Trollheart

Jack! My number one (and only!) fan!
Thanks for the comment: so good to see someone else's name there, not just mine! I know of Propaganda, yes, but haven't heard much from them. That track is pretty good: the music reminds me very much of Vangelis album "The City". Very ambient.

So you're into Glenn Miller as well? My god man, is there any music you're not interested in? My own thought-to-be eclectic tastes just pale in comparison to yours. But no, I don't want to hear any grindcore, thanks!

Did you ever get to review that "Even wolves dream" album I sent you, must be years ago now? Just wondering what you thought of it.

Thanks again and feel free to keep commenting...

Cheers
TH

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Symphony of the night --- Nightscape --- 2005 (Lion)


Where do these bands hide?? It's almost impossible to get any information on Nightscape, other than the fact that they're a Swedish melodic rock/metal band and they have two albums, this and their self-titled debut. They have no personal website, no Myspace or Facebook page, and there seems to be very little known about them. And yet, they're a really good band, at least on the strength of this release, who I'd like to hear more from and know more about. Ah, the life of a reviewer is never easy!

So let's dive straight into the album and sample the proof of the pudding, as it were. It opens with “Haunted hill”, a deep synth into which explodes as a thundering metal track, reminiscent of Iron Maiden at their best, circa “The Beast” or “Piece of mind”. The guitar work of Joakim Wiklund is a joy to behold, and the vocals of Simon Ekesson almost sound female they're so high, but there's great strength in his voice. However the real power of Nightscape is in their close harmonies. In a band who play close to thrash metal – though always melodic --- keeping close vocal harmonies in a song is usually not high on the list, but this works to make them seem almost like a metal version of Queen, the masters of this sort of thing. The keyboards of Markus Sundquist really add an extra layer to the music, lifting it out of the realm of a thousand other thrash/speed metal bands and more onto the level of the likes of Balance of Power or Ten. The opener really sets you up for the rest of the album, and it doesn't disappoint.

“Higher than life” blasts at you like it's trying to tear your throat out, as drummer Tyler Volez and bassist Stefan Widmark create the perfect rhythm section, tight as a bank manager and tearing the song along on rails of thunder, while Wiklund rips off solo after solo and Ekesson is clearly audible above the cacophony, and you can make out his vocals no problem, no mean feat against an onslaught like this. The pace doesn't slow down as “Merlin” makes its entrance, keyboard-led and with again great backing vocals. Not any surprise at all that this song is based on the Arthurian legends, and tells the tale of Merlin from the wizard's point of view: ”All he wishes is a life without pain/ Fighting for justice/ Protecting his king.” The song has a truly excellent solo from Sundquist, worthy of the greats of progressive rock.

Most of the tracks on this album are longer than you would expect, in fact six are over five minutes. The next one up is one of the shorter ones. “Across the sky” is a dramatic, powerful song that kicks the speed down just a little, with lots of guitar upfront and some phenomenal drumming from Tyler Volez; another great solo from Wiklund with some top-notch shredding. “Home” is another short track, with an almost Magnum boogie vibe and perhaps stands as the most commercial track on the album, with its singalong melody and hooks that just kick down the doors of your brain and settle down in your favourite easy chair, refusing to leave.

“Rage divine” is an epic rocker, that rattles along like a warhorse charging into battle, while “Curse and damnation” shows off Nightscape's classical leanings, in much the same way as top shredder Yngwie Malmsteen also draws classical influences into his music, and similar to recently-reviewed Adagio. The choral backing vocals reach critical mass in this song, perhaps the best they've sounded all through the album. Great solos on both keyboards and guitars help shape the theme of this song. Halfway through it suddenly slows down, then we're treated to yet another screaming guitar solo before an acapella part precedes the song kicking back into high gear to its powerful conclusion.

The title track closes the album, and it's worth waiting for. A little slower than most of the other tracks but still no ballad --- there are none on this album, these guys don't do slow! After a bit it speeds up and Wiklund's guitar is off again, and indeed it's he who mostly leads this track, the final on the album, though there is a very special keyboard solo from Sundquist, just to let us know he's still there! The album closes as it opened, powerfully and with great melody and fantastic vocals, and establishes itself without question as a true find.

If you've never heard Nightscape before --- and you probably haven't, judging by the level of exposure they seem to have received --- then you need to hear this NOW! Metal heads will love it. Rockers will love it. Those who like their rock or metal with a classical bent will love it. You'll love it.

Trust me, this is a symphony you don't want to miss.

TRACKLISTING

1. Haunted hill
2. Higher than life
3. Merlin
4. Across the sky
5. Home
6. The Serpent King
7. Rage divine
8. Curse and damnation
9. Symphony of the night

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Inspired by two events, a new section begins. What, another one? Yeah. Shut up.

The first impetus for this idea was thanks to Nice Guy (see his “Music Musings” here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...c-musings.html), when he postulated that an album can sound better second or third time around. Now, this is nothing new, but it did put me in mind of the first time I heard Phil Collins' “Face value”, and I hated it. After a while I went back to it, and whereas it's not the best debut album ever, and suffers from some pretty weak songs, I was, on second listen, able to appreciate the album a lot better, and hear tracks I had largely ignored. My problem there was that I had been expecting, naively, a Genesis album, and of course that was not what I got.

The second part of the idea came when I was writing my second entry for “Taking centre stage”, which is to feature Iron Maiden. When listening to the Blaze Bayley-era albums, particularly “Virtual XI”, I tended to discount them, but when reviewing them as part of the new feature I began to realise that one of them at least was nowhere near as bad as I had originally remembered.

And so those two events give birth to “Last Chance Saloon”, in which I will be revisting albums that have not impressed me down the years, listening to them again and deciding whether or not they are as bad as I remember, or whether, with new insight and somewhat fresh ears, I can see (or, more properly, hear) something in them I did not originally.

There's no guarantee my opinion will change of course, and those albums I pick to review (or re-review) which still fail to live up to my expectations will be treated as such, and I will write about how bad they are. But those which convince me I was right to give them a last chance I will admit to being perhaps wrong, or hasty in judging them.

The first album to get into the Last Chance Saloon is as mentioned above, Iron Maiden's “Virtual XI”.

Virtual XI --- Iron Maiden --- 1998 (EMI)


The last album to feature Blaze Bayley on vocals, this album, like its predecessor, introduced something Iron Maiden had mostly shied from utilising on their albums before, keyboards. There are places where it really works, particularly on second and longest track “The angel and the gambler”. That song is driven almost entirely by keys, as played by Steve Harris, Iron Maiden's founder and bass player, and he does a great job with them, integrating them into the Iron Maiden sound and also managing to create a whole new soundscape previously impossible with just guitars.

Opener “Futureal” is standard Maiden fare, good heavy guitars but you can hear Bayley's voice stretching on the vocals, and you can't help but wonder how Bruce Dickinson would handle such a song. It's not a huge departure from the usual Maiden songs, as mentioned, and the keyboards are minimal if used at all. It's only when “The angel and the gambler” gets going that the keys really take over. Built on a blues organ style opening, with accompanying guitar attack, the track runs for almost ten minutes, a good rocker with the keyboards driving the melody. At least here Bayley sounds better, his voice seeming more comfortable in the lower registers. The song has a great hook, but to be fair it's really overlong at just short of ten minutes, with the last three minutes being nothing more than a repeating of the same line and melody, though the guitars of Janick Gers and Dave Murray do a lot to make it other than just a repetitive exercise.

There's no doubting that the keyboards really work on “Angel”, and add a whole new dimension to the song, and it's on this track that they're most prominent, whereas on “Lightning strikes twice” they're mostly in the background and the familiar guitar sound prevails. It's a decent song, if a little straightforward and not exactly brimming over with originality. The same can't be said, however, of the next one.

“The Clansman” is another epic, indeed the second-longest at just a few seconds under nine minutes. Taking as its subject matter the struggle for Scottish independence, it's of course redolent of “Braveheart”, with the cry “Freedom!” echoing throughout. It starts off slowly, a kind of moody guitar taking up the first three minutes or so, then it gets going in a typical Maiden groove, somewhat reminscent of “Die with your boots on” from “Piece of mind”. Great guitar work from Gers and Murray, and some really fine singing from Blaze. The liner notes say Steve Harris plays keyboards on this, but I have to say I can't hear them. Maybe there, just in the background...

“When two worlds collide” is good rocky fare, and “The educated fool” is more a cruncher, but to be honest neither really stand out the way the better tracks on Maiden albums prior to (and after) this have done. You're not getting the likes of “Tailgunner”, “Run to the hills”, “Judas my guide” or even “Sun and steel” here, that's for sure. Harris does a good job of creating a string section on the keyboards for “Don't look to the eyes of a stranger”, but again they're more ancillary than upfront: the only track they really stand out on is “The angel and the gambler”, and maybe that's a good thing. “Stranger” goes through a few changes, from slow start to outright rocker, with a nice slow guitar buildup halfway to a real tearaway solo as the track hits full speed and careens towards the end. Good inventive drumming from Nicko McBrain on this track too.

The album ends on a tribute to both sides who fought the Falklands War, a nice acoustic guitar opening and some mournful strings on keyboard, then the guitars get going, but it stays fairly mid-paced, I suppose the closest you'll get on this album to a ballad. It's a good closer, with some excellent guitar work and an admirable anti-war theme.

So, was I wrong about this album? Listening back to it now, I have to say no, I wasn't, but perhaps I was a little harsh on it, dismissing it entirely. It has some good tracks on it, although sadly they are in the minority. That's not to say that the other tracks are necessarily bad, just below par for what I would expect from this band. Of course, having suffered through “The X factor” (the album, not the show, though that's almost as much a trial!) I suppose I should have been expecting this. It's no coincidence that once Bruce came back, it was “Brave new world” that blew me away and pulled me firmly back into the Maiden fold, and since then the albums have all been great, if not excellent.

Nothing against Blaze Bayley: he was probably on the spot and trying to fill some huge shoes, like Ray Wilson in Genesis. How could you follow the likes of Gabriel and Collins? You couldn't, and for me (and many thousands/millions of fans) Bruce Dickinson was and is Iron Maiden, so he had no chance really.

But in fairness the blame can't all be laid at Bayley's feet. The songs on this album, and the previous, in general, are not of the high quality we have come to expect, and the band did seem to be getting a little lazy, recycling old ideas and themes. The introduction of keyboards should have added to the sound, but to be honest, apart from that one song, I struggled to hear any real impact from them. Gers is a good guitarist, but I definitely missed Adrian Smith, and in addition to all that, this was the first Iron Maiden album since 1988's “Seventh son of a seventh son” to contain only eight tracks, so you kind of get the feeling of being shortchanged there too.

In conclusion, I would say that although I have a better appreciation for “Virtual XI” now, it's still rated very low on my scale of Maiden albums, and I wouldn't expect to be spinning it at any sort of regular intervals. If I make an Iron Maiden playlist, I would almost certainly include “The angel and the gambler”, “The Clansman” and maybe “Como estais amigos”, but the rest would be left behind, and if I never heard them again I wouldn't be too traumatised.

That's not the mark of a good album, nor even an average one. I would still class this under the heading “Must Try Harder”.

TRACKLISTING

1. Futureal
2. The angel and the gambler
3. Lightning strikes twice
4. The Clansman
5. When two worlds collide
6. The educated fool
7. Don't look to the eyes of a stranger
8. Como estais amigos

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Random Track of the Day
Thursday, September 8 2011

A band seemingly hated by a lot of people, but one of my favourite prog metal bands, today's Random Track of the Day comes from Kamelot, from their third album “Siege perilous”, which was the turning point for the band. The two previous albums are woefully inferior to this, and those which followed, mostly due to the often poor performance of vocalist Mark Vanderbilt. Here he is replaced by Roy Khan, and the whole Kamelot sound takes on a completely different dimension.

Rhydin --- Kamelot --- from “Siege perilous” on Noise



As I say, this album is the first to feature the vocal talents of Roy Khan, who would remain with the band through seven albums, right up to 2010 when he left for medical reasons. The singing is crisper, clearer and more passionate than on either of the two previous albums, “Dominion” and “Eternity”, and the writing and whole feel of this album comes across as more together and tighter than previously. The track itself is not one of the better ones on the album, but it's a good rocker nonetheless.

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A bit of what you fancy --- Quireboys --- 1990 (EMI)


Everything about these guys screams American southern rock!, but in fact they're from the UK, Newcastle to be precise. But you'll hear no “way-aye” or any other Jimmy Nail-isms: their lead singer sounds like he was born in the Deep South, and like already-reviewed Bonfire, they do a great job of presenting themselves as a US band. The music is certainly southern rock though (well, I guess coming from Newcastle that should read northern rock!), as a casual listen to this, their debut album, will show.

It's down and dirty rock'n'roll from the off, with “7 O'Clock” introducing the album on a raucous, party-atmosphere song, great honky-tonk piano from Chris Johnstone (don't forget the “e”!) and battling guitars from “the two Guys”, Bailey and Griffin. But it's when singer Spike Gray opens his mouth that you're in no doubt this is an American band. Which it isn't.

With a southern drawl and a gravelly quality to his voice that puts you in mind of Axl Rose, he can certainly belt out the songs, and he's a guy who's come to par-tay! “Man on the loose” is another hard rocker, very much in the same vein as the opener, but then comes one of better tracks on the album, the darkly ominous “Whippin' boy”, with its harkback to slavery and Spike warning ”You mean so much to me/ But there ain't no way/ I'm gonna be no whippin' boy!” There's a great vibe to this track, with echoey guitars and dark piano; really takes you back to the days of the Civil War, and references to Dixieland leave you in no doubt that it's a song about the Deep South and the injustices practiced there for over a hundred years.

“Sex party” is a taut, political satire aimed at the excesses within the Republican … nah, just kidding. It's a song about an orgy. As such songs go, it's fun, fast and forgettable, but the next track up, “Sweet Mary Ann”, stays in the mind a lot longer. A country-tinged ballad, it's got more than a touch of classic Bon Jovi in it, and it runs along at a decent pace, sort of more a half-ballad really. The proper ballad is next, “I don't love you anymore” a heartrending realisation that the love is gone, and how hard it hits when you haven't been expecting it.

”She sat there, smokin' all my cigarettes/ At a table set for two/ I could have cried/ When she said/ I don't love you anymore/ I was slain and shown the door/ Ain't no room here anymore.” Powerful lyric helps craft this into a standout ballad, and a good contender for best track on the album. Can't help thinking that Spike sounds like the vocalist from Smokie on this one, though!

“Misled” is a great rocker, enjoyable like just about every track on this album. To be fair, there are no high concepts or intricate ideas on this recording. But what do you expect on what is basically a southern rock-flavoured album? The songs are mostly party songs --- drinkin', rockin', havin' a good time is what these guys are interested in. Great boogie piano on “Misled”, with a deceptively slow lead-in vocal by Spike. “Long time comin'” is almost the same melody, with a sort of fifties intro, built around the idea of being a toy boy: ”Been a long time comin'/ Boy she said/ Finish the job or don't get paid!” and Spike's cheeky assertation at the end ”Any old time/ Is a good time for fun/ But with a rich rich mama/ You get the money and run!”

Yeah, fun with a capital F is the heart of this album. “A bit of what you fancy” is not an album you put on to dissect the quality of the playing, or to think deep thoughts or try to figure out music's place in the scheme of things. Nah, it's an album you rack up when you want to party, or cheer up, or when you have the guys coming around for some beers, the better if they bring some ladies. It's a party album, and you just can't stop your fingers from tapping and your legs from dancing as you listen. These guys must be a blast live!

“Roses and rings” is another semi-ballad with the same sort of country edge that characterises “Sweet Mary Ann”, some nice violin or fiddle in there too. “There she goes again” is a piano boogie, and “Take me home” closes an album that really has no bad tracks. True, many are similar and not too many stand out all that much, but there's a lot to praise this album for.

It's unapologetic southern rock with an English twist, with great musicianship and a clear idea of where the band are, what they want to do and the message they want to get across. That message in particular is simple: have a good time. Listen to this album and you're guaranteed to be able to take that advice.

TRACKLISTING

1. 7 O'Clock
2. Man on the loose
3. Whippin' boy
4. Sweet Mary Ann
5. Sex party
6. I don't love you anymore
7. Hey you
8. Misled
9. Long time comin'
10. Roses and rings
11. Here she comes again
12. Take me home

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Plenty of songs are written on a relatively simple premise: rock all night, I love you, I'm the toughest/fastest/insert boast here, smash the system and so on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with these type of songs, as long as they're written and played well. But it's always gratifying to see a lyricist stretch themselves a little, whether it's to tackle a subject normally not expected, prove or put forward a point, tell a story or just to try to write something different. I'm always happy to see great lyrics in a song --- the lyric is the lifeblood of the song, and no matter how good the melody is (unless it's an instrumental) the words have to make sense, and mean something, for the song to remain in your head long after it's finished.

So this section is dedicated to those songs on which the writer(s) took just that little bit extra care and put that extra bit of thought and effort into their lyric, to create a song that's just a little bit special, perhaps unusual, perhaps even weird, but certainly not ordinary.

The first song I want to present is from German metal band Axxis, whose album “Paradise in flames” I raved over earlier in my journal, and who have cropped up in the Random Track of the Day more than once. This track, however, is from their third album, “The big thrill”, released in 1983, and is called “Waterdrop”.

Waterdrop (Axxis) from “The big thrill”, 1993.
Music and lyrics by Bernard Weib

It's an unusual subject to tackle, for certain, the more so because it's a heavy metal band recording it, but “Waterdrop” is really special. A lovely gentle acoustic guitar introduces the song, backed by lush keyboards, with very little percussion and a very laid-back vocal by Bernard Weib. The song is written from the point of view of, yes you guessed it, a drop of water, telling its journey from sky to river to sea, carrying with it “the elixir of life”. It's a lovely little song, quite unexpected as I say on a metal album, but proving what we metal fans already know, that some of the best ballads have been written by rock and metal bands.

The full lyric is below, and this is the song itself.


I am just a waterdrop
Fatefully I cannot stop my fall down to earth.
Like a tear from heaven sent
I don't know where my way will end
I just fly in the unknown deep
in the unknown deep.

Alone I'm weak and innocent
And yet I'm strong by my million friends
I'm one with the violence of the pouring rain.

In a raging river,
In a churning ocean,
I'm the flowing blood of the world - the elixir of life.

In a raging river,
In a churning ocean,
I'm the origin of life - I will survive,
I will survive.

I am just a waterdrop:
I'm so weak - I cannot stop my fall down to earth.
I'm formed to rain, clouds, ice and snow
Creating seasons - I let the nature grow
let the nature grow.

When I rain down the wasteland
Green grass is growing in dry sand
I'm indispensable - the elixir of life.

In a raging river,
In a churning ocean,
I'm the flowing blood of the world - the elixir of life.

In a raging river.
In a churning ocean.
I'm the origin of life - I will survive.
I will survive.
I will survive.

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Time for another dip into my theme selections. This time I'm looking at songs that all have to do with eyes, whether the word is in the title, or whether they're about somone's eyes, seeing or being blind. Opens up the scope a little, certainly, but let's see what we come up with.

First off, here's Billy Idol, with one of his better songs, “Eyes without a face”.


Rockwell next, with what I think may have been his only hit, the rather cool and funky “Somebody's watching me”.


My favourite version of this comes from Christine McVie's album “The legendary Christine Perfect album”, but as expected that's impossible to find on YT, so let's give Beyonce a chance and see how she does with the classic “I would rather go blind”. Hey, how white is she these days, anyway?


Another great classic, from England Dan and John Ford Coley, with “I'd really love to see you”.


One of the heavier Rainbow tracks now, and a great performance from Graham Bonnet, on “The eyes of the world”.


Go on, why not? “Eye of the tiger”, the song that put Survivor on the map (and wiped them from commercial history!)


The multi-talented Elton John, with a lovely little ballad, “Blue eyes”.


Right back to 1977 now, for a duet between two legends. James Taylor and Carly Simon, with “Close your eyes”.


Skip the first minute if you want to avoid the intro, which is in German or somesuch language. This is Ireland's own 1993 Eurovision entrant, Niamh Kavanagh, with “In your eyes”.


And to finish up, a great, great rock legend, Deep Purple with “When a blind man cries”.


That's it for this selection. If anyone would like to suggest a theme for me to feature, just drop me a line or a comment, and I'll see what I can do.

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Random Track of the Day
Friday, September 9 2011

Interesting track today. From prog/fusion band The Tangent, this will probably hit a chord with fans of the Flower Kings, as members of that band were involved. It's from the album released in 2003 called “The music that died alone”. This is in fact from the title track, but as it's a long piece (the album's actually made up of four long tracks, each broken into smaller tracks) my Random-o-meter just caught this part. It's the third movement of four in the title track.

Pre-history --- The Tangent --- from “The music that died alone” on InsideOut



The title track is probably the best on the album, and this is part 3, or the third movement, of that, going under the name of “Pre-history”. This part is purely instrumental, and very jazz/fusion with elements of prog rock in it. Lots of piano and very Santana-like guitar. Lots of good organ too.

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Ever wanted to find out about a band or artiste, but lacked the time --- or inclination, or money ---- to listen to all their albums, or click every video of them on YouTube? Here's where my “Beginner's Guide” may come in handy. Although my other section, “Taking centre stage”, goes deeply into an artiste and talks a lot about them, how they started, their successes and failures, lists their albums and showcases some of their work, they're a little detailed for someone just wondering if they'd be into this artiste.

So this is hopefully a quicker, snappier way of making that decision. I'll choose an artiste, write a little about them and post what I consider to be their best (and perhaps worst) output. That way you can get a feel for them, see if they may be worth checking out, or if you should probably steer clear of them after all. Needless to say, these will all be artistes I am myself into, and ones I know about and can feel somewhat qualified talking about.
Threshold
So our first Beginner's Guide is to Threshold, whom a lot of you may not know. They're an English prog rock band who have been going for over thirty years now, and have released, to date (2011) nine albums, as well as four live ones and a video. The current lineup of the band is as follows:

Andrew “Mac” MacDermott --- vocals (see note 1)
Karl Groom --- lead guitar
Richard West --- keyboards
Johanne James --- drums (see note 2)
Steve Anderson --- bass (see note 3)
Nick Midson --- guitar (see note 4)

After three decades of recording, Threshold have gone through some staff changes over the years, including some who have left and come back, as explained in the notes below, but here we're just concentrating on the current incarnation. As I introduce each album below, I will note any changes in membership.

Note 1: MacDermott is the current vocalist, but prior to 1998's “Clone”, his duties were performed by Damian Wilson, who was there at the inception of the band. He sang on both debut “Wounded land” and “Extinct instinct”, their third album, with vocals on the second one, “Psychedelicatessen”, being handled by Glyn Morgan.

Note 2: Johann James plays drums for Threshold now, but has only been with them since the fifth album, “Hypothetical”. Prior to that, there have been a succession of occupants of the drumstool, including Tony Grinham, Nick Harradence and Mark Heaney.

Note 3: Although Steve Anderson is the current bassist, he has only been with Threshold since the last-but-one album, “Subsurface”. Before that, bass duties were carried out by Jon Jeary.

Note 4: Midson left after “Subsurface”, and Groom became the sole guitarist in the band.
Wounded land (1993)


Threshold's first album, “Wounded land”, was released in 1993. For a debut it's quite incredible, with only nine tracks but no duds. Two of the tracks are over ten minutes long, the best of these being the amazing “Surface to air”, and then there's the gorgeous little two-and-a-half-minute ballad, “Keep it with mine”. Being the debut album, “Wounded land” features original vocalist Damian Wilson, drummer Tony Grinham and bass player Jon Jeary.

The first track I want to feature from this wonderful album is the already-mentioned “Surface to air”. Over ten minutes long, it's a real tour-de-force, starting off like a ballad, almost Rushesque, with powerful string section on synth. Ninety seconds in it explodes into a full-blown rocker, very epic and dramatic, great guitars from Groom and Midson. Halfway through it gets very bluesy, with some great solos, then picks up again for a boppy, prog-rock ending.


The other extreme then is the shortest track, a ballad with no intricate sections, no convoluted playing, nothing but the acoustic guitar and synth backing. “Keep it with mine” still stands, even after all these years and nine albums, as one of my favourite Threshold tracks.

Psychedelicatessen (1994)


Only a year later and Threshold were back, with “Psychedelicatessen” (cool title!), which while no “Wounded land”, has some great tracks on it. I've chosen “A tension of souls” as a real example of how heavy and powerful Threshold can get (sorry about the anime video!).



The other example is another heavy song, the closer, “Devoted”. Vocals are different on this album, as it's Glyn Morgan doing the singing. In addition, the drummer is Nick Harradence.



Extinct instinct (1997)


That takes us three years into the future, and they released “Extinct instinct”, their longest ever album, with twelve tracks, clocking in at just over sixty-seven minutes in total. There are loads of good tracks to choose from, but I've gone for the heavy, almost doom metal “Lake of despond”



and the acoustic ballad closer, “Mansion”.



A return to vocal duties for Damian Wilson, with Mark Heaney occupying the drumstool.

Clone (1998)


Only a year later, again, and 1998 saw the emergence of Threshold's current vocalist, Andrew “Mac” MacDonald, for their fourth album, the brilliant “Clone”. I've purposely restricted myself to two tracks per album in this section, and it's just as well, as to be fair I could feature the whole thing, it's that good! But which to choose? Well, without question, one of my favourite Threshold songs of all time, the closer “Sunrise on Mars” has to be one of them,


and I'll go for, let me, see... hmm. Ok, well let's try the powerful “Goodbye mother Earth”.



Phew! Okay, that's that decision made! Take my word though, and seek out the whole album. It really is worth it.

Hypothetical (2001)


Another three years then to the next Threshold album, but wow, was it worth waiting for! After the opus that was “Clone”, they were going to have a lot to live up to. And they did. “Hypothetical” is a great, great album, and again it's really hard to choose just two tracks to represent it, but choose I must. So I'm going for “Keep my head”, a ballad



and another of my favourites, and definitely my favourite on the album, the ten-minute epic “Narcissus”.



Again though, check out the full album if you can.

Oh yeah, this album marked the end of drummer Mark Heaney's tenure on the stool, and he was replaced by Johanne James, as the true lineup of Threshold began to coalesce.

Critical mass (2002)


Threhold seem to go on a basis of an album this year, another next year, and then next three years later, and this is borne out with the release of “Critical mass”, which hit the shelves in 2002, one year after “Hypothetical”. This album marks the last contribution of bassist Jon Jeary. He would be replaced on the next album by Steve Anderson, who then completes the current lineup.

From this album I've chosen the heavy opener, “Phenomenon”



and the thirteen-minute closing title track.




Subsurface (2004)


2004's “Subsurface” breaks the chain, being released only two years after “Critical mass”, and I have reviewed it extensively, so I'll just say it's one of Threshold's best albums, and here I'll feature tracks that are not included in the review. Bass player Steve Anderson joins up, to give us the lineup we have today.

Starting off then with “Opium”



and ending with “Pressure”,



but if this interests you do go back and read the full review of “Subsurface”.

Dead reckoning (2007)


And that brings us to the latest album, 2007's “Dead reckoning”, which re-establishes the practice of leaving three years between albums. The only lineup change for this album was that longtime rhythm guitarist Nick Midson left, so that Karl Groom took over all guitar duties.

From this album I'm featuring “Hollow”



and the excellent “Safe to fly”.



So that's your introduction to Threshold. I hope it's been of use to you, and may encourage one or two of you to seek out the albums, or at least some of them. Threshold are something of an underrated band, but they don't deserve to be. They have a new album scheduled for release next year, and I for one can't wait.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Everyone knows what an earworm is, right? Well, just in case, let me explain. Ever heard someone whistle a tune, hum a song or even tap out the rhythm of a popular well-known song, and then realise you're humming/singing it yourself? That's an earworm: a song that when you hear it ends up being lodged in your brain for a while. Sometimes even the title of the song can do it.

I'm going to start posting a daily earworm, just for the sheer fun of it. The section opens with Huey Lewis and the News, and one of his best and most well-known hits from the eighties, “If this is it”. Try not to hum this to yourself for the next half hour!



The Worm will be back tomorrow. There is no escape! Bwah-haa-haa-haaaaa!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018