Threshold return with their 12th full length release ‘Dividing Lines’.
One of progressive metal’s most enduring bands who released their first album
in 1993, twenty nine years later their new album sees them stretching
the boundaries of the genre once again.
Founded by guitarist Karl Groom in southern England in 1988, Threshold
were a unique proposition from the start. Driven forward by youthful confidence
and verve, they swiftly became the UK’s premier purveyors of adventurous
and progressive metal and have remained at the top of that tree
for the best part of three decades. From early albums like Wounded Land
(1993) and Psychedelicatessen (1994) through to more recent triumphs like
2014’s acclaimed For The Journey and Legend of the Shires (2017) the band’s
reputation has been built upon the sheer strength of their songwriting, collective
chemistry and fervent disregard for following passing trends. As a result,
Threshold are as revered and respected as they have ever been.
But nothing runs smoothly, even in the virtuoso world of prog metal, and as
the band approached the making of their 11th studio album, they found themselves
a man down, as Damian Wilson – vocalist with Threshold on three
separate occasions, including the last decade of the band’s career – abruptly
departed. Considering the tragic loss of another former vocalist, Andrew
‘Mac’ MacDermott, who sadly passed away in 2011, Threshold have not had
the greatest of fortune when it comes to retaining their vocalists and, arguably,
a lesser band would have crumbled in the face of a potentially damaging
line-up shuffle, but as keyboardist and Groom’s songwriting comrade Richard
West explains, there was one obvious solution to this latest setback: for their
2017 album, Legends Of The Shires, Threshold – completed by drummer Johanne
James and bassist Steve Anderson - welcomed former singer Glynn
Morgan back into the fold, for the first time since fan-favourite full-length
Psychedelicatessen in 1994.
With Glynn Morgan stamping his vocal authority all over their new album
‘Dividing Lines’, it seems that the magical chemistry that has always been a
major part of Threshold’s appeal has truly settled around the band’s freshly
retooled line-up.. As far as Richard West is concerned, the future for these
dogged veterans has never seemed brighter. The legend continues…