Kev Rowland In the spring of 2016, the band's founding members, Andrea Cantarelli and Olaf Thorsen received a call from Frontiers asking them to discuss with vocalist Roberto Tiranti the possibilities of a reunion, some six years after their last album. After much discussion, the guys agreed, and a new version of the band was brought together with the addition of drummer extraordinaire John Macaluso (TNT, Riot, Ark etc.), Oleg Smirnoff (Vision Divine, Eldritch) on keyboards, and Nik Mazzucconi (Aleph, Edge of Forever) on bass. Many people still feel that their finest album was released as long ago as 1998, with ‘Return To Heaven Denied’, but that is only one of seven studio albums released by the band prior to this one. I haven’t heard it, but it is going to have to be something very special indeed to beat this.

What we have here is power metal which is in a very similar vein to Stratovarius, played at great speed with guitars and keyboards both shredding when they need to. Andrea and Olaf have been playing together since 1994, and this really comes through in the way that they harmonise and combined their runs in perfect harmony. But, they do know when to take a step back, as on “A New Dream”, where they use a quite different style to break things up. Roberto is also an amazing vocalist, who sings in a melodic manner for most of the album but also knows when to really life it by hitting even higher notes. In some ways this album is quite dated, but in others it is very much for today. If you enjoy melodic hard rock played by guys who really know what they are doing, then look no further.

Warthur The first album in Labyrinth's Return to Heaven Denied series is a solid slice of no-nonsense power metal, with cheese strictly rationed, tight compositions, and competent performances from all the participants. I don't hear anything on it which bowls me over with its originality, but I can enjoy the album from start to finish without finding it trite or irritating in sections, and when you find power metal as hit-or-miss as I do that's an achievement in itself. (In particular, it's nice to see in Andrew McPauls a power metal keyboardist who is able to take a somewhat subtle and original approach to the music rather than laying on the orchestral effects and bombast thick.) Not vital, not awful, but straight in the middle of the road.

Stephen Labyrinth's third album, "Return To Heaven Denied", marked the first and also last appearance of singer Rob Tyrant, after replacing Joe Terry (also known as Fabio Lione) when he decided to join Rhapsody of Fire. Tyrant has an exceptional range and he wandered easily at the high register area, providing a remarkable vocal fill throughout the fast-paced songs, embalmed with a stunning technical play of the duo Thorsen/Rain. Their musical style is a mix between a well-executed power metal with a trace of neoclassical element and a low-complexity progressive touch, a very interesting combination.

My fave tracks of the album are : "Moonlight", a powerful track with a dynamic tempo and a breathtaking chorus; "Lady Lost In Time" with its commercial and dreamy chorus; "State of Grace" with a dominating keyboard packed with Iron Maiden-ish riffage; "Thunder", an aggressive rhythm section with thunderous solos. This track is their best here and surely will be highly appraised by any power metal fans; and the closer, "Die For Freedom", a great prog/power tune with a huge chorus. I can't find any filler here, to be honest, every track is just great and different. Take an example of "Feel", a trance-style keyboard kick in accompanied by a reverbed distorted guitar, you will feel like you're in a discotheque watching a blasting instrumental metal act or "Falling Rain", a passionate ballad that's slightly reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson's "Tears of A Dragon".

"Return To Heaven Denied" is certainly an applauding effort by the Italian six-men band, a compelling record for those who loves the furious style of Judas Priest, the melodic speed of early Helloween, the classical passage of Yngwie Malmsteen, and perhaps a bite of Dream Theater's progressive touch. This is a complete package, a diverse and non-ordinary power metal offering, a brilliant album!

1967/ 1976 With this album Italian Heavy Metal is finally considered in other countries. Finally! Besides the musicians are all of the teachers in the respective instruments. Then I had the luck of to know Olaf Thoersen during and after a free Vision Divine concert in Moraro (Gorizia): great man and guitarplayer. Well... This is one of the first 5 Speed Power Metal album of the story. All the drums are played by Frank Andiver, another great drummer (also with the Speed Prog Metaller Shadows Of Steel in that years) but the drums is only an addiction in this album because recorded in Zenith Studios in Lucca and the album was recorded in famous (for Metal) New Sin Studios in Loria (Treviso) that with this album (and others: Domine, Elvenking for examples) did the bang. Well, and the music? Great music. Because Rob Tyrant play with the voice in enormous manner, Olaf Toersen play the guitar in great manner (like usual for Olaf), Anders Rain is good, Chris Breeze is more than a bassplayer (see his work with Shadows Of Steel, music based in continuous soli... But in this work is simply great), Andrew McPauls plays the keyboards in great manner (even if here they have a marginal role, not like in Shadows Of Steel works where Andrews soli and rhythmic contributions... are simply torrid!!!) and the drummer is torrid (I speak of Frank... That for Andrea "Tower" Torricini, that work with Frank in Shadows Of Steel albums, is one of the 5 all time drummers). So the music is a great Dolomitic wall... Well a wall to climb... A northern K2 wall... The speed is like a TGV speed... The sensations are like a simply sex session... The listening is very gratifying. But in this album I've preferred songs that I love from 1998. These songs are: "Moonlight" (my second Labyrinth hymn and a great Speed Metal song), "Lady Lost In Time" (emotional song), "Heaven Denied" (the more melodic song in this album, a sort of Power Metal first Asia version), and "Die For Freedom" (the song that I love in this album, pratically my preferred Power Metal song!!!).

The style of this album is Speed Power Metal with Prog attitude ans, so, "Return To Heaven Denied" is a perfect album. Finally I bought the CD (that replaced a copy MC), and I'm proud to be decided to do myself it. Because "Return To Heaven Denied" is simply the start of New Wave Of Italian Heavy Metal!!!