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Ever since Andrew 'Mac' MacDermott took over the
vocals of Threshold, they have gone from strength to strength.
With this their latest album they have gone one further than previous albums, and have shown a more melodic.
Don’t
get me wrong they haven’t gone all Journey on us, they have simply given the genre a more wider
spectrum while retaining that hard edge.
The opening track 'Mission Profile' is an excellent way to start the
album.
The mix of keyboards and guitar lead well into Mac's passionate
vocal style which compliments the guitar of Karl Groom really well and is
apparent throughout the album. 'Ground Control' has to be one of my
favourite tracks on the album, (and there are many), with its varying tempo
changes and intricate guitar work.
Another favourite of mine is 'Opium'
with its melodic undertones which are beefed up by superb bass and drums in
the middle of the track, then a flurry of guitar and keyboard to give it
another dimension before returning to some meaningful vocals from Mac.
'Stop
Dead' is a more vocal oriented track and hasn’t got as many guitar breaks
as you come to expect from a Prog Metal band.
Perhaps because of this Macs
vocals are left to shine and shows the bands mellower side.
In total
contrast to the last track 'The Art Of Reason' is full of various changes
in moods and tempo and is a great example of how a Progressive Metal track
should be. It may be over ten minutes long,
but it has that many changes that
you don’t notice the length when listening to it, which is an art in
itself.
If
you buy the limited edition of this release then 'Pressure' is included twice, first as the
song, and secondly as the multimedia bonus video. 'Flags And
Footprints' is a ballad that any band would be proud of and shows the true
versatility of Macs voice. 'Static' has some of the best guitar riffs on
the whole album. 'The Destruction Of Worlds' is another high quality
ballad.
The bonus track on this special edition version of the album is
another fantastic track called 'What About Us'.
This was originally written by
drummer Johanne for the band Kyrb Grinder, where he is both singer and
drummer, and has been given the Threshold treatment and is a well
worthy bonus track. All
told it's
no wonder this album has been the album of the month in several magazines
around the world.
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