Threshold
Dead Reckoning

THE REVIEW

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.