11-14-2015, 11:38 AM
I have to be honest, I thought the exact same thing that is being written in these reviews (and then some). And reason being was when I first listened to the free streamer online a little over a week ago... I was very underwhelmed myself. So much so I haven't even gone back to listen to it which is a very big first for me as a TSO fan. But it is growing on me a bit.
Just to give myself some background, I am an actor and a filmmaker by profession, but I am also a musician and a singer. Letters From the Labyrinth feels lazy. And when I say that, knowing how Paul O'Neill works and how hard he is at perfecting everything, this album feels like something he could've whipped together in less than a year. It could've been released the year after Night Castle. Beethoven's Last Night took two years after The Christmas Attic. It had 22 incredible tracks on it. NC took five years after The Lost Christmas Eve. A monstrous 26-track 2-disc CD. Both beyond worth it. LFTL... a measly 15, which feels like less and took close to seven years!
There's nothing extensive, nothing driving about the music. It has so little energy the album could end at any minute. King Rurik and Prince Igor both felt like the same song to me and those instrumentals were the ones I was looking forward to the most. This goes for Forget About The Blame as well, in which they literally ARE the same song just with different singers. I would've rather Robin Borneman's version been an acoustic re-composition instead of just the same track. But I'm not a fan of his vocals either. He overdoes it (which is an ironic thing to say about anything involving TSO
) but I would've much rather had Nathan James or even Jeff Scott Soto do the sun version.
Though I have to admit I was very pleased with the rest of the vocal songs. Time and Distance is my favorite and Forget About the Blame (Lzzy Hale's version) is an incredible step-up and out for TSO. Usually it's the instrumentals that take the spotlight and the vocal tracks take a backseat to the attention. But a difference in LFTL is that this feels more of a showcase to the great singers rather than the band itself. None of the instrumentals, which are so popular to TSO, had anything special to light the way in between the vocals.
All in all I would give it a three out of five stars. But I know Paul O'Neill and everyone in TSO can much MUCH better. Am I disappointed, though? Not in the slightest. Still beautiful music and I hope the best is yet to come in concert.
Just to give myself some background, I am an actor and a filmmaker by profession, but I am also a musician and a singer. Letters From the Labyrinth feels lazy. And when I say that, knowing how Paul O'Neill works and how hard he is at perfecting everything, this album feels like something he could've whipped together in less than a year. It could've been released the year after Night Castle. Beethoven's Last Night took two years after The Christmas Attic. It had 22 incredible tracks on it. NC took five years after The Lost Christmas Eve. A monstrous 26-track 2-disc CD. Both beyond worth it. LFTL... a measly 15, which feels like less and took close to seven years!
There's nothing extensive, nothing driving about the music. It has so little energy the album could end at any minute. King Rurik and Prince Igor both felt like the same song to me and those instrumentals were the ones I was looking forward to the most. This goes for Forget About The Blame as well, in which they literally ARE the same song just with different singers. I would've rather Robin Borneman's version been an acoustic re-composition instead of just the same track. But I'm not a fan of his vocals either. He overdoes it (which is an ironic thing to say about anything involving TSO
) but I would've much rather had Nathan James or even Jeff Scott Soto do the sun version.Though I have to admit I was very pleased with the rest of the vocal songs. Time and Distance is my favorite and Forget About the Blame (Lzzy Hale's version) is an incredible step-up and out for TSO. Usually it's the instrumentals that take the spotlight and the vocal tracks take a backseat to the attention. But a difference in LFTL is that this feels more of a showcase to the great singers rather than the band itself. None of the instrumentals, which are so popular to TSO, had anything special to light the way in between the vocals.
All in all I would give it a three out of five stars. But I know Paul O'Neill and everyone in TSO can much MUCH better. Am I disappointed, though? Not in the slightest. Still beautiful music and I hope the best is yet to come in concert.