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
Weekly charts Chart (2015) Peak position
Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position US Billboard 200 196 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 17
References
External links Official Site Latin Mentor for Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Dr. Clement Kuehn