Labyrinth

Juno Reactor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Metropolis Records
• ASIN: B00031TXCC
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,007 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Since the release of "Shango" in 2000, Juno Reactor has been involved in many projects including the production of several tracks for "Matrix: Reloaded" and "Matrix: Revolutions", as well as a greatest hits comp, "Odyssey 1992-2002". "Labyrinth" has nine tracks, two of which are songs from the Matrix movies. It'll rule the dance floor with its trance style elements and hard hitting beats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what any fan can wish for, November 1, 2004

By 

A. Scudiero (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Labyrinth (Audio CD)

Die hard fans of Juno Reactor will not be upset with this album. It has all the elements of the classical Juno Reactor sound and musical style. Then they threw in some really fun new twists: a lot of flamenco-style guitars, orchestral and even some choral integration. The ability to keep your established sound while adding something new and interesting to the music is something so few bands can do after an album or two, Juno Reactor is to be highly commended for their acomplishment in this album.

I personally find much of the music on this disc to be some of the best modern electronic fusion with traditional styles of music since Enigma III: Le Roi est Mort, Vive le Roi. If you like that disc you'll appreciate Labyrinth as well. It has a feel similar to some of the more recent works by Delerium. On the other hand, if you like any other Juno Reactor, you'll probably still like this album.

Some of the content on this disc sounds to have been influenced by Don Davis, the composer of the score to the Matrix with whom Juno Reactor worked for the soundtracks to those films. This includes tracks other than just Mona Lisa Overdrive (which I might add is a great track). I have no complaints about that however.

Overall this is a good disc for fans of classical Juno Reactor, and a good disc to give a chance to even if you haven't like them in the past because it has so much new.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven..., June 12, 2005

By 

drefractor (Arizona) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Labyrinth (Audio CD)

I suppose if I had never heard Shango, I probably would have rated this latest effort from Juno Reactor as a 4, but Ben Watkins and company set a really high standard of complex musical synthesis that is hard to surpass.

"Conquistador" adds some nice arcosanti-sounding bells (part I) and interesting sounding backwards percussion (part II) to a laid back spanish guitar piece that echos "Pistolero," but otherwise adds nothing sonically to the superior efforts in Shango. "Mona Lisa Overdrive" is nowhere near as compelling a composition as "Masters of the Universe"... And so on...; I'm not adverse to recycling musical thematic ideas if the resulting songs are at least as good as the originals, but many of the tracks on Labyrinth fall short.

There were a few departures worth mentioning; "Giant" attempts to add rock drums to a generally uninspired composition and fails badly; "War Dogs" fares considerably better by using rock drumming to augment JR's usual polyrhythm mayhem.

"Zwara" was much more along the lines of what I hoped for in Labyrinth; drawing in ever more stylistic elements into a great groove -- all kinds of fun. "Navras" and the tense almost creepy ebb-and-flow buildup of "Mutant Message" were also very good extensions of the JR sonic universe...

So with about 50% of Labyrinth breaking new ground or at least tilling the soil well, I cast my vote with the reviewers that gave this outing a 3.5. The better moments here are exceptional and are well worth the purchase.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A step forward...but not JR's best, January 7, 2005

By 

Rotorblade (LA / CA / USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Labyrinth (Audio CD)

Having been a fan of JR since Transmissions, I've witnessed their sound evolove album after album. In context of all their albums, this is tied for second with Beyond the Infinite. My personal favorite is Bible of Dreams. Anyway, after hearing Hotaka awhile ago, I had a pretty good picture of what to expect from this album...a mix between Hotaka and Shango (which I'm not much of a fan of) with a dash of the stuff from the Matrix series thrown in. Onto the track by track breakdown:

Conquistador I - 8/10 - A nice intro with great Spanish guitar style a la Pistolero, but not nearly as jazzed up. Chimes and female vocals also add to the track well.

Conquistador II - 3/10 - Starts out strong with a pretty good beat, but in comes that tribal voice (or whatever you want to call it) that I hated in Shango. Ruined the song for me.

Giant - 5/10 - Very chaotic sound which I'm mostly indifferent to. Feels like JR just threw everything together in this song.

Wardogs - 10/10 - My personal favorite on the album with a great style to it including a fantastic mix of guitar and other stringed instrument sounds and great vocal samples.

Mona Lisa Overdrive - 9/10 - Rehash of one of their songs from the Matrix Trilogy. Reminds me more of their older style than their newer stuff. Good addition to the album.

Zwara - 9/10 - Another hard hitting song which brings back the taiko drumming machine of Gocoo for a good solid song. I found the woman repeating Zwara annoying after awhile however.

Mutant Message - 8/10 - Starts like a slower song, but alternates between calming and exhilarating. Well done.

Angels and Men - 7/10 - A beautiful and peaceful song. Well crafted and quite enchanting, but not my cup of tea.

Navras - 9/10 - The second of Matrix songs. This is one knock your socks off hit of epic proportions. I found it quite enjoyable in its over the top style.

Overall, this is yet another solid album from JR, but it just doesn't have the same listening effect as their previous albums, particularly Bible of Dreams. Labyrinth is an album that shouldn't be passed up, but if you're just starting in on JR, then think about getting Bible of Dreams first to set the mood.

=)