Reviews - Labyrinth

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2004 October:

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Labyrinth

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Palookaville

DocSavage's Profile - Reviews

Album:

Labyrinth

Artist:

Juno Reactor

Format:

Posted On:

2004-10-05 00:00:00

Posted By:

» DocSavage

I've always had a soft spot for Juno Reactor - they release such amazing singles and then I check out their albums and find them to not live up to the initial servings I've heard.

In this case, I stumbled by accident onto a japaneese pre-release of their new album and have listened to it from beginning to end. And I have nothing more to say than I am amazed.

In the past I've found the production values on Juno Reactor albums to not live up to the scope they're trying to acheive. For example, they'll often have massive orchestral or tribal arrangements that just end up being muddied in the middle of an electronic mess. I don't know if it's a result of new studio equipment bought on Matrix liscence money or what, but while the production still isn't as crisp as it could be, everything gets pulled off excellently.

This album is simply relentless, it gives you 5 minutes of calm buildup with it's first track before kicking into overdrive with Conquistadors Part 2. Then it shifts and hits a very tribal jungle stride with Giant. After is a cool theatric track called War Dogs, and then on to a tribal psy track called Mona Lisa Overdrive that I feel is everything Shango tried to be but didn't quite acheive.

That is basically the feel of this entire album - there are tracks here that are reminiscent of many of my favorite juno reactor tracks from the early days up until the last album. But this time they are executed flawlessly, and the whole album leaves me with my jaw on the floor, amazed and impressed. This is the Juno Reactor album I've been waiting for my entire life. Go get this NOW.

Tracks:

. NR. TRACK TIME .
. .
. 01 Conquistador part 1 06:03 .
. 02 Conquistador part 2 05:06 .
. 03 Giant 04:00 .
. 04 War Dogs 05:00 .
. 05 Mona Lisa Overdrive v2 04:45 .
. 06 Zwara 06:35 .
. 07 Mutant message 06:10 .
. 08 Angels and Men 07:07 .
. 09 Navras 09:06 .
.

DocSavage's Profile - Reviews

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Member Comments

» Alch3mia said @ Thu Apr 21, 2005 @ 1:49pm

I was already a fan of Juno With Shango and even before With this album it is an upgrade. We feel, like said DocSavage, that the equipment and maybe the "Cinematogarphic Thinking way" make a difference. Like in Conquistador, i realy see a movie with that. Both side of the conquest, the beauty of flamenco-bohemian mix with the violent act of the conquistador. All of this with the landscape of south america and human sacrifice. They ares approaching Hanz Zimmer in way of composing their song. I like it.

» clown said @ Tue Nov 2, 2004 @ 8:16pm

im not a fan of Juno reactor's music n'either.. good sound quality or not..

» exT said @ Tue Oct 12, 2004 @ 1:40pm

yaeh, transmissions and beyond the infinite are brilliant albums.. some of the first electronic albums i ever owned..

» xbsd said @ Thu Oct 7, 2004 @ 1:43pm

i loved this album!

» mtl_mtl said @ Wed Oct 6, 2004 @ 12:44pm

Doc Savage needs to stop listening to japanese imports and start supporting the local economy.

» DocSavage said @ Wed Oct 6, 2004 @ 1:44am

That's the great thing about opinions, we can have different ones. To me, I've never found that the albums have lived up to the singles, ie there are a few good tracks on each album but overall the cds have not overly impressed me. This album is an overall excellent piece of work that's going to stay in my rotation of music for a very long time.

» nothingnopenope said @ Tue Oct 5, 2004 @ 7:52pm

Sorry but Juno has released good albums in the past... Bible of dreams is an excellent album. Shango I wasn't such a big fan of. Sound quality is very nice on both of those though, so I don't really know what you are talking about...