Maze of Time are a five piece modern prog band from Stockholm, Sweden, and their debut album Tales From the Maze is a fine slice of neo-progressive rock, complete with melodic vocals, crisp guitar work, symphonic keyboards, and tight rhythms. The band has been together since 2001, and although it took them a few years to put Tales From the Maze together, the wait was worth it.
The band is comprised of Alex Jonsson on keyboards, Christer Lindström & Robert Edman on guitars, Janne Persson on bass, and drummer Thomas Nordh. Edman (who also plays some keyboards), Lindstrom, and Jonsson share the vocal duties, and they do a fine job creating lush harmonies and catchy chorus sections. The instrumentation is pretty tight throughout, allowing for plenty of solo spot for guitars and keyboards. When the band decides to impress with some tasty chops and aggressive arrangements, like on "The Maze" and "Ocean of Dreams", the results are closer to the progressive metal of bands like Threshold, Dream Theater, or Vanden Plas, but for the most part this is atmospheric and melodic stuff that will appeal to those who dig keyboard laden prog with solid vocals. If that's your style, than you won't be able to resist the lush synth textures and emotional guitar work on songs like "Daydreamer", "Here and Now", and "Under the Sun". Influences such as Marillion, Pendragon, Arena, Pallas, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Yes, can be heard throughout Tales From the Maze, which will be a pretty good reference point for many.
The production here is quite good, as all the instruments share equal footing and sound very crisp, and the vocals especially were very well recorded, both lead and backing, giving the album as a whole a very rich sound. If you are up for checking out a solid contemporary prog band, then give these Swedes a shot-chances are you'll like what you'll hear.
Track Listing
01 Tales
02 Here and now
03 Distant tomorrow
04 Ocean of dreams
05 Daydreamer
06 The maze
07 Lady may
08 Under the sun
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