Chill out Lake of Despond...
Honestly i've been noticing Threshold fans are very touchy when it comes to criticizing this album. I wasn't around when Dead Reckoning came out, maybe that's the reason why I missed it in the first place.
I'll tell you why criticizing Threshold is good : because they should be a world class band, yet they're barely known. Unless i've gotten it completely wrong, I think that these guys LONG for success, they're not trying to put out records for a few fans on the internet and stay locked in their basement. So... they, and some Threshold fans, should really start wondering what the hell is wrong, what they are missing. This, I have been doing for years.
Threshold changed my life, my vision of music, and I got "Pilot in the sky of dreams" tatooed on my forearm. So yes, I am a fan. I also am a long time musician, songwriter, and I listen to various stuff, so I tend to criticize a lot what I hear, especially from my favorite bands. And I agree with Smnvfdr, Dead Reckoning was better (I think), because it was so inspired and so efficient. All songs were killers. It really isn't the case with this album, and I think I understand why : Dead Reckoning was the achievement of the Threshold sound as we know it, with all the recipes they've been accumulating over the years : heavy riffs, catchy choruses, a few odd time signatures, solos, guitar/keyboard or two guitar unissons. Let's be honest, Threshold guitar/keyboards unissons always sounded like they were practicing their scales (the ones on The Art of Reason or Exposed are a joke), and two guitar unissons (Surface to Air, Chances, Narcissus) always made anyone around me laugh because of its ugliness. It's always been a patchwork of cheap licks, miles beneath early Dream Theater stuff, for instance. And as I said, they gave everything they had in Dead Reckoning.
I love a lot of stuff on March of Progress (Ashes, ROTTP although the 7/8 keyboard solo section is pretty much useless, Staring At The Sun, and my two favorite : Liberty Complacency Dependency and Don't Look Down). But MY GOD, just as they sing it, THEY MUST INVENTE AGAIN THEMSELVES ! Sticking to the exact same recipe is starting to sound ridiculous ! The writing is better, more consistent, the production is excellent, I love the electronic sound, the lyrics are great but :
- Karl Groom's well of inspiration for his solos and riffs is going dry. There's not much left here. He masters what he does perfectly, but he's been playing the EXACT SAME licks for twenty years ! Come on ! I don't think it is normal that I can predict note per note what a solo is going to sound like. Karl Groom is the only guitarist I know with whom this is possible. Drop the power chords ! Drop the endless triplet lick to end each solo ! Listen to some blues, some jazz, some Pagan's Mind, some Steve Lukather...
- The choruses from the Pete Morten's two songs really don't keep up with the rest of the album. I was even shocked to hear that the ending of Divinity simply sounds off key because Damian sings a 2nd over a 2b power chord (sorry, pretentious theory stuff), which creates a really unpleasant tension, that one might just call : bad taste, or basic songwriting mistake.
- The "classic Threshold heavy metal arrangements" on That's Why We Came simply kill the song. I LOVE Damian solo stuff. His ballads are great, Threshold ballads so far have been great, That's Why We Came is not.
I'll stop here. Wow, that looks like i've been crying my heart out here, but for 6 years i've been listening to this band, getting goosebumps at every chorus. As Richard West once said, Threshold's sound is OVERFLOWING. It is orgasmic until... until you ask yourself "why the hell did they just play that ? Why did they just ruin that part with some cheap proggy lick ? Some ugly uninspired solo ? With some cheap heavy metal riff ?"
I'll finish with saying that my wish is that they get rid of those few elements that have been, for too long now, making their music so uneven, and holding them back from being some of the greatest songwriters in the world today.
Love and respect,
Vincent