Cries from the Quiet World: Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) "Letters From The Labyrinth"

miércoles, 20 de mayo de 2020

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) "Letters From The Labyrinth"

Letters From the Labyrinth is the sixth album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on November 13, 2015. Unlike TSO's previous five albums, Letters from the Labyrinth is not a rock opera, but rather a collection of songs on various subjects including bullying, banking, and the Berlin Wall. The album reached #7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. This album was the last for TSO members Paul O'Neill and David Z before their deaths in April and July 2017, respectively.

Awarding the album four stars at CCM Magazine, Matt Conner states, "Indeed, it’s a tall order to educate, enlighten and entertain all at the same time, but TSO effortlessly passes the test, and in the process, turns in one of its most ambitious and gratifying works to date." Kevin Coffey, giving the album two stars out of four from Omaha World-Herald, writes, "It’s amazing and technical playing that’s sure to impress any fan of precise progressive rock. But it’s also a little tedious. All those ever-present solos and precise melodies kind of blend together song after song. And I question why studio recordings would have so many synthesizers replicating strings and grand pianos when surely, with this band as successful as it is, they could have used real musicians. According to the liner notes, they did, but it’s hard to pick out the real players from the synthesized sections. The best performance on the record comes from Halestorm lead singer Lzzy Hale, who sings on a version of “Forget About the Blame.” Unfortunately, her talents are wasted on an extremely repetitive metal ballad. Your enjoyment of this album will probably depend on your overall enjoyment of the band in general...If you dig their rock opera style and hair metal music, you’ll be into this...But don’t buy this looking for another Christmas favorite." Rockavlon awarded the album 4.5 stars out of 10 from Grande-Rock.com, writes, "A half-baked attempt at music theater by stitching together a lot of classical pieces and writing some rather uneventful in between parts to create a semblance of a plot… I’d rather listen to the original classics."

Track listing