• Source: Letters from the Labyrinth

Letters from the Labyrinth is the sixth studio album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on November 13, 2015. The album is a collection of songs and stories. The stories being a nod to their previous full album Night Castle, using the stories written by the protagonist. The album reached #7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. This album was the last for TSO members Paul O'Neill, David Zablidowsky, and Vitalij Kuprij before their deaths. O’Neill and Zablidowsky died in 2017, and Kuprij died in 2024.




Critical reception



Awarding the album four stars at CCM Magazine, Matt Conner states, "Indeed, it’s a tall order to educate, enlighten and entertain all at the same time, but TSO effortlessly passes the test, and in the process, turns in one of its most ambitious and gratifying works to date." Kevin Coffey, giving the album two stars out of four from Omaha World-Herald, writes, "It’s amazing and technical playing that’s sure to impress any fan of precise progressive rock. But it’s also a little tedious. All those ever-present solos and precise melodies kind of blend together song after song. And I question why studio recordings would have so many synthesizers replicating strings and grand pianos when surely, with this band as successful as it is, they could have used real musicians. According to the liner notes, they did, but it’s hard to pick out the real players from the synthesized sections. The best performance on the record comes from Halestorm lead singer Lzzy Hale, who sings on a version of “Forget About the Blame.” Unfortunately, her talents are wasted on an extremely repetitive metal ballad. Your enjoyment of this album will probably depend on your overall enjoyment of the band in general...If you dig their rock opera style and hair metal music, you’ll be into this...But don’t buy this looking for another Christmas favorite." Rockavlon awarded the album 4.5 stars out of 10 from Grande-Rock.com, writes, "A half-baked attempt at music theater by stitching together a lot of classical pieces and writing some rather uneventful in between parts to create a semblance of a plot… I’d rather listen to the original classics."




Track listing






Personnel


Paul O'Neill - producer
Dave Wittman - co-producer, recording & mix engineer
BJ Ramone - assistant engineer
Jon Tucker - additional assistant engineer
A&R - Jason Flom, Ryan Silva




= Performers

=



Band

Paul O'Neill - guitars
Jon Oliva - keyboards, guitars, bass
Al Pitrelli - lead/rhythm guitars
Luci Butler - keyboards
Chris Caffery - guitars
Roddy Chong - violin
Angus Clark - guitars
Mee Eun Kim - keyboards
Vitalij Kuprij - keyboards
Jane Mangini - keyboards
Derek Weiland - keyboards
Asha Mevlana - violin
Johnny Lee Middleton - bass
John O. Reilly - drums
Jeff Plate - drums
David Zablidowsky - bass
Dave Wittman - additional guitar, bass, drums



Background vocals

"Forget About the Blame" - Lucille Jacobs, Minnie W. Leonard, Keith Jacobs
"Who I Am" - Danielle Sample, Erika Jerry, Chloe Lowery, Dari Mahnic, Bart Shatto, Andrew Ross, John Brink, Natalya Piette, Jodi Katz, James Lewis, Georgia Napolitano, Tim Hockenberry
"Time and Distance (The Dash)" - Danielle Sample, Chloe Lowery, Ava Davis, Kayla Reeves, Adrienne Warren, Andrew Ross, Chris Pinnella, Rob Evan, Parker Sipes, Phillip Brandon, Dustin Brayley, April Berry, Autumn Guzzardi



Strings

Roddy Chong
Asha Mevlana
Lowell Adams
Nancy Chang
Lei Liu



Horns

Jon Tucker (leader)
Kenneth Brantley
Jay Coble
Ashby Wilkins




Charts






References






External links


Official Site
Latin Mentor for Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Dr. Clement Kuehn

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Jack the Ripper
• National Board of Review Awards 2006
• National Society of Film Critics Awards 2006
• GFriend
• Theodor Herzl
• Academy Awards ke-79
• Walter Veith
• Deklarasi Balfour
• Gottfried Leibniz
• Academy Award untuk Skenario Asli Terbaik
• Letters from the Labyrinth
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra
• Vitalij Kuprij
• Steve Broderick
• Russell Allen
• Paul O'Neill (producer)
• Streets: A Rock Opera
• Chris Caffery
• Al Pitrelli
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra discography