Letters from the Labyrinth

Letters from the Labyrinth
Letters from the Labyrinth
Studio album by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Released	November 13, 2015
Genre	Symphonic metal; progressive metal; neoclassical metal;
Length	52:08
Label	Republic Records
Producer	Paul O'Neill; Dave Wittman;
Trans-Siberian Orchestra chronology

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.^[1] 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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
CCM Magazine	^[2]
Omaha World-Herald	^[3]
Grande Rock	^[4]

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."^[2] 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."^[3] 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

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Time and Distance (The Dash)"	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva		3:44
2.	"Madness of Men" (instrumental)	Ludwig van Beethoven, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva		4:10
3.	"Prometheus"	Ludwig van Beethoven, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva	Jeff Scott Soto	3:39
4.	"Mountain Labyrinth" (instrumental)	Modest Mussorgsky, Paul O'Neill		3:15
5.	"King Rurik" (instrumental)	Paul O'Neill, Vitalij Kuprij		3:11
6.	"Prince Igor" (instrumental)	Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Alexander Glazunov, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva		3:04
7.	"The Night Conceives"	Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva	Kayla Reeves	3:38
8.	"Forget About the Blame (Sun Version)" (Johnny Green remake)	Johnny Green	Robin Borneman	4:15
9.	"Not Dead Yet"	Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva	Russell Allen	3:28
10.	"Past Tomorrow"	Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva	Jennifer Cella	3:20
11.	"Stay" (Savatage remake)	Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva	Adrienne Warren	2:57
12.	"Not the Same"	Paul O'Neill, Ireland O'Neill	Kayla Reeves	3:41
13.	"Who I Am"	Paul O'Neill		2:49
14.	"Lullaby Night" (instrumental)	Johann Sebastian Bach, Paul O'Neill		2:44
15.	"Forget About the Blame" (Moon Version)" (Johnny Green remake)	Johnny Green	Lzzy Hale	4:16
16.	"A Mad Russian's Christmas (Live)" (Amazon Bonus Track)	Paul O'Neill		3:58
Total length:				56:20

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