{"id":54669,"date":"2017-06-02T07:34:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T12:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=54669"},"modified":"2017-06-05T21:40:47","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T02:40:47","slug":"labyrinth-architecture-of-a-god-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/labyrinth-architecture-of-a-god-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Labyrinth | Architecture of a God"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Impossible to play at normal volumes, after a seven-year absence, Italy\u2019s Labyrinth returns with this, their eighth studio release, Architecture of a God<\/em>, released on the excellent Frontiers Records label. Completely melodic, with fantastic vocals, and layers of guitar and keyboard work that is truly out of this world, fans of Seventh Wonder, Cloudscape, Anubis Gate, Circus Maximus, Vanishing Point or Sun Caged are going to love this. Joining founding members\/guitarists Olaf Thorsen and Andrea Cantarelli, and vocalist Roberto \u201cRob Tyrant\u201d Tiranti (A Perfect Day, Wild Steel, Odyssea,) are new band members, drummer extraordinaire John Macaluso (TNT, Riot, Ark, Starbreaker), keyboardist Oleg Smirnoff (Vision Divine, Eldritch), and bassist Nik Mazzucconi (Edge Of Forever)<\/p>\n

By way of comparison to Labyrinth\u2019s 2010 release, Return To Heaven Denied, Part 2<\/em> that was released on the Marquee\/Zoom label, the biggest difference between \u2026Heaven Denied<\/em>, and \u2026God<\/em> is the overall sound and mix. While Return To Heaven Denied, Part 2<\/em> did feature some great songs, (\u201cThe Sailors of Time,\u201d \u201cThe Morning\u2019s Call,\u201d \u201cIn This Void,\u201d) the sound of CD was in parts muddy and not as crisp as one would have liked. However, on Architecture of a God<\/em>, the switch to the Frontiers label was a great choice for the telltale clear, full, engaging and gorgeous sound that Frontiers is so precise at bringing forth is one of the many reasons \u2026God sounds so stunning. It has to be said that Frontiers Records is truly one of the world\u2019s best in bringing out the best sounds from the bands on their roster. <\/p>\n

While two songs do present with galloping, fast riffs (\u201cTake On My Legacy,\u201d and \u201cStardust and Ashes,\u201d) Labyrinth\u2019s latest has been given by some the moniker Progressive Power Metal, which doesn\u2019t really match what is heard. Yes, in a time or two the Progressive can be felt, but the \u201cPower\u201d part doesn\u2019t really fit. A better description would be to call this Melodic Metal with hints of the Progressive and even Melodic Hard Rock. <\/p>\n

The Architecture of a God<\/em> opens with \u201cBullets\u201d that features a mid track guitar and keyboard solo that simply shines. The give and take between the guitar and keyboard are absolutely phenomenal. \u201cBullets\u201d is without question this CD\u2019s highlight, and to do this song justice and invest in some real decent headphones so every nuance, riff, and the musical arrangement of this outstanding song can be appreciated. From there pay attention to the bass guitar of \u201cStill Alive,\u201d the mid-tempo Melodic Metal of \u201cSomeone Says,\u201d and the technical, precise arrangement of the title track, (which is really reminiscent of the excellent band Seventh Wonder.) The gentle \u201cA New Dream,\u201d the cosmic-ish, progressive instrumental \u201cChildren,\u201d the lush \u201cThose Days,\u201d the shifting from fast to slow tempo of \u201cWe Belong To Yesterday,\u201d and the piano of the closing track \u201cDiamonds,\u201d were all well played and worth a definite listen. <\/p>\n

Again, give heed to the guitar and keyboard work, for it was exhilarating. Overall this was a great CD. The musicianship was excellent; the harmonic vocals fantastic, the way the songs came toward the listener was incredible. Nothing forced, nothing demanding to be heard, but instead, the songs came together nicely with each instrument doing what it is that they were supposed to do \u2013 add an emotion, a riff, or a solo. This was an inspiring showing of great talent that deserves to be heard on the radio but of course won\u2019t be, for time and again American radio proves how useless they are in helping support bands like Labyrinth (and so many others.) Truly well done is Labyrinth\u2019s Architecture of a God<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Metal<\/p>\n

Band Members:
\nOlaf Thorsen \u2013 guitars
\nAndrea Cantarelli \u2013 guitars
\nRoberto \u201cRob Tyrant\u201d Tiranti \u2013 vocals
\nJohn Maculuso \u2013 drums
\nNik Mazzucconi \u2013 bass
\nOleg Smirnoff \u2013 keyboards<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Bullets
\n2. Still Alive
\n3. Take On My Legacy
\n4. A New Dream
\n5. Someone Says
\n6. Random Logic
\n7. Architecture of a God
\n8. Children
\n9. Those Days
\n10. We Belong To Yesterday
\n11. Stardust and Ashes
\n12.Diamond <\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Band Website: www.labyrinthmusic.it<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 8.5 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari – Senior Columnist — Impossible to play at normal volumes, after a seven-year absence, Italy\u2019s Labyrinth returns with this, their eighth studio release, Architecture of a God, released on the excellent Frontiers […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":54672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[13338,374,13337,3439,12354],"class_list":{"0":"post-54669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-architecture-of-a-god","9":"tag-frontiers-records","10":"tag-labyrinth","11":"tag-melodic-metal","12":"tag-music-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}