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LABYRINTH
Inside / Outside (2022)

The band’s moniker and 80s design may not be original but there’s some thrashing fun to be had with this debut three-song demo release from Houston, Texas-based quartet Labyrinth. These guys formed less than a year ago and are hoping to make waves on the scene.

After a two-minute acoustic instrumental introduction (‘Daedalus’), the combo shifts into gear with some electrical manoeuvring where the percussion of Hayden Masters is immediately evident. The rest of the band hint at what’s to come before ‘Insanity… Normal State’ comes spiralling at you like a steely tornado.

Fans of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal will lap up this choppy exercise as Tommy Crawford’s bass judders and the double axe work of Angel Yong and Jorge Montaño combines to make a furious composition.

It’s solid 80s throwback thrash with the maniacal aggression of Vio-Lence, flashes of Forbidden, and even Mordred at times in the groovier aspects, but the band also provide streaks of complexity too. The track refuses to rest on its laurels, shifting between patterns to exude a Toxik-style of technicality alongside a Heathen vim.

This is refreshing stuff even though familiar, but Labyrinth clearly knows how to write an artery-severing slab of chunky meat as solos burst from the wiry framework like parasitic worms coursing through the veins.

While remaining fast and furious ‘Insanity… Normal State’ is accessible and vigorous, and running for over six-minutes there’s much to savour. And this is mirrored in duration by ‘The Fight’, which again is built on that foundation of Crawford’s bass.

The track begins in fine Megadeth fashion, harkening back to the technical prowess of their classic 1990 Rust In Peace opus. But again the band brings waves of pace as tidal waves of percussion rattle with hostility and riffs chug and flail wildly in tandem with those rampant vocal sneers which brim with attitude and snarl.

This really is impressive stuff as Labyrinth combs the 80s for influence but throws it all into a cauldron and stirs nicely; the outcome being an aggressive yet accomplished brace of tunes with dollops of crunch, sporadic twists of melody and sprigs of technicality and speed.

If this had been released in 1986 we’d all be raving about it. But even all these years later it’s great to hear a band doing thrash metal right, so keep an eye on these Texan terrors because I have a good feelings about a full-length outing.

For those of you interested, the Inside / Outside demo is available here.

Neil Arnold

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