Their best definitely?
There are only a handful of bands whose work I always look forward to with anticipation. Threshold are one such act and over the many years that I have been a fan of their music, I can honestly say that they have never let me down. Threshold’s ninth studio release ‘For The Journey’ can now be added to their great canon of music, as it is easily one of the best albums the band has recorded.
Again like all good records ‘For…’ takes quite a few spins before it gives up its melodic secrets but when it does – boy are you in for a treat. Richard West (keyboards), Karl Groom (guitars), Pete Morten (guitars), Damian Wilson (vocals), Steve Anderson (bass) and Johanne James (drums), have, after their triumphant return with ‘March Of Progress’ in 2012, cemented their place at the top of the Progressive Metal league table, with an album that keeps getting better, stronger and bigger with each successive play through. The production by Groom and West also enhances the songs on ‘For…’ until their dramatic musical vistas set up home in your subconscious. Only then do the complex interweaving melodies, hard hitting guitar riffs, emotion filled vocals and gripping rhythms really begin to make sense to you.
Space is limited so I cannot tell you about every song on the album (more the pity), so I’ll stick with just a few that I love. Opener ‘Watchtower Of The Moon’ has some amazing guitar work from Groom and Morton, their interplay becomes the backbone on which the vocal and keyboard melodies of this song are constructed. The epic twelve minutes of ‘The Box’ seems to fly by and in what seems like only a few moments, you’re no longer reveling in its full blown majesty. Wilson shines on this song and his emotional vocal delivery, brings the hidden depths of this wonderful song to the surface as you listen to it. ‘Turned To Dust’ is an up-tempo Melodic Rocker, with a great hook that you can’t help but join in with after only a few plays and finally I’d like to mention the closing track ‘Siren Sky’. This song screams Threshold, as all the elements you’ve come to expect from the band are here; complex arrangements, clever lyrics and incredible musicianship which have always been the band’s calling cards; the whole song is a stunning piece of music.
I said in my review of ‘March...’ that it was a triumph... in equal parts classy, thoughtful, emotive and intelligent and I posed the question “Threshold’s best”? I think now, that ‘For The Journey’ has taken that crown; their best definitely?
Ian Johnson
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