‘Signs’, the latest album of Beyond The Labyrinth was released in 2005 and ended up in many year lists … in Belgium, the home country of the band. When I received this album I was rather sceptical. I had already read some reviews of the album and my biggest fear was to be disappointed by some good old, and rather healthy, nationalism. After a few spins it was obvious that our southern neighbours had every right to be excited about their new National pride. ‘Signs’ is an album that stands out because of the melodic approach the band prefer over the urge to be progressive. There are few moments where the music tends to A.O.R. (‘Tomorrow Is Gone’, the weakest track), but in general the music touches hard rock.

There are some rough edges here and there.

At times the band slightly lacks power (‘Icons’ for example) and the vocals sound a bit Dutch. I can picture the singer having aching muscles in his mouth after the recording because of the over articulation and needless expressiveness, which results in a bit of a clinical and fabricated sound. You can easily hear that this man tries too hard. I’d have preferred a more natural sound. Despite these minor details the songs are all well structured, diverse and most importantly in the progressive and symphonic genre: interesting. On a National scale Beyond The Labyrinth is ready to step into the higher regions of the scene. Internationally I think the band has to improve. With ‘Signs’ they have shown that they have potential.