LABYRINTH

Odd that this is my first review for ProgArchives. I always thought that I would pick a more well- known album, or a band of which I'm quite fond of. But neither is the case here. I decided to write this review when I was culling my prog rock playlist. This album is a free download from the artist's website, so trying it was definitely a no-brainer. This recording has 3 long "epic" songs; the longest of which is over 30 minutes! So I was quite looking forward to it. Unfortunately, as is the case too often with modern "epics", they are mostly a stream of disjointed musical thoughts, stitched together in the studio. The album is quite formulaic, using simple two-or three chord progressions in a somewhat ambient format, with overlays of other instrumentation. The first song, Labyrinth, is the longest, but also the least interesting piece. It flows from musical idea to musical idea, without much direction. None of the ideas really catch my interest. The drums (particularly the cymbals) are overpowering and do not add the desired energy to the track. There are some nice vocal interludes here, but if I am going to spend 30 minutes of my life on a song it needs to be a lot more interesting than this. I have removed it from my playlist. The second song, Mosaic, begins as a very Floyd-ian piece. A simple chord progression sets the mood, but the solos are much more riveting. This is for me, the highlight of the album. Unfortunately, after about 5 or 6 very interesting minutes, the song changes direction. It ends up being a corned beef hash of three differing musical ideas. It would have been much better broken into three different songs. I have kept this song in my playlist. The last song is the most proggish on the album. Again, it is a mish-mash of musical directions, but they are more interesting than on the first track. I quite like the ending. I have kept this song in my playlist (for now). Overall, not a bad album, but doubtfully one you will not want to spend a lot of time with. 2.29 stars, rounded down to 2.