Threshold: For The Journey

Progressive-tinged Brits rock outside the box

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After years dancing around the rim of prog and melodic rock, Threshold have finally come up with an album that edges towards being sensational.

They’ve always delivered quality, but here everything comes into a crisp focus, thanks to the combination of Damian Wilson’s emotive vocals and Karl Groom’s snappy guitarwork. Their interaction brings to mind that of Bernie Shaw and Mick Box in Uriah Heep, and the liberal sprinkling of vocal harmonies adds to the Heep comparison. But this is not an album that seeks refuge in the past. It reeks of the modern era, as an exhaustive musicianship is allied to simple hooks that get embedded, enticing you back. Opening tracks_ Watchtower On The Moon_ and Unforgiven set the tone, with the sort of riff/tune action that’s both sophisticated and accessible. On The Box, Threshold nod towards Dream Theater. By contrast, Turned To Dust twists towards metal, and Lost In Your Memory is an essential power ballad. For The Journey is neither prog metal, power metal nor AOR. It defies categorisation – it’s a bloody good rock album.

Via Nuclear Blast

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.