Juno Reactor – Labyrinth

Its been four years since the last full Juno Reactor album and finally fans can rejoice that the wait is over. Its no real secret that one of the reasons for the delay of this album was that Juno master mind, Ben Watkins, had been pulled away from work on this album to do some significant work on the music for the last two Matrix movies. The influences of working on these films definitely shows through on the album as this album is more spacious and epic than anything previous. This album also has probably uses the most amount of real instruments, orchestra elements and various vocals to date. However fans of Juno's brand of tribal, electronic music should not worry, as this album is drenched in tribal percussion and there isn't a full on bassline or minimal track to be found. In fact, if you loved Bible Of Dreams you are in luck as this album reminds me of that album , except extremely beefed up.

So how does it sound? I was personally worried since the last three Juno Reactor albums have been most excellent, that there was simply no way the next album to compare. I went in with low expectations and am happy to report I was basically proven wrong on almost every point.

Conquistador (I'm counting 1 and 2 together since there are essentially the same track) opens up the album in what I feel just might be Juno Reactor's best track to date. Part 1 starts use off with slow pads and orchestral flyby's drift over a quiet percussion/melody line. Some lovely Spanish influence acoustic guitar lines drift in and out at first and slowly establish the mode of the track. Some ethereal female vocals and choir elements drift in and out adding to the atmosphere. Some percussion starts to build into the shift into part 2 which drops us into full blown Juno Reactor "trance" mode. The percussion takes over and Mabi Thobejane comes in making it feel like this track is a secret missing gem from the Bible of Dreams session (although it might even be better than most of that album). Descriptions are difficult, but I actually caught myself think "this might be as good as some Shpongle stuff" so it must be good.

Juno Reactor has always been and act to play add anything and everything to their sound and Giant is the "what the?" track of the album, being basically a Drum and Bass track played with real drums and some nasty bass that would make DnB purists proud. I like this track, but I feel it is also the weak point of the album simply because the recording of the drums isn't up to par with the rest of the album, or even the track. Coming from an audio background I understand just how hard drums are to record well, but the fact remains that the drums are a hair flat. Else wise it is a nice nasty track that probably would sound great if the rest of the album wasn't so well recorded.

War Dogs is next and again, there is a small issue with the recording of the drums. They aren't as much of an issue as in Giant, but they still are a little flat. That said, its a small complaint here and the ethnic, somewhat Indian sounding breakdowns and vocals I love. There is some more Spanish guitar and even some crunchy guitar bits in the background (although by no means are we talking heavy metal here).

Next up is Mona Lisa Overdrive, famous from the car chase seen in Matrix Reloaded. For some reason I was never super impressed with the track in the movie itself, however being able to hear it here, without the movie and a million sound effects getting in the way I can see that this is actually a good track. Again, loads of percussion, loads of orchestral stuff. Its epic and I like it.

Next is Zwara, which was released as a single several month back and thus probably familiar to many fans so not much comment is needed here. Enough to say that it fits the vibe of the album perfectly. Mutant Message starts off as a moody down tempo number. Again, the usually elements are here (percussion, strings, etc) which focuses on some quiet, heavily echoed piano lines before getting thick and dirty, breaking down and getting dirty again to close it off.

Together with Conquistador 1 & 2, Angels and Men makes for the highlight of the album. Similar in vibe to the opening o the album, this slow spacious number is all about atmosphere, with a simple percussion line soaked in reverb providing the base for some more angelic female vocals, a droning clean arppegiated guitar line and various flyby lines and elements. This is down tempo music at its best.

Narvas closes of the album and should be familiar to anyone who has Matrix Revolutions as the closing track during the credits. Its huge, its epic and it closes the album since there is nothing that you could really follow it up with. Again, it sounds like some lost Bible of Dreams track on steroids and since this listener considers Bible of Dreams among the best albums ever, this is a good thing.

The end result - Despite some minor drum recording issues with Giant and War Dogs, this is an excellent album. While fans of straight up "club" psy-trance might not get too into Juno Reactor, people who are simply fans of good music should find a lot to like here. Good stuff!!!!