 of the metal blade-produced albums Sons of Thunder, Return to heaven denied, and timeless crime, are rather poor in production??? the vocalist s voice is barely heard on most of the songs and when the solos are shared between the two guitarists, the second solo is barely heard and drowned by the music.lyrically, the album is good. technically, it is more fast and less progressive than SONS OF THUNDER, with fast riffs, longer solos that seems to be a must to come towards the end, a structure which i have to come hate cus i think its very uncreative and rather predictable and boring,and rather unexpected from such a diverse band. the songs are generally short,again, diversity deserves more time to be shown and developed and these guys were not only fast in their songs but also fast in ending them.....:) the general sound of this album is also more power, reminscent of stratovarious in some of the songs. yet again, the album has nice songs, nice ballads, nice tunes, good solos, excellent riffs, but no great moments but only the potential. another thing i noticed, is the choice of distribution of the songs, from the third song til the sixth are all of the same style and are all placed one after the other.now let me try to analyse song by song, briefly:1- moonlight: is a good opener. fast riffs, nice solos, but again short.2- new horizons: is the best song on the album, with more diversity than the rest of the songs. 3- the night of dreams: is also one of my favorites,reminds me a bit of slave to the night from labyrinth, and touch the rainbow from S.O.T.4- lady lost in time: another beautiful song. 5- state of grace: it starts out beautifully, but gimme a break, it is very shorttttttttttttttttttttttttt......... what a waste!!!!:(6- heaven denied: nice and short...lol!!!!!!!!!!7- thunder: is simply a technically fast song,as if the guys decided lets now make a very fast song, period. but still nice.8- feel: very nice instrumental even with the techo bits, a very nice melody, a kind of melody which is rather absent from the rest of the songs, i dont know why.... it is the only real progressive tune on this album....and where the hell is the solo when the music really deserves one???????!!!!!!!!!!9- time after time: i liked only the second half of it cus again that part is progressive. 10- falling rain: excellent ballady song, with a gr8 solo. 11- die for freedom: a good closer, yet again, i dont thk they should have closed with this one. it has a nice complex beat to it, which kind of sticks to ur head. i conclude by saying that i thk the guys have arrived at their maturity in their latest effort LABYRINTH, production wise, it was a very smart decision to move to Century records,cus the production quality of tha album is gr8, with clear vocals and clear solos,lyrically much better, and more diversity, less fastness, shorter solos in different places in the songs,and gr8 melodies.