These are excellent times for those who enjoy Italian-styled progressive power metal of the highest order. Labÿrinth’s new album ‘In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye’ comes hot on the heels of the new album by guitarist Olaf Thörsen‘s other band Vision Divine, which was released in September. And it is just about as good. To be fair, Labÿrinth has consistently been releasing great albums since reuniting with Thörsen about a decade and a half ago. ‘In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye’, however, is a bit more intense and riff-heavy than usual, making it an above average release for the Italian sextet.

Stylistically, ‘In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye’ is a typical Labÿrinth album. The tempos are generally quite high, but somehow the band manages to create the illusion that their compositions aren’t as dense as they are by putting great focus on big melodic themes and leaving ample space for Roberto Tiranti’s unique vocals even over the busiest riffs and rhythms. Speaking of Tiranti, very few of his peers have stood the test of time as well as he did. Sonically, the band focuses on the bottom-end slightly more than usual, though the clean and acoustic guitars still sound as bright and dreamy as ever.

Whoever picked the first two singles from the album did a great job, as they give a fairly good impression of the stylistic range of the album. Opening track ‘Welcome Twilight’ contains some of the most aggressive moments of the album – rivaled only by the similarly dynamic ‘Heading for Nowhere’ – but also a number of memorable melodies. Both extremes enhance each other’s impact. ‘Out of Place’, on the other hand, is the type of semi-ballad that Labÿrinth excels at. I hesitate to call it a power ballad, because the structure is infinitely more interesting – and less predictable – than that of the average power ballad.

Both ends of the spectrum are represented by a number of excellent tracks. ‘The Healing’ is a beautiful atmospheric rock song on which Oleg Smirnoff once again proves that he is one of the most creative keyboard players in metal. ‘At the Rainbow’s End’ is supreme melodic power metal, while ‘Mass Distraction’ is a spacious rocker with some really interesting chord work. ‘Accept the Changes’ is Labÿrinth power/prog at its finest, while closing track ‘Inhuman Race’ is the album’s most progressive song, with its lengthy, unpredictable instrumental overture and its many changes. Its chorus, with basically the whole band harmonizing, is simply incredible.

Labÿrinth has been on a roll lately. Their last two albums were both excellent, and so is ‘In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye’. Albums like these are the result of having virtuosic musicians with nothing to prove anymore, all playing in service of excellent songwriting. Thörsen and Andrea Cantarelli don’t try to push each other’s guitars off the record, and they actually sound best playing in unison or in harmony. Melodic metal doesn’t get much better than this, and if that is what you are after, ‘In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye’ is a must-have. I might prefer ‘Architecture of a God’ over it, but only just.

Recommended tracks: ‘Inhuman Race’, ‘The Healing’, ‘Welcome Twilight’