Swedish AOR band Osukaru are about to release their brand new album “The Labyrinth” in March 2017, which will be their 4th full length studio album, but also their first ever concept album. It was mixed by Viktor Stenquist (Beseech, Amorphis, Narnia) and Attila Bokor (Morph, BOA, Osukaru).
“The Labyrinth” is a love letter to classic fantasy movies from back in the day and in particular the 1986 fantasy flick “Labyrinth”, thereof the album title.
“The idea was to write songs that when played in the order they appear on the album, they would tell the overall story of the spectacular and magical movie ‘Labyrinth’, but with each song still being able to stand on its own” Oz says. “But as a twist, our version of the story is more from the antagonists point of view, as I would imagine the book read by the protagonist in the first scene of the movie is as well. So by going from that angle, we found a lot of interesting stories and themes to build our songs on.”
“The Labyrinth” sees Osukaru taking one step back and two steps forward into their already established AOR-with-an-edge territory, raising the keyboards and the melodies just another notch.
Oz: “I’d say that this one is our most AOR oriented release since “Salvation”, but it’s also our most hard hitting rock album to date.”
The album artwork was, as always, created by Oz himself and this time we see returning model Isabelle Högbacka being back as their blindfolded heroine for the first time since “Salvation” in 2012.
“The Labyrinth” track list:
01. Maze of Mind
02. The Stories We Tell
03. Voices In the Dark
04. Edge of Night
05. It’s Only Forever
06. Voodoo (Who Do?)
07. Poisonous
08. Undying Rose
09. The Offering
10. Moonlight Silhouette
“The Labyrinth” will be available on CD and digital download (via City of Lights Records / Membran Entertainment Group), vinyl (via Blastzone Entertainment), and as a limited edition collector’s box set only available at https://osukaru.bandcamp.com
An interview (Oct. 2014) with Oz Osukaru of Osukaru can be found at this location.
Their latest album “Transition” has been released on 4th. May 2015 through City of Lights Records (CD) and Simply Boundless Records (digital).
The album was mixed and mastered by Attila Bokor (Morph, BOA) and Kevin McNoldy (Dave Matthews Band, Backstreet Boys) who together brought out the biggest production yet on an Osukaru record.
Our review of “Transition” can be found here.
Osukaru:
Oz Osukaru – guitar, keyboards
Fredrik Werner – vocals, guitar
Lisa Eugenia – keyboards, vocals
Olof Gadd – bass
Vidar Mårtensson – drums