THRESHOLD — Extinct Instinct (review)

THRESHOLD — Extinct Instinct album cover

Album · 1997 · Progressive Metal

4.5/5 · 2010-05-08
SouthSideoftheSky

My instinct is not extinct!

I first fell in love with the voice of Damian Wilson when I heard him singing for Rick Wakeman, first on the great studio album Out There (which, in my opinion, is Rick Wakeman's best studio album in many, many years), and then on the very good live DVD Rick Wakeman's New English Rock Ensemble - Live In Buenos Aires (despite a couple of slight vocal mistakes by Wilson there). When I found out that Wilson had previously been in a band called Threshold I decided to check them out. I was not disappointed! (It is not entirely unlikely that this album influenced Rick Wakeman to pick Wilson out for the band!?)

By now I have heard several other albums by Threshold, but Extinct Instinct was the first one I searched out and is also by far the best one in my opinion. My decision to start with this album was, as I have already hinted at, the presence of Damian Wilson (who only sings on two Threshold albums; this one and the debut). But there was also something about the cover art that drew my attention. The fallen stone cross reminded me very much of Black Sabbath's Headless Cross album and the old Nordic look on the cover reminded me of that same bands' TYR album (both much underrated albums and personal favourites of mine). I went by my instinct and got this album! And indeed, Extinct Instinct has some similarities with Black Sabbath in the heavy riff-based parts and the thundering bass guitar that sometimes reminds of Geezer Butler's style. However, Threshold is a much more melodious and also more progressive band.

Since Threshold is sometimes known as 'the British Dream Theater', I must mention them as well. There are indeed some similarities here, but I would not say that Threshold are copying Dream Theater by any means. Compared to Dream Theater, the sound of Threshold is more based on melody and riffs than instrumental workout. The Jazz/Rock Fusion influence which is sometimes strong in Dream Theater's music is not so here. Threshold also seems largely oblivious about American Thrash Metal (an influence that often dominates Dream Theater's sound far too much in my opinion). The sound of Extinct Instinct is perhaps closer to classic British Heavy Metal with influences from Neo-Prog and some more melodious forms of metal.

Extinct Instinct features strong material with a well balanced mix between heavy riffs, tempo changes, (acoustic) ballads and (shorter) keyboard and guitar solos. The keyboards are largely organ and symphonic synthesisers in the background with some piano parts and occasionally some synthesiser solos. The musicianship is very strong but you never get the feeling that they are just showing off (which is the case with some Prog-Metal). Karl Groom is a great guitarist. It is hard to pick out favourites since this is a very even album, with no weak tracks in my opinion. But the softer songs like Forever and Clear really create a nice contrast to the heavier songs which lifts the whole album.

This is one of the better Prog-Metal albums that I have heard! Highly recommended!