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Flagbearers of quite original and personal prog-thrash metal, Threshold return in 2007 with the new album "Dead Reckoning". Strengthened by the new record deal with Nuclear Blast, the 5 English musicians attempt to repeat the qualitative success of "Critical Mass" and "SubSurface".
In my opinion, they fall in terms of quality, creating an album that keeps bringing to mind constant déjà vu of past works.
The Threshold basically don't change a jota of their style: good rhythmic section, catchy riffs, and very melodious and catchy choruses. However, on this album, the prog vein slightly weakens. Also, because the song structures remind me of many other successes of the English group, quite frequently falling into monotony.
The real pity is that the band does have value: talent and good ideas are not lacking, but they do not cover a sense of boredom that often pervades the listening experience.
Because "Slipstream" starts well. I would say excellent, an almost standard song for Threshold (at times it reminds me of Mission: profile more for the structure than the melody). The novelty is the inclusion of some parts and choruses in growl, but still, it always ends up in the melodic and spot-on chorus, culminating in a good, decent middle section entrusted to the instruments. Nothing exceptional, to be clear. I begin to wonder if these are the Threshold I appreciated. And with "This is your life", I notice that the prog vein slowly disappears, favoring the heavier vein. "This is your life" is a trivial song, with a predictable and cunningly immediate refrain. "Elusive" begins to amaze with a good riff but then degenerates first into thrash, then into the gaudy melodiousness of the chorus. However, I christen "Hollow" as the best song of the lot. At times aggressive, at times romantic and gentle, it represents everything I've always appreciated in the English band. In this track, Mac's voice can be appreciated: endowed with great warmth and versatility, magnificent in hard moments and harmonious in calm moments. A great track that decidedly raises the ratings of an album that, so far, has disappointed me. And they rise significantly with the following track "Pilot in the sky of dream". A small suite of over 9 minutes: chained and complicated, sweetly prog and full of excellent atmospheres that make it the second gem of the album. "Fighting for breath" brings Threshold back on the prog tracks, but sometimes I hear too many, too many similarities with past riffs, especially in the usual sections of the instruments. The hinted ballad of "Disappear" instead reveals itself as a trivial, quite predictable track, and not at all deserving. "Safe to fly" is the total downfall: a track without personality that I would sincerely never expect from Threshold. Melodies in my opinion bad, and rhythmic openings really predictable and lacking in pathos or emotions. It closes with a good song, but certainly not exceptional or surprising as I hoped. "One degree down" represents a track I would define as "just for the sake of it", well composed, but put there, in the end, just to make up the numbers.
The album ends here. With a good song that reflects the total listening experience: a slight lack of ideas, and a sort of inability to organize them well, except for 2 songs that really remain, in my opinion, as gems in a mediocre sea.
It might be the transition to Nuclear Blast (a label famous for its blatantly extreme direction in the metal field) but Threshold lose the prog vein, laying out more metal tracks, but not necessarily better ones. In fact, for me, they've lost points.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Slipstream (04:55)
Are you drifting? Is there nowhere to go?
Life support is down, and your system’s low!
Are you cruising on your secondary sails,
Waiting for the bells…
“What do you really think so?”
Flat line, you’re a lucery mind,
Dreams are for the bold and you’re not that kind,
Disappointment has a house on their dome,
Best to stay at home…
“What do you really think so?”
It’s safe and warm inside,
And chances pass you by,
The question fills your mind…
Are you caught in a slipstream?
Are you lost in the fog?
Can you see through the windscreen,
Are you sure it’s safe to
Follow somebody’s daylight?
Are you already lost,
When you get to the daylight,
When you recognize the world
You want to cross…
Are you listening with your head in the sand?
Drown the words you don’t wanna understand…
‘Til the song stops… is it safe to come out?
Nobody’s about…
“What do you really think so?”
Too late, now there’s nowhere to go,
Life support is down, and your system’s low!
And your fuellight said you’ll never get home,
Now you’re all alone…
“What do you really think so?”
You’re scarred to stay inside,
More chances pass you by,
The question fills your mind…
Are you caught in a slipstream?
Are you lost in the fog?
Can you see through the windscreen,
Are you sure it’s safe to
Follow somebody’s daylight?
Are you already lost,
When you get to the daylight,
When you recognize the world
You want to cross…
Pity for the dreams you thought you’d lost
Pity for the dreams you thought you’d see
Pity for the price you thought it cost,
Pity for the one you thought you’d be.
Pity for the time you kept it all,
Pity for the wealth you thought you’d get,
Pity for the day you ever fought,
Pity for the day you lied…
03 Elusive (06:10)
Elusive Climb the wall and leave it all behind� You�ve got so much on your table, And I now that you are able, But you�re hiding in your cradle, Try to rock it out of the way� You�re sailing where the griff wood goes, You�ve fallen from the sky like stones� You�re the lifeline, not the dead zone, The foundation, not the headstone. Many things you need to let go, Many things you need to stop� And I know that your dependance Made me preach with your attention, But I know it, what�s to mention, That it�s tearing, never part� Sold you wisdom, showed you wonders, That you cannot pull asunder, And there�s no cause that you�re under, Cause it�s over, gone away� Now you have all you need, All the stones are full, Your wings are strong. Now it�s time to compete, You can run the race, And carry on� Climb the wall and leave it all behind� And sometimes it�s so hollow, Maybe it�s elusive, So hard to find your way, But you know just what the truth is, You feel it every day, And maybe it�s intrusive, Won�t seem to go away, But you know you�ve got to do it, Let go of yesterday, Until it�s gone.
06 Fighting for Breath (08:18)
Fighting For Breath I saw the sign of faded storms light up ahead, I cast a light, cause I was caught in middle, caught in the middle. A deadly road on damaged tides, wish shallowed breath, So far ago, I might have lost it a little, lost it a little. Don�t you stop me now, I�ll know when in my destination, Don�t you shut me down, Cause I don�t wanna rest� Like a maniac, I�ve sprinted way of track, Then took the long way back, wishing it full speed ahead, Now I�m The point of no return, will I be fighting for breath forever?
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