Labyrinth

also shaken and stirred the Bulgarian way, I mean, by this obscure bunch from the beautiful provincial town of Pleven who also had ties to another metal outfit, the retro thrashers (at the time) Absolute. I completely missed out on this marvel here back in the 90’s, but thanks to the Internet, globalization and other benevolent new millennium’s phenomena the fans, including me, are swiftly catching up with worthy music instalments from all corners of the world.

Strange provided that I had a girlfriend from Pleven, a devoted goth she was back in those days, and had visited the city a number of times; never tasted the cider over there, but did swallow a couple of pints from the local beer which, strange again, wasn’t that freely offered elsewhere around the country.

Never delved into the labyrinths over there, either, but if there ever was one I should have chosen to explore back then, it should have been the one reviewed here. So our friends, among whom one would easily notice a beautiful lass, the keyboardist, have chosen the classic progressive/technical power/thrash path for their lofty exploits, their approach quite comparable to the one of the representatives of the Swedish wave (Hexenhaus (later Memento Mori), Pathos, Abstrakt Algebra, Fifth Reason) that was still relevant at the time when the album here came out. In fact, the delivery comes as a potent blend between Hexenhaus’ last two (“Awakening” and “Dejavoodoo”) with more twisted, more entangled riff-patterns circling around those recalling Psychotic Waltz and Deathrow and, respectively, the collaboration between these two End Amen.

Expect no speedy skirmishes here, the sole exception being the brisk shredder “Dying World”, as the focus is clearly on the weaving of entangled, patiently-woven, labyrinthine indeed configurations the mid-paced steam-rolling seismicity of "Room of Dreams" carved by spasmodic (read mid-tempo at best) thrashy outbursts those missing from the 10-min saga "Metamorphoses of Emptiness" which clings more towards the doomy canons, and would have fitted into any of the first four Candlemass efforts. Thrash takes the upper hand on the dynamic "Realised Insanity" where the guitars form a spell-binding symbiosis with the haunting keyboards the latter retained for another gigantic composition, "Edge of Absurd", a contrived thrilling ride with stylish intricate riffs galore recalling Hexenhaus’ monumental “Necronomicon ex Mortis” from “Awakening”. Another 10-minuter, “Faith”, is pulled out handsomely at the end, a diverse mazey rifforama with several fast-paced walkabouts inserted as well, fighting their way through the very dense Deathrow-esque technicality and the breath-taking balladic/semi-balladic respites.

There will be quite a few challenges for the listener on this over-an-our long odyssey, some steelclad and sharp, others meditative and dreamy both sides co-existing on every track save for the mentioned "Dying World", the guys (and a girl) doing their best to not lose themselves on the longer numbers where a lot of things happen, the charmingly convoluted at times plot readily swallowing all the twists and turns, the engaging musical setting greatly helped by the excellent clean emotional vocals those quite reminiscent of Thomas Lyon, the last Hexenhaus singer (both of the mentioned albums). Surprising maturity is exhibited from the very beginning, and although the band’s enthusiasm in showing everything from their arsenal sometimes wins over the compositional discipline, one would find it hard to come up with a better example of a cleverly constructed technical/progressive power/thrash opus from the Balkans from the 90’s.

Did the band throw everything they could and knew into the furnace on this stint? Seems that way provided that they split up shortly after this album’s release although some of the band members, including the vocalist Atanas Kostadinov, are alive and well in the new millennium with the progressive power metal outfit Fat White Chiefs, another very good band modelled after the early Crimson Glory and Fates Warning exploits. Siding with the better once again? Totally, although it wouldn’t hurt if a few pints of this characteristic twisted cider get swallowed… sorry, added to the recording sessions on future instalments.