Hypothetical --- Threshold --- 2001 (InsideOut)
A long time ago now it seems, I introduced those that care to the mighty Threshold via the album "Subsurface", and later took a whistle-stop tour through their catalogue in "The Beginner's Guide", but now I want to slow down and return to this band, whose most recent album, "March of progress" I featured last year and which came very close to being my overall favourite album of 2012. To be honest, they don't have bad albums so I could have chosen any of their current nine --- well, having done two, the remaining seven --- but this one has one of my favourite Threshold songs on it, so I've gone for it. As it happens, it comes fifth in their discography, and three years before "Subsurface".
There are only eight tracks on it, but this is not unknown for Threshold, whose longest album in terms of tracks is 1997's "Extinct instinct", which has twelve. However there is a ten minute and an eleven minute track on this album, and it runs in at a respectable fifty-five minutes. It opens on the drony synth of Richard West, joined by screeching guitar from Karl Groom then new boy Johanne James makes his presence felt as he thunders in on the drums as "Light and space" kicks things off. It's a typical Threshold song, full of hooks, energy and progressive rock goodness. Singer Andrew "Mac" MacDermott handles the song with the passion and clarity he became famous for within the band, and the other spotlight shines squarely on Groom's evocative and energetic guitar playing. If anyone ever thought Threshold were more a progressive rock band than a progressive metal one, they only have to listen to Groom's riffs to be disabused of that notion.
Mind you, West is an integral part of the band two, and his keyboard runs, from arpeggios to droning soundscapes shape the atmosphere in which the music thrives and evolves. "Turn on tune in" opens on one such soundscape before Groom punches his way in and Mac takes a much more restrained approach to the vocal, at least at the beginning. Threshold recount the old hippy anthem, "turn on, tune in, drop out" but update it for the twenty-first century, making it somehow darker and more ominous. Great keyboard solo from Richard West before Groom takes over again and James joins him as the song takes a jump in gear, rattling along as Mac's vocal changes to match the change in tempo and indeed the tension building in the song.
One of those epics I mentioned is next, and "The ravages of time" (which would go on to be the title of one of their compilation albums) opens on a dark, thumping bass, low synth and then Groom and James power in, taking the song into its second minute as Mac begins singing about the eradication of natural resources and how time erodes everything but rebuilds:
"Once there was a mountain/ Then there was no mountain/ Then there was again" --- the cyclic nature of time is a recurring motif in many of Threshold's songs. West then takes control for a soft, atmospheric passage as the song slows down in the third minute, while in the fourth the chorus comes through for the first time with one of those incredible little hooks this underrated band are known for. Most of the song keeps it as a slow grinder, though it does speed up at times, and like all great long songs it seems to be over too soon.
"Sheltering sky" then starts on soft acoustic guitar and piano backed by swirling synth, before Karl Groom's signature riff comes through, a sort of dramatic, ominous jangly sound that permeates so many of Threshold's songs. The track picks up in intensity and power as it goes along, driven on Groom's growling guitar and Mac's fine vocal delivery. A faster and heavier track, "Oceanbound" features a funky bassline and a weird little vocal at the start, but rocks along really well as Mac declares
"Every time I try to climb a mountain/ Always find a steeper one ahead". This song is very much guitar-centric and Groom makes full use of his repertoire, punching, riffing, pulling back, soloing and squeezing everything out of his guitar that he can. Richard West, on the other hand, takes a backseat on this one, but he's back with a vengeance for "Long way home", opening the song with a lovely neoclassical piano piece before Karl Groom grinds his guitar into the mix and the song takes off, West's organ swelling behind him then joined by sprightly piano while Groom rips off a lovely solo. Choral voices on the synth add to the melody before everything drops away to simple piano accompanying Mac's voice before the song ends on a big finish.
Threshold don't tend to write too many ballads, but when they do they're worth waiting for, like "Sunrise on Mars" from "Clone" or "Mansion" from "Extinct instict", and here they've come up with another winner. Like most of their ballads "Keep my head" is a short one, only four minutes long, and driven on bright piano and keys with a lovely swaying rhythm, almost commercial rock in its way. Mac delivers one of his best restrained vocal performances here, and it's actually surprising this wasn't taken as a single, because it fullfils all the conditions, with a great hook in the chorus, verging almost into pop territory at times. Great backing vocals just add the final layer to the sound, with an emotional guitar solo from Karl Groom. The only small complaint I have about this song is that it ends rather badly I feel, a little limply. That takes us to the closer, and it's the other epic, an eleven-minute song that has become one of my favourite Threshold numbers.
Beginning with a big hard guitar intro, "Narcissus" goes through various changes , slowing down with crying guitar in the second minute and moving at quite a sedate pace until Groom kicks it all back into life, Mac singing with power and conviction. Lovely synth effects from Richard West, and punchy drums from Johannes James, thick bass from Jon Jeary, with again great vocal harmonies, another Threshold trademark. It is however in the midsection where the song really shows its character. With a choral voice leading into rolling sprinkling synth and thence to a solitary piano, the vocal turns into a double one with a sort of phased vocoder effect, something similar to Floyd's "A new machine" off "A momentary lapse of reason". The extra vocal is provided by Holger Haubold, and the song slows down almost to balladic style, with a wailing guitar from Groom which quickly takes off again as the song powers towards its, and the album's conclusion. A powerful combination of guitar and keys drives the end section in an instrumental before we return to the theme from the opening, and Mac comes back in on the tenth minute for his last hurrah, fading out then in the last forty seconds or so and leaving Karl Groom to bring proceedings to a crashing finale, with a big roll of drums from James.
TRACKLISTING
1. Light and space
2. Turn on tune in
3. The ravages of time
4. The sheltering sky
5. Oceanbound
6. Long way home
7. Keep my head
8. Narcissus
Threshold aren't nearly as well known as they deserve to be. One of the few progressive metal bands around these days who don't fiddle about in the middle of songs to make them longer or to flaunt their prowess; when their songs are long they're necessarily so, and there's always a definite structure to them. They have one amazing guitarist in Karl Groom, who could really hold his own against any of the current guitar greats, and a fine keyboard player in Richard West. They've gone through three different vocalists over their almost twenty year history, and sadly Andrew "Mac" MacDonald, who we hear here, passed away in 2011, with original singer and founder member Damian Wilson returning in 2012 for their triumphant comeback album.
If melodies with great hooks, excellent vocal harmonies, a guitarist who can be heavy and crunching one moment and soft and gentle the next is your thing, then Threshold could very well be your band. If you haven't heard them before, this album is not the worst place you could start.