THRESHOLD — Legends Of The Shires (review)

THRESHOLD — Legends Of The Shires album cover

Album · 2017 · Progressive Metal

5/5 · 2017-09-15
Nightfly

I’ve followed Threshold for most of their career and during that time they’ve released some truly excellent albums. There have also been a few treading water moments that were always at least solid but they’ve never released a bad album for sure. Pick of the bunch for me would be 2001’s Hypothetical and March Of Progress from 2012. It was on these that they got the balance just right between the progressive and metal elements as well as some damn fine songs that as well as packing considerable punch contained strong melodies. Now of course melodic progressive metal has always been these guy’s style but I found 2014’s For The Journey, whilst not a disaster by any means, a little ordinary after March Of Progress. It also marked the last album to feature vocalist Damian Wilson. To most bands this would be a major blow but fortunately they were able to recruit former Threshold vocalist from the Psychedelicatessen (I spelt that without checking – impressive hey!) era Glynn Morgan. That was another excellent piece of work from the band and probably their least prog album. Ironically Morgan has returned for their most progressive album yet and I’m pleased to say it joins that elite club of Threshold favourites for me.

Legends Of The Shires is a long album – a double no less stretching to over an hour and twenty minutes. It could have gone pear shaped but fortunately Threshold mainstays Karl Groom and Richard West have crafted some of the best songs of their career. Bassist Steve Anderson also gets a look in composing On The Edge, one of the less proggy moments, but a good driving piece of metal nonetheless. An album of this length needs diversity, dynamics plenty of time/tempo changes to keep the listeners attention for this long and they’re in no shortage here. One of the albums strengths is the inventive use of melody with sometimes clever twists and turns taking the song in an unexpected direction. This happens both vocally and musically with some excellent solos from West and Groom, his searing guitar work impressive as always. Morgan proves to be an inspired choice and a more than worthy replacement for Wilson. He’s nearer to sadly deceased former singer Andrew “Mac” McDermott in style and able to deliver a strong melody with plenty of power. The material ranges from the acoustic intro of The Shire (Part 1), the obligatory ballad in State Of Independence to the heavier Threshold metal like Small Dark Lines and Superior Machine. Much of the material as is the way with more progressive songs contains elements of all the above, no better exemplified than in the two longest compositions – The Man Who Saw Through Time and Lost In Translation. Both are album highlights, the latter in particular blowing me away, but there’s still no shortage of diversity in some of the relatively shorter pieces with some compelling twists driven by the excellent drumming of Johanne James.

By upping the prog quotient this is not one of the heavier Threshold albums which is not a problem at all for me, especially with melodies this strong. There’s not a weak moment on the entire album – okay The Shire (Part 3) is a bit throwaway but it only lasts just over a minute. Anyone who has a liking for Threshold should love this. The only problem is how they are going to top it next time.

more than 2 years ago
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adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Finally got around to giving this a full uninterrupted listen and I have to say I'm quite impressed. A good heavy sound with enough intricacies to warrant the long duration. Certainly one of the best fairly traditional prog metal albums I've heard in quite a while.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Agreed. Nine-minute songs featuring keyboards are not necessarily progressive. This album might still be a good album regardless of any label.

MorniumGoatahl wrote:

more than 2 years ago

@ voila_la_scorie, Personally speaking I don't find half the stuff that gets labelled as progressive to be really deserving of the label. Bands like Evergrey for instance, especially their later albums.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I have three albums and I didn't feel any of them were particularly, overtly progressive. But I love the cover art and your review further encourages me to check it out. Thanks!

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Psychedelicatessen is their best album easily, I wish they did more albums with Glynn Morgan. He really helped give that album an awesome power-thrash sound.

Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yes Nicole, Hypothetical was a hard album to beat but this one might just equal it. I thought Extinct Instinct was good but not one of their best. Adam, I'd suggest you check out Hypothetical next.

666sharon666 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Very good album. Their best since Hypothetical based on my early impressions.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I streamed the first half of this and was quite impressed. I don't know much about this band. I've heard their Extinct Instinct album which a friend of mine owns and the odd song otherwise. I'm of a mind to get to know their work better starting with this one.