Timeless Crime

“Timeless Crime” is an EP that underscores the tidal wave of interest that had swirled around Labyrinth after the success and high amounts of critical acclaim directed at “Return to Heaven Denied”. A chord had definitely been struck for the band for this rather ambitious little EP is packed with some very ambitious and entertaining feats of musicality. It functions more as a continuation of the same winning formula that was present on “Return to Heaven Denied”, though the first track would almost lead one to believe it was a single for the next album, which did not come for another 2 years.

“Save Me” is one of the best tracks to appear on the follow up LP “Sons of Thunder”, combining the dream-like quality of Andrea de Paoli’s piano playing with the high speed glory of the guitarists and drummer. It’s true charm is that it falls closer to the Heaven Denied model due to it being written so soon after the release of that album, and bits and pieces of “Thunder”, “Moonlight” and “Lady Lost in Time” can be found in it.

“In the Shade” is a track that first appeared on the first Labyrinth LP “No Limits” with Fabio Lione doing the vocals, while “Out of Memory” had been resurrected from their self-produced demo Midnight Resistance. While the technical differences between the original recordings and these remakes are few, the production is far more together, and Rob Tyrant’s voice fits the Power/Prog model that Labyrinth has quite a bit better.

The acoustic version of “Falling Rain” is charming and highly atmospheric, although the chorus is slightly less triumphant sounding. It’s been elaborated upon and drawn out in length a little bit, but its overall flow is still as smooth as it was on the previous LP. The Sanctuary cover is mostly faithful to the original, save some extra technical detailing and some slight variations in the arrangement, nothing that would warrant condemnation for tainting an already amazing song.

All in all, this EP will make a nice addition to the collection of any fan of Labyrinth, particularly those curious as to how the older material would sound with Rob Tyrant throwing his Ray Adler like approach to vocals into the mix. Fans of Power Metal acts with a large amount of keyboard presence such as Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish and company are also encouraged to check this one out.

Granted that theres only 4 (5 counting the hidden bonus track) songs on here, this is still a solid piece of metal. Starting out with the opening soothing piano of Save Me, which quickly picks up as the listener is soon taken into a dazzling display of speed and power. Its such a powerful song!! Out of Memory is another great song with a big display of technicallity. In the Shade is an outstanding song (which like Out of Memory is a re-recorded version of the song from Labyrinth's earlier days but I haven't heard the original version of either so I can't comment on that) with some catchy lines throughout. Falling Rain is in my opinion Labyrinth's all out BEST song, and is also one the most relaxing and beautiful songs I've ever heard. This version is even better than the original version on Return to Heaven Denied. The hidden bonus track is a cover of Sanctuary's "Die For My Sins". The cover is surprisingly dead on while also having the trademark Labyrinth sound infused into it. Its also amazing how Rob Tyrant sings the song in the same high pitched fashion that the song was orignally sung in. Thats a feat considering how high Warrell Dane sang back then : )
At any rate this is an album thats worth getting despite being so short. But however, Falling Rain is worth the price alone!! This is some of Labyrinth's best songs here, with a top notch production..and if it were a longer album..well that would make it Labyrinth's best album, and necessitate an even higher rating...