Threshold
For The Journey

It was to be expected. The moment comes for every band to settle down. They put aside the certainties their career has given them and leave everything else out. The experimentation, the courage, the inherent need to change. Some rely on the established, some take another path, and some continue to walk the same one. The English Threshold have decided to follow the already charted path, perhaps symbolized by those tracks that disappear into the dust. We're talking about a band with 25 years of career behind them, the death of singer Andrew McDermott, successful albums and others less so. A reliable and classic reference point for lovers of less demanding and cerebral progressive metal. The latest album, "For The Journey" (September 2014), follows the groove carved by the last part of the combo's career.

"March Of Progress" (2012) and the comeback of Damian Wilson behind the microphone marked the return of Threshold, who were somewhat out of the scene after the excellent "Dead Reckoning". Dream Theater's lesser heirs, Threshold have always been able to break free from the suffocating and often unnecessary technicalities of Petrucci and company. Less complex scores, a more canonical and linear approach to which Threshold have always been able to add the right dose of class and melody. "For The Journey" has the same ingredients and mixes them using the recipe that was already good for "March Of Progress", albeit with some more noticeable deviations.

Threshold is one of those groups that give the impression they can never fall below sufficiency, but at the same time never truly make you cry out in wonder. "Wounded Land" and "Psychedelicatessen" remain works of extraordinary craftsmanship, but they picked up the stylistic elements others had already traced for them. The latest effort has the same problems as always: it re-proposes the same atmospheres, it doesn't dare, and for this reason it doesn't really hit the mark. It’s the usual good "classic progressive metal" album with musicians who know their stuff and little else. The "plastic" production by Nuclear Blast only serves to highlight a cold, aseptic mood. In "For The Journey" there's nothing that can be called "bad", but there's also little that's transcendental. The single "Watchtower On The Moon" is the usual excellent direct and melodic opening piece that does its job well, "The Mistery Show" and "Siren Sky" still skillfully mix nostalgia and musicality. On the contrary, "Unforgiven" throws itself away in a refrain that has little reason to exist, as does the interesting but also affected first part of the long "The Box".

The impression is that more than in the past, Threshold have chased an airiness that doesn't suit the album, but often seems out of place. We're on familiar ground: the talent is perceptible, the songwriting is still stellar compared to the endemic lack of ideas in the genre, but it's the classic work that reeks of "already heard". Enjoyable, to be listened to at least as completeness in the discography of the six Englishmen. Another track that no longer gives new destinations.

1. "Watchtower On The Moon" (5:32)
2. "Unforgiven" (5:37)
3. "The Box" (11:58)
4. "Turned To Dust" (4:19)
5. "Lost In Your Memory" (4:36)
6. "Autumn Red" (5:42)
7. "The Mistery Show" (5:37)
8. "Siren Sky" (6:10)