2022 Progradar’s Best Of The Year – The Editor’s Top 20

Your intrepid editor running a 24 hour event earlier in 2022.

As most of you know I am a very committed runner so the above picture is really my personal running highlight of 2022 (a 24 hour running event) but below you will find my top 20 albums of the year for 2022.

The first fifteen are in no particular order, they are just brilliant albums that I really enjoyed throughout the year but the final five are my definitive favourites of the year. So, without further ado, here we go…

David Longdon – Door One

A wonderful collection of songs that made a fitting and poignant epitaph for an amazing songwriter, musician and, above all, a wonderful man. I was lucky enough to meet David a few times and he was the least likely ‘rock star’ you could ever meet but, boy, what a voice and this album was the culmination of his musical career. One that was tragically cut too short.

Gandalf’s Fist – Widdershins

The ‘Clockwork Saga’ will always be seen as a monumental piece of work but, as a stand-alone release, ‘Widdershins’ sees Gandalf’s Fist at their absolute vibrant and dynamic best, every musician giving 100% and, while I’ve always been a fan of this very distinctive band, this new release sees them hitting an entirely new level.

Avandra – Prodigal

AVANDRA have created a thrilling and compelling take on the progressive-metal genre and one that is delivered with not a little expertise and finesse. ‘Prodigal’ is one of those intricate and influential albums that takes some understanding at first but when you peel back the final layer of this epic behemoth, it is a wonder to behold.

The Opening Song – Hidden Walls

Imagine music written like a classic novel of the 20’s and 30’s, there’s a wide eyed and wistful innocence that you just don’t get anymore in the world but behind that innocence, there’s also a world weary knowledge that the world isn’t always what you think it is or what you want it to be. ‘Hidden Walls’ is achingly beautiful but also wistfully painful at the same time. It’s made me quite emotional and that’s a rare thing but, isn’t what what music should do?

Comedy of Errors – Time Machine

After a long five year absence, ‘Time Machine’ is a fine return from one of progressive rock’s premier artists and an album that I am constantly revisiting. Cementing Comedy of Errors‘ status as one of the foremost artists in the genre, it is sure to be one of 2022’s most welcome releases.

Esthesis – Watching Worlds Collide

An object lesson in combining the stylish sensibilities of smokey jazz grooves with an almost 50’s noir film score to deliver a slick musical experience, all wrapped up in a sharp suit. Overall, ‘Watching Worlds Collide’ is a seriously good album with tons of Gallic flair, intelligence and inventiveness, it is also the coolest thing you are going to hear this year and I love it!

The Round Window – self-titled

A high quality release with wonderfully emotive songs and superb musicianship, this self-titled album may be The Round Window’s debut release but it shows a group of musicians who are already playing at a very high level and have creativity to burn. I can’t recommend it highly enough, this should be in everyone’s music collection…

Oak – The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise

Oak have a unique, innovative sound and you can hear it mature and transform on every album they release. Their approach to music is refreshing and sees them deliver meaningful music that has heart and soul and, with ‘The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise’, these talented musicians have created their most accomplished and consummate work yet.

Glass Hammer – At The Gate

Melodic, symphonic and, at times, monumentally heavy, ‘At The Gate’ is a superb, majestic leviathan of an album that enhances the band’s legacy as masters of the genre. This final instalment in the impressive trilogy brings things to a triumphant and proudly pompous conclusion, this is Glass Hammer at their finest, hugely expressive and sonically brilliant.

Threshold – Dividing Lines

For fans of the band it’s been a long five years since ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but when they return with an album as strong as ‘Dividing Lines’, you could say it has been worth the wait. Threshold are one of the pre-eminent proponents of prog-metal performing today and this fantastic new release has cemented their position right at the top of this particular musical tree.

VLMV – Sing With Abandon

There are times when you hear a piece of music that leaves you open mouthed in appreciation and, when I first heard ‘Sing With Abandon’ I was utterly stunned. Albums like this are more than mere music, they pervade your very soul, take over your life and almost bring you to tears at their beauty. VLMV have created something so good that it almost becomes a state of mind and I thank Pete Lambrou from the bottom of my heart for doing so.

Dim Gray – Firmament

I was seriously impressed with Dim Gray’s debut release ‘Flown’ but the last forty five minutes has shown me that this band have elevated themselves to another level entirely. ‘Firmament’ is a magnificent achievement, twelve songs that ebb and flow superbly and sum up perfectly what music is truly about. These three truly inspiring musicians have created something that is prime and organic, their music can get under your skin and influence your very moods and my life would truly be a much sadder place without it!

Ghost Of The Machine – Scissorgames

This superb album was reviewed for Progradar by my good friend Leo Trimming and I have to agree with every single one of his words:

Scissor Games‘ is a remarkable debut album. It clearly owes so much to earlier eras of Prog Rock but when it is done with this sheer amount of brio and skill, allied with powerful, impactful lyrics, then it is entirely valid and worthy as a piece of music and art. Many Prog fans will absolutely fall in love the style and emotional content of ‘Scissor Games‘ which will very probably be rightfully be regarded as one of the best debut progressive rock albums of 2022.

Gustaf Ljunggren with Skúli Sverrisson – Floreana

Philosophical and meditative, ‘Floreana’ will leave you in place of utter calm and leave you ruminating on life, the universe and just about everything. It’s as much about the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves and the state of mind that your are left in. To me, it is one of the surprises of the year so far and an album that I implore you to listen to at least once, trust me, it will be worth it…

Omega Point – A Great Escape

Matt Cohen has brought together a stellar group of musicians and, in Omega Point, created a powerful musical statement, close-knit and cohesive. ‘A Great Escape’ is another fantastic addition to the ranks of accomplished new releases we have already been lucky enough to hear in 2022 and can proudly hold its head high along with the best of them. Let’s hope this is just the start of things to come!

So that’s fifteen of the best albums I’ve heard in 2022 and they all rightly deserve a place in this review but now for the top five…

In fifth place:

Bjørn Riis – Everything to Everyone

Music can make a world that seems to be falling into monochrome light up and be revitalised with blazes of colour and vitality and this wondrous new album from musical maestro Bjørn Riis brings all that and more. Power, soul and grace are infused throughout its six tracks and combine to make it one of the outstanding releases of 2022 so far.

Fourth place was taken by:

The Tangent – Songs From The Hard Shoulder

‘Songs From The Hard Shoulder’ is just a wonderful piece of work, The Tangent at their brilliant best. People need some cheer in the world and music has the power to lift people, after just one listen to this amazing album I was smiling again. Andy and the band could just have released their most important record yet…

Now on to the top three, starting with:

cosmograf – Heroic Materials

The sumptuous, questioning ‘Heroic Materials’ is undeniably brilliant. Robin has laid his heart and soul, his whole being in fact, down as music. Emotive, melancholy at times, this record is a story and history at the same time. A plea for the future of the planet it may be but, above all, it is an immersive artistic triumph and one of the best releases of recent years.

And, as hard as I tried,I couldn’t split the final two so we have joint winners of my album of the year and I’m listing them arbitrarily by release date:

Joint First Album of the YearMarillion – An Hour Before it’s Dark

I have been a fan of Marillion for over three decades and, in a career of superlatives, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ can truly be seen as one of their most accomplished albums. It is an outstanding piece of music that the band should be incredibly proud of and, even though we are only in February, it will take something amazing to knock it off the top of my album of the year list.

Joint First Album of the Year – Galahad – The Last Great Adventurer

When music is as good as this and touches you in a very personal manner, it can’t really get any better. In my opinion Galahad have returned with what can only be described as a modern progressive masterpiece and one that will stand the test of time and should be remembered as being one of the best albums of recent years. It’s my joint first album of the year and I really can’t give it any higher praise than that.

So, in a year of high quality releases, this is my definitive top twenty, a collection of superb albums that would grace anyone’s music collection, tomorrow will see Progradar’s respected contributor John Wenlock-Smith’s top 20 albums and I am already looking forward to what 2023 will bring…

Review – Threshold – Dividing Lines

In a time when the world is in uproar and chaos we need something familiar, something grounded that we can keep hold of to steady ourselves and music is one of those things that can provide that stability. When one of your favourite bands releases a new album, like a familiar friend, it is something you really look forward to and cherish.

There is no other band that sounds like prog-metal stalwarts Threshold, their style of music, punchy, hard hitting and yet very melodic, sounds like nothing else and is instantly recognisable, but never mundane or monotonous. Their 12th full length album ‘Dividing Lines’, is set to be released on 18th November via Nuclear Blast Records.

Dividing Lines’ marks the second album since the return of former vocalist Glynn Morgan, who reunited with the band on their previous effort ‘Legends Of The Shires’ (2017)darker album than ‘Legends Of The Shires’, the band have described it as Legends’ darker, moodier older brother”.

There’s no band that can fuse the hard hitting punch and power of top level prog-metal with a classy melody quite like Threshold. The thunderous riffs of Karl Groom’s guitar combine perfectly with the granite-like rhythm session of Steve Anderson and Johanne James, deliciously monstrous and monolithic. Add in the compelling, almost lyrical keyboards, of Richard West and Glynn Morgan’s definitive and potent vocals and you have a the perfect combination.

A new album from Threshold is always an event worth waiting for and ‘Dividing Lines’ is no exception, the thunderous power of opener Haunted literally takes your breath away and opens the album on a very high note. Hall of Echoes takes that dynamism and adds a layer of sophistication, Karl’s guitar and Richard’s keyboards working in perfect unison on a track that is pure Threshold and Glynn’s vocals full of an emotive intensity, a brilliant song. Let It Burn and Silenced continue the run of superbly written and performed tracks, the former full of a brooding authority thanks to Glynn’s fine vocal performance and the the latter (the first single released from the album) a pure cut of perfect Threshold, short, sharp and in your face but with a melodic resonance running deep to its core. You can feel a sense of real unity throughout this album, the musicians in perfect sync and seemingly having a total blast and you can’t help but get caught up in that feeling. I found that, at first, ‘Dividing Lines’ lacked the immediacy of ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but repeated listens have shown that patience is key with this new release and there is real depth, particularly on tracks like The Domino Effect, a ten minute prog-metal masterpiece that showcases all that is best about Threshold. A song that ebbs and flows with real elegance that combines perfectly with superbly judged dynamism and has a wicked chorus to boot! The album really clicked for me after a few listens to this musical gem and, in my opinion, it is one of the band’s best tracks of recent years.

Edgy, punchy and in your face, Complex is hard hitting and high-powered. A staccato riff giving the song a compelling potency and Glynn’s vocals once again on top form. King of Nothing opens in a wistful manner but that soon changes into a stylish vitality and forceful dignity to bring us another excellent track with another memorable chorus. Then we come to a song that just defines everything Threshold have become, Lost Along The Way is a perfect slice of prog-metal magnificence and defines just what the band are all about. Flawlessly judged riffs with potency and intimacy and an impeccable melodic backbone from the super smooth synthesisers, Glynn’s wonderful vocals and a haunting chorus all combine with the excellent backing of one of the best rhythm sections around to deliver a masterclass. Run is a more hard rock oriented track but one that fits seamlessly into this ever impressive album and then we come to the album closer Defence Condition, another ten minute plus song full of spark and energy, a fast paced rollercoaster ride showcasing a band full of confidence, self-belief and a certainty in their ability.

For fans of the band it’s been a long five years since ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but when they return with an album as strong as ‘Dividing Lines’, you could say it has been worth the wait. Threshold are one of the pre-eminent proponents of prog-metal performing today and this fantastic new release has cemented their position right at the top of this particular musical tree.

Released 18th November, 2022.

Order the album here:

Threshold – Dividing Lines (bfan.link)

Threshold announce new album ‘Dividing Lines’+reveal first single & music video for ‘Silenced’

THRESHOLD return with their 12th full length album ‘Dividing Lines’, which is set to be released on 18th November via Nuclear Blast Records.

‘Dividing Lines’ marks the second album since the return of former vocalist Glynn Morgan, who reunited with the band on their previous effort ‘Legends Of The Shires’ (2017)darker album than ‘Legends Of The Shires’, the band have described it as Legends’ darker, moodier older brother”.

Get your first taste of the album with the single ‘Silenced’, which comes with a stunning new video.

Stream ‘Silenced’ on all platforms here: https://bfan.link/silenced

Richard West comments on the song: Silenced is about how we seem to be heading towards less voices, less artists, less venues, less platforms where everyone can be heard. People seem so scared to speak out or debate anything anymore. I know I sound old but I miss the good old days! When freedom of speech goes then society is lost.”

The video was filmed by Sitcom Soldiers in the UK who also filmed the band’s last video ‘Small Dark Lines’. The video portrays a boy coming up against a threatening foe, only defeating them by summoning a mighty scream (unsilenced).

Pre-order Dividing Lines here: https://bfan.link/dividing-lines
See below for available formats: 

FORMATS:
CD Digi
2 LP Gatefold – Black
2 LP Gatefold Gold
2 LP Gatefold Crystal Clear Orange Black Splatter
2 LP Gatefold Orange Black Marbled
2 LP Gatefold Transparent Red Black Splatter

THRESHOLD line up:
Glynn Morgan | vocals

Karl Groom | guitars

Richard West | keyboards

Steve Anderson | bass

Johanne James | drums

Threshold Announce London as part of their ‘Legends Of The Shires’ album tour!

UK progressive metal quintet THRESHOLD released their colossal double concept album ‘Legends Of The Shires’ on September 8th, 2017 through Nuclear Blast. It’s the band’s most successful album to date and was followed by a hugely successful 2-week European headline run with several sold out shows. Reasons enough, then, for the band to announce a second leg today. This time, though, THRESHOLD will be performing ‘Legends Of The Shires’ in its entirety and more. Special guests for this trek will be announced soon. Full tour dates are below.

Guitarist Karl Groom comments: “Far from the stereotypical image of being reserved, the UK THRESHOLD fans are some of the loudest in Europe now! We had a fantastic homecoming to the O2 Islington last time out and look forward to another great show in Autumn 2018.”

‘Legends Of The Shires’ Album Tour 2018
w/ special guests:

10.10. Colmar – Le Grillen (FR)
11.10. Pratteln – Z7 (CH)
12.10. Aschaffenburg – Colos-Saal (DE)
13.10. Zoetermeer – Boerderij (NL)
14.10. Hamburg – Markthalle (DE)
16.10. Jena – F-Haus (DE)
17.10. Prague – Nová Chmelnice (CZ)
18.10. Munich – Feierwerk (DE)
19.10. Mannheim – MS Connexion Complex (DE)
20.10. Essen – Turock (DE)
21.10. London – Islington Assembly Hall (UK)

More THRESHOLD dates:
01.05. CDN Québec, QC – Le Cercle (CA)
02.05. CDN Montréal, QC – Les Foufounes Électriques (CA)
05.05. USA Gettysburg, PA – Rites of Spring Festival (US)
13.07. D St. Goarshausen – Night of the Prog (DE)
14.07. D Rheine – Hypothalamus (DE)
08.09. I Veruno – 2Days Prog + 1 Festival (IT)
09.09. H Budapest – Rock On Festival (HU) *NEW* 

Order ‘Legends Of The Shires’ at the following locations:
Digital album: https://apple.co/2ufmPZ8
CD: http://bit.ly/2DPPfII
Limited Edition Gatefold Double Blue Vinyl: http://bit.ly/2pxb8Hz
Gatefold Double Black Vinyl: http://bit.ly/2pwxCbK
‘Legends Of The Shires’ T-Shirt: http://bit.ly/2IFjs0F

Interview with Karl Groom of Threshold – by Progradar

This year legendary British prog-metal stalwarts Threshold released their 11th album ‘Legends Of The Shires’ on the 8th September.

I interviewed founding member, songwriter and guitarist Karl Groom about the new release and a few other interesting questions came about…

Progradar – I think ‘Legends of the Shires’ is your best album yet but, as you wrote it, what are your thoughts?

Karl – All musicians think that their latest album is their greatest but, for me, it does have a real completeness in terms of both music and lyrics. It’s a concept album, not just lyrically (which is often the case) but musically and we tied the whole thing together. For me, that’s very satisfying, when you can listen from the first track on the album, The Shire 1, and got through to the last, Swallowed, and feel the music has the right dynamics to follow from one song to the other.

You just feel that there’s a completeness to that arrangement, and that, for me, is very satisfying. The only other album that came close to that was ‘Subsurface’. I can always find a good song or two that I really think are stand out songs on most albums but I want the whole thing to seem like a complete album, and that’s what stands out on this one.

P – I agree definitely. I’m 50 this year, ready for the pipe and slippers and it’s time to be a grumpy old man. What I think is a problem with a lot of the mainstream music nowadays is that it’s based around singles, they’re just picking one song. I want the album to be a journey.

K – Exactly, that’s the thing, it’s come back a little bit like it was back in the 80’s. Bands would front-load their album and say which are the best songs and just put them in that order. By the time you’re getting to the end of the album you’re thinking ‘oh my god!’ Even if they are all good songs, it sounds a bit jumbled and uncoordinated, you need that coordination and the album needs to be as important as the individual songs on it.

P – When you first started out, young and wide-eyed, in 1988 did you envisage releasing your 11th album over 20 years later?

K – We didn’t even set out to get signed to be honest. My wife was listening to some of the demos we made before we got signed and she wondered how the hell we managed to get signed! It was absolute tosh, it was dreadful. We were a covers band when we made those, learning to play guitar and so on, sort of bumming our way through a few Van Halen songs and Ratt and Whitesnake, whoever was in at the time. We made our way playing those and didn’t think about it at all, we just wrote a few songs, I think it was three, which were sort of within what we would call Threshold now.

Basically, because two of us loved metal and one love prog music, we accommodated everyone with that. A king of prog-metal as a meeting of the two musical styles rather than what you’d see as Prog-Metal now, which is a genre in its own right. We just mixed what our influences were and started writing songs. The guy from SI Music in Holland heard them and thought they were really good, he put one out on his compilation album through the magazine that he published at the time and said he was going to sign us the following year and we’d release an album. In the meantime, someone else heard it, which was Thomas Waber from InsideOut, he had another label in the UK called GEP and said we’ll sign you to that label.

So we signed to Giant Electric Pea and they didn’t expect us to sell any more than 500-1000 albums, so even at that stage we weren’t thinking about whether we’d made it or not. Within a month or so that first album had sold 15,000 so I think it was, at that stage, that we realised that things had taken off a bit more than we thought. We started thinking maybe we are a serious band and we’d better sort ourselves out and learn how to play live. We never, ever chased a deal, we naturally moved to InsideOut from GEP and when that contract came to an end Nuclear Blast approached us and said they’d like to offer us something. To be honest, we’re happy to stay there now and have signed the new contract to stay at Nuclear Blast for another three albums.

P – What do you put your longevity down to? Is it just luck or…

K – We were interested in playing music but we’re typical Brits who are very self-critical and don’t really think of ourselves too seriously. We just wanted to make music and hadn’t thought that someone else would want to hear it. Once that did come true we were thinking it was great, we can write albums and people will actually listen to them and we can release them, it was a gradual realisation. It gradually grew and now, I suppose, it feels normal. My greatest privilege is just to be able to communicate with people through the medium of music, it’s something that I always wanted, you know? If someone can take something from one of our albums or if it means something then it’s a real privilege to be able to do that.

P – The new album is described as ‘A colossal double concept album’, is there a quick way of telling us what the concept behind the album is?

K – It’s about how we find our place in the world, on a political or personal level, and how we relate to each other. To that end it’s really a dual concept album which is what gave us such inspiration to write the lyrics, or Richard anyway. As a political side you could take it as a country or a nation finding its way in the world and all the difficulties that come with that. England’s place in Europe was  vaguely an inspiration, I suppose, from all that happened last year.

On a personal level, it’s much the same sort of thing but looking at your thoughts of things you wish you hadn’t done, just a journey through life, someone finding their way in the world. That was able to give us a lot of scope all the way through the album, in terms of finding the concept. You see that demonstrated in the Small Dark Lines video which we’ve done and which partly illustrates what the album’s about, painting the lines on the people with black paint which represented their regrets in this case.

The small dark lines in the song also represent the borders between countries and how those are a little bit blurred these days. Those are many subjects we can touch on and it was really great to be able to demonstrate that in the video and find a way of doing it, to which end we put out an appeal to fans who wanted to be in the video. We got people travelling from as far away as Sweden, it was really successful, there must have been at least nine people in the video.

The only thing I will say is that, originally, we didn’t plan on torturing them, it wasn’t the idea to give them cold showers but there was only cold water available! It was in a warehouse near Manchester, it was freezing cold and raining on that day and their faces tell the story when they get hit by the water!

P – To me, and to other people I’ve spoken to who’ve heard the album, there seems to be more focus on the songs. Was that your intention when you originally got together to write the album?

K – As I’ve mentioned before, ‘Subsurface’ was my favourite album until now and that was because of that complete nature of the composition from beginning to end. Richard and I got together and on the last albums we’d had contributions from other band members, we wanted that, everyone was always welcome to write. For this one, they didn’t really come forward with anything, apart from Steve who wrote On the Edge, so it was a lot easier to control the whole dynamic of the album, the sound of it.

We got together when we were both ready to start writing, we were inspired, and we got to about an hour’s worth of music. I make complete demos of music and send them to Richard who then adds melodies and lyrics. We got to this stage where we’d finished that, around sixty minutes and I’d said that I’ve still got plenty of ideas, I don’t feel like I’m finished. Richard said that was good because he was building this really interesting concept and needed more music for that.

We just let it go naturally until we had about an hour and eighteen minutes. We didn’t have The Shire Part 1 or 3 at the time and developed those later. We ended up with an hour and twenty-three minutes of music which came as a natural situation at which point Richard mentioned that the label had said that if we were going to make an album they wanted to split it onto four sides of vinyl. I said we could probably just do but I’d want the songs to be in the correct order because we’re thinking about a concept.

I don’t want to take what would be okay on a CD and jumble it up to make it fit on four sides of the vinyl because you can only do twenty two minutes per side. Luckily it fitted in the correct order and that was it for us, there was one other thing that happened at the end when we were doing the lyrics that really convinced us that this was 100% right. We discovered that each song begins with L, O, T or S which is an acronym of Legends Of The Shires and we were amazed by that, it’s just a confirmation that this album is falling into place.

I love it when an album is musically, as well as lyrically, a concept, it may be a bit old fashioned and people may have forgotten about concept albums since the 70’s but I really love it when there’s a whole story and your drawn into it and you can turn the lights out and listen to the music late at night. I still do that with my wife sometimes, like teenagers, with some wine or beer out and just concentrating on music instead of having it as this background effect.

That’s the most important thing, there are a couple of Mike Oldfield albums we listen through from beginning to end and think ‘wow, that feels great’ and I wanted that experience. You’re drawn completely into the music, you forget where you are and what you’re doing, it’s all about the music. You’re drawn into the story and the atmosphere, you feel one thing is happening after another and that’s what special about this kind of album for me.

P – I think Legends is much more progressive than your recent releases, harking back to Dead Reackoning, was it a conscious decision when you were writing it to get that more progressive sound & feel, especially as it was going to be a concept album?

K – I think there’s a natural leaning with Threshold, I don’t know if it’s exact, that seems to be that we do a more straight ahead album followed by a more progressive album, it seems to alternate. ‘Dead Reckoning’ was a little more straighter after ‘Subsurface’ and then ‘March of Progress’ was quite involved. The last one (‘Fro The Journey’) was a bit more stark sounding and now ‘Legends’ is very much warm and progressive.

I don’t know if it was intentional but we always just let songs go and build themselves, we don’t say that we need a ten minute song. In fact I think that Richard would tell you that The Man Who Saw Through Time was nowhere near ten minutes when we started with the first idea. It just developed as it went on and that’s always been the case, I do like the progressive elements. It was Nick and I who liked the metal side of music and Jon Jeary (the original bass player) that liked progressive.

He’s the one that got us into that music but, after I found out about it, I really did get to enjoy Genesis albums and, through that, the freedom to express myself in the way of arrangement so you’re not locked into verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus or whatever. They kind of go where the song needs to go and they don’t sit and worry about the details, they let the song lead itself. You don’t think and worry about the arrangement, it happens and if it happens to be a three minute song, that’s fair enough if it works that way and if it’s longer, it’s longer.

I suppose you get used to writing longer songs so you know what it takes but we do like to mix that up and, particularly once we’d got to 60 minutes and we were still writing, there was a feeling from Richard and I that we wanted this to be a more progressive album as we wanted it to be a concept. We did lean towards that, in some ways, without thinking about it too much. We already had The Man Who Saw Through Time and Lost In Translation at that stage, those songs were already there. If you’ve got 22 minutes on two songs then you’re already on your way to something progressive, aren’t you? You can’t avoid it.

P – You’ve still got some shorter, harder rocking tracks like Small Dark Lines on there, you get a really good mix between them all, it all seems to flow really nicely.

K – I think Snowblind is one of my favourites as well, it’s got harder moments and it’s almost like a microcosm of Threshold on this album. It involves the hard, the heavy, the delicate and the emotional sides of the music, all combined into one song and compressed into 7 minutes. It was really interesting to create that sort of thing all into one track, it just sort of came together in the right way. I’m really looking forward to trying to play that one live!

PWho influenced your career at the start and who’s music would you spend your own money on now?

K – Before we were together, my wife really liked My Dying Bride and I’ve really got into them because of her. I’d never considered listening to it because doom metal’s kind of alright when it’s Candlemass or whatever but it just wasn’t my thing. When I heard them I completely got it the first time I listened to it, I just understood the atmosphere and the music and when I found out where they came from I thought you could feel it in the music. You can envisage the moors and the cold, dank nights and the misery and I loved the way that they painted the picture through their music and the way the sound sort of envelops you.

That’s been something I’ve really been into more recently and love Mike Oldfield because of the electronic side of the music and the way he’s able to build layers. I know it’s a different style of music to Threshold completely but it taught me how you could make music interesting instead of just coming back to a verse again. Why not have something different, maybe an extra layer or something, it’s the way he builds the songs so carefully. It sounds simple but there’s a huge amount involved in it and I learned from that electronic music what was so important about layering music and making it interesting in the arrangement.

From the beginning it was just metal, particularly Testament from the album ‘Low’ and beyond. I suppose if I listened to guitarists it was melodic guitarists, Dave Gilmour and Steve Lukather. I never liked those bands in the 80’s who would write a song where you’d be listening to it and then you’d fall off the edge of the song into a bunch of scales and the solo would have nothing to do with the song. You’d think why did he do that? I know people want to play fast but what’s the point? When I listen to ‘Toto IV’, even though it’s not a favourite Toto album of mine, I noticed that the guitar solos were so melodically driven, so brilliantly worked out and I thought that that’s what I want to do, I want to make a solo that’s got a relation to the song.

To that end I started writing guitar solos by putting the guitar down and taking the music out into the park on headphones and singing it onto a Dictaphone for either a keyboard or a guitar solo, whatever we want. I just start humming it or singing it and that would create the basis for the solo and you wouldn’t fall into the normal pattern where you start playing your guitar and you have certain patterns under your fingers that you always gravitate to, you can’t help it and that means all your solos ended up sounding the same. I now just ignore that and come back and add any technical bits later.

It’s about getting the basics right so someone who’s not a musician can enjoy your work as well. My little girl is only three and she listens to some of these albums we have on and when it comes to the solo she’ll go “advert! advert!” like the song has finished for her, she thinks it’s an advertisement in the middle of the song and then she’s waiting for the chorus to come back. I don’t want to be that, I want to be in a band where bits of the solo relate to the melody in the verses or the chorus and it’s a melody in its own right which keeps people interested, not some excuse for someone to go a bit crazy and play their fastest scales. That’s where that developed from, to keep that as a coherent part of the song and then you don’t feel like you’ve wasted maybe 10% of the album.

P – Just touching on progressive rock again, Steven Wilson has come out and said that being labelled ‘Prog’ has probably held his career back, do you think the ‘Prog-Metal’ label has affected Threshold in a negative way?

K – I don’t think that were so big that we could be held back by anything! How many times do you hear people talking about the revival of prog? Sometimes it’s a positive, sometimes it’s a negative. There are so many people willing to put down the prog fans and categorise them as anoraks that are in their 50’s or 60’s and have no interest in life. Why would you do that? I think they’re an incredibly loyal fanbase that are well-educated, which means you can actually write lyrics that mean something and they will understand them!

It’s a real bonus in my book to find those people and they tend to be there all the way through your career. You can have a pop band that will be gone in a year or two, I love having a fanbase that we can go to and they’re waiting to hear your next album. It’s a privilege, it shouldn’t be something you put down at all and I don’t think it’s held us back in any way.

P – That’s probably why you are onto your 11th album…

K – Threshold are good at what we do, if we tried to become commercial or try and follow some trend, we’re not going to as good as the other bands that do it. You’ve got to forge your own way, be creative and have your own sound, not somebody else’s. I think it’s great if someone hears the track Small Dark Lines on the radio and knows it’s Threshold, to me that’s a good thing. It’s like when I hear a Pink Floyd song and I know it’s them, it should be your own identifying stamp. I think it’s a brilliant thing and that’s what happens within prog.

P – Glynn Morgan has returned and replaced Damian Wilson on vocals, any particular reason why?

K – I can tell you what happened, we never wanted to make a statement because we’re not in the business of trying to put Damian down or anything, he’s a really valued member of the band and he did a fantastically good job. However, in October, after we’d played Prog Power Europe I was giving him a lift home to Oxford and he said to me “what sort of singer do you think would replace me?”, I didn’t really pay much attention and he gave me a few names and we left it at that and I said good night.

A couple of weeks later he turned up when I was working on something in the studio and said that he’d decided to leave the band and it was then that I realised that I’d missed that, I’d missed him telling me that he was leaving the band completely! He gave me names of these people that he thought might replace him and I never want to be in the position of chasing people to be in the band. As I’ve said, I feel privileged to be able to play music to the people who want to listen to it and I wouldn’t want to put him in a position where we’re chasing him.

Threshold is something that’s special to me and if he’d come to the point where he felt he’d got other things to do or you don’t want to be in the band then that’s great, he’s done a brilliant job and we’ll move on. When I spoke to Richard later, I said to him that Damian had decided he was moving on and I don’t really want to take on one of these people he’s suggested, what do you think if we ask Glynn again?

I know he wanted to rejoin the last time Damian had come back. He’d found out afterwards that Mac had left and he was interested but it was too late then. In 2008/2009 we did some work with him on our ‘Paradox’ singles boxset on a couple of the tracks and it was great. I’d always loved Glynn’s voice and the three singers we’ve had are the singers I’ve wanted so if Damian leaves and, unfortunately, Mac is no longer available, it would be brilliant if Glynn came back.

Richard had been in contact with him not long before that and when we spoke to him he was over the moon and, as he said in his statement, he really wanted to get involved again. I thought that his enthusiasm was something you just can’t turn down. As the story goes, Damian changed his mind a few weeks later and wanted to come back to the band. I never really got a satisfactory answer as to why he wanted to leave or come back, he rang Richard this time and said he wanted to come back.

He actually did come back to start recording the new album but he didn’t finish it and we didn’t have any dates from him to come back. We did a show in Switzerland and the atmosphere in the band was just different, we knew he’d wanted to go and then he sort of came back but didn’t want to do certain dates that we’d tried to book to finish the album, he wasn’t available for those. It just seemed like we were in competition with something else  and I said to Richard we would have to find someone who wanted to do what the four of us wanted to do, the rest of the band.

We want to do things, we don’t want to be inactive, we’re not that young that we can be sitting around for years doing nothing. We told Damian we’d have to move on and I don’t know if he wanted to leave or not or whether he didn’t like the idea of looking bad on social media. I’m not sure whether he really wanted to come back or not, I don’t know what it was but it wasn’t really a good fit once he’d decided he wanted to leave and we just thought that, even though we don’t want to fall out with Damian we need to move on.

He still wants to meet up and chat again, we’re not on bad terms. I don’t know if he was expecting it or not but we said, in the light of what had happened, we’re going to move on and we’re going to find someone who wants to be in the band all the time and it worked out, it fits Glynn perfectly, with the extra power he has, on this new album and it works well.

P – Talking about people coming back, Jon (Jeary) makes an appearance on The Shire (Part 3), how did that come about?

K – I’m still in contact with Jon often, we meet as families, with his children and mine, and we’re still great friends. I know he loves Threshold because he bought some of the albums until he told me and I started giving him some, he still likes the music. He didn’t want to be involved in touring back then and I always wondered if I could drag him back in.

We’d demoed every other song on the album with female vocals, we got Richard’s wife to do it as she’s a really good singer and that stops us getting boxed in with any particular vocalist when we’re writing. When we did The Shire (Part 3) she wasn’t available to do the vocals so Richard did it himself and I thought it sounded a bit like Jon. I wondered if I could convince him to sing on it and Richard said good luck with that one so I contacted him and asked him if he’d consider doing this vocal for us and sing it how he feet.

I Think he was flattered as he was the original singer for Threshold when we were a pub band and coming back as a singer was very different to coming back as the bassist. He really enjoyed it, he came after work one night, put the vocals down and it went brilliantly, it was really good to be connected back with Jon. He was such an important formative part of Threshold, he wrote the majority of the lyrics for the first six albums, titled the albums and even came up with the band name.

Even though he didn’t like the touring and what that entailed, he always loved the music. The next step is, if we ever get to playing that track live, to maybe drag him up to London to sing on it, let’s see what he thinks about that one!

 

P – I really appreciate you talking to me Karl, the last question, what’s next for Threshold and yourself? Are you already thinking of the next album?

K – When I get back from the back of beyond (Serbia) I’ll be getting ready for our tour , planning things for Glynn such as what bits of guitar he might play on the tour in November and December. We’ve started arranging festivals for next year and then we’ll see what comes.

Richard and I have always left writing the music for a new album to the point when we’re actually ready to do it, rather than setting a date for it. It’s hard enough to make an album which works, you never feel fully in control of what’s happening, even with the best of intentions and being fully inspired, it might not go exactly as you want it to.

I always feel you have to be completely 100% ready and you’ve got to put everything into it to make it special otherwise why would you bother? We always wait until it’s a natural process, by the time we’ve finished the touring process for an album we’re ready to start thinking about a new one and you get inspired again.

You can order ‘Legends Of The Shire’ in various formats from Nuclear Blast here

Here’s my original review of the album:

Review – Threshold – Legends Of The Shires – by Progradar

 

 

Threshold Announce Manchester show

British Prog Rockers THRESHOLD have announced a third UK date as part of their European ‘Legends Of The Shires’ Tour. The band will play Manchester on Saturday 18th November at the Rebellion Rock Bar venue.

“We’re really stoked to add a third UK show to our Legends tour. Our home fans are amazing and we can’t wait to share our new songs with you.” Richard West

Tickets are on sale now available from the following link:
http://www.seetickets.com/event/threshold/rebellion-rock-bar/1141629
Don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/607841926053034/

Threshold have been gearing up to release their first ever double album ‘Legends Of The Shires’ which will be released world wide on Nuclear Blast 8th September.
They recently released the official video for ‘Small Dark Lines’, check it out here:

Listen to the 10 minute epic first single ‘Lost In Translation‘ here:

The band will also be playing a London headline show in December as well as performing at HRH Prog in Wales in November. Don’t miss the chance to see these brand new tracks come to life for the first time.

Get tickets for HRH Prog in Wales on Nov 17th here:
https://www.hrhprog.com/tickets.htm
Catch the band on December 10th at O2 Academy Islington. Tickets here:
http://www.songkick.com/concerts/28850284-threshold-at-o2-academy-islington

Pre-order Legends Of The Shires:
Limited Edition Gatefold Double NB Anniversary Green Vinyl inc signed insert from the Nuclear Blast UK store:  http://bit.ly/ThresholdShop
Limited Edition Digipack CD and Limited Edition Gatefold Double Vinyl inc signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk:  http://bit.ly/RSThresholdl

Review – Threshold – Legends Of The Shires – by Progradar

Threshold return with their 11th full length release ‘Legend Of The Shires’. One of progressive metal’s most enduring bands formed in 1988 and released their first album in 1993, twenty four years later their “colossal double concept album” sees them stretching the boundaries of the genre once again.

Described as “A monster of an album…” by Threshold’s Richard West, it is also the band’s first ever double album.

If that wasn’t enough to get me drooling then the outstanding artwork by Russian artist Elena Dudina only heightened the anticipation even more. Of the art Richard also had this to say, “I love it when a cover tells you what sort of record you’re buying. This one really shouts “progressive” and reminds me of some of the classic prog albums from the 20th century.”

With vocalist Damian Wilson moving to pastures new and the return of Glynn Morgan to fill his substantial shoes (more of that in my interview with Karl Groom coming soon) the scene has been set for one of 2017’s most eagerly awaited releases…

Legends Of The Shires’ is possibly Threshold’s most complete album yet which, with a back catalogue like theirs, is really saying something. It flows from beginning to end, like one complete musical journey and is a true concept in both musical and lyrical terms. A concept loosely based on our country’s current position in the wider world and also how we, as individuals, fit into the wider scheme of things is worked intelligently into some of the band’s best recorded material of the last few years.

Keyboardist West and guitar guru Karl Groom are the main songwriting masterminds and, as well as Glynn (who also adds guitar parts), Johanne James (drums) and Steve Anderson (bass) make up the rest of the band. Production, engineering and mixing duties were also handled by Richard and Karl.

Richard discusses the new album title and whether or not the band were influenced by Tolkien:

The return of Glynn Morgan has added even more power to the vocals and yet he can also provide moments of sentiment and passion on tracks such as The Shire (Part2)State Of Independence and the emotive album closer Swallowed. Glynn also adds fervor and a rawness to hard riffing songs like the brilliant Small Dark Lines and the heavy On The Edge and Superior Machine.

The added emphasis on the song and the soundscapes is wholly evident on the two heavily prog-infused epics that grace this great album. The superb The Man Who Saw Through Time was never intended to be a longer track but just evolved into the wonderful musical odyssey it has become. An involving and powerful song which holds your attention and pulls at your heartstrings before opening up into a wide musical panorama with intricacy and vibrancy, you’ll find yourself transfixed. Lost In Translation is just over ten minutes of near musical perfection from the euphoric opening right through the hypnotic and entrancing verse and the addictive chorus to the uplifting close and the great interplay between Karl’s guitar and Richard’s keys, this is songwriting at its best.

There are no filler moments on the album, the progressive-metal standard Trust The Process has all the prerequisites than any such track should have and reminds me of Dream Theater at their original best and one of the stand-out tracks on this stand-out album is the exceptional Stars And Satellites with it’s Frost* like innovations and incredibly catchy chorus. Snowblind is another superior song with an exceptional musical narrative and one that I know Karl is especially pleased with.

Another highlight is the return of original bassist (and one-time vocalist) Jon Jeary who guests on vocals on the lovely The Shires (Part3) a delightful, if short, piece of music that compliments the rest of the tracks perfectly.

I make no excuses for my effusive praise of this new release from Threshold, ‘Legends Of The Shires’ is a triumphant return from one of the UK’s foremost progressive-metal artists and is an album where the song and the journey take precedence over technical wizardry and musical scales and deliver an expansive and immersive musical adventure that transfixes and captivates in equal measure. From beginning to end, the music flows perfectly and the album should ideally be consumed in one sitting, 2017 has given us some superlative musical releases already but, in ‘Legends Of The Shires’Threshold may just have delivered the finest one yet.

Released 8th September 2017

‘Legends Of The Shires’ is available to pre-order on a variety of formats from Nuclear Blast here:

 

 

 

 

 

THRESHOLD – RICHARD WEST DISCUSSES HAVING GLYNN MORGAN BACK ON VOCALS + THE CAMEO OF FOUNDER MEMBER JON JEARY

UK progressive metal quintet THRESHOLD are set to release their colossal double concept album Legends Of The Shires on September 8th via Nuclear Blast. In anticipation of the new release, the band have started rolling out trailers discussing various aspects of the album. In today’s trailer, keyboard player Richard West discusses Glynn Morgan returning to take on vocal duties for the first time since 1994’s Psychedelicatessen album, as well as the cameo appearance by founder member Jon Jeary:

Watch the stunning official video for ‘Small Dark Lines’,

Speaking about the track and video, Karl Groom commented: “The people at Sitcom Soldiers have created just the right atmosphere in our new video clip and it was an enjoyable experience to film for the band. We managed to find some excellent extras and tortured them with freezing showers in the clip, with some travelling as far as Sweden for the pleasure! It is great to have Glynn back in the band with Small Dark Lines showcasing all his power and versatility. This single should give people another glimpse into the double album Legends of the Shires and an idea of what is to come on release day 8 September 2017.”

Legends Of The Shires is available to pre-order on a variety of formats:

Limited Edition Gatefold Double NB Anniversary Green Vinyl inc signed insert from the Nuclear Blast UK store: http://bit.ly/ThresholdShop
Limited Edition Digipack CD and Limited Edition Gatefold Double Vinyl inc signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk: http://bit.ly/RSThreshold

One of THRESHOLD’s founder members Jon Jeary, who last performed with the band in 2002 also appears on the new album. Jon can be heard performing vocals on ‘The Shire (Part 3)’.

Speaking about his cameo, Jon commented: “I always look forward to hearing a new Threshold album and this time I’m doubly excited because Glynn will be singing and also, I am proud to say, there will be a small cameo vocal performance from me on ‘The Shire (part 3)’. It’s great to be able to appreciate what Threshold do now as one of their faithful army of fans and a privilege to make a small contribution.”

Jon Jeary was the band’s bassist and also performed backing vocals on songs such as ‘Eat The Unicorn’. He co-wrote a number of the band’s early classics, including ‘Sanity’s End’, ‘Into the Light’ and ‘The Ravages Of Time’Jon previously appeared on the THRESHOLD albums Wounded Land (1993) to Critical Mass (2002).

Catch the band on December 10th at O2 Academy Islington. Tickets here: http://www.songkick.com/concerts/28850284-threshold-at-o2-academy-islington

They will also be making an appearance at HRH Prog in Wales on Nov 17th. Buy tickets: https://www.hrhprog.com/tickets.html

Threshold Premiere Stunning Official Video For New Track ‘Small Dark Lines’

UK progressive metal quintet THRESHOLD are set to release their colossal double album Legends Of The Shires on September 8th via Nuclear Blast. In anticipation of the new release, the band are proud to announce the premiere of their stunning new video for ‘Small Dark Lines’. The video was directed by Sitcom Soldiers LTD, who developed a powerful narrative involving people from varying backgrounds marking their bodies with paint to symbolise their regrets in life. Water then cascades over them to wash away the lines, as if wiping the slate clean. Watch the band’s second offering from their much anticipated forthcoming album, here:

Speaking about the track and video, Karl Groom commented:  “The people at Sitcom Soldiers have created just the right atmosphere in our new video clip and it was an enjoyable experience to film for the band. We managed to find some excellent extras and tortured them with freezing showers in the clip, with some travelling as far as Sweden for the pleasure! It is great to have Glynn back in the band with Small Dark Lines showcasing all his power and versatility. This single should give people another glimpse into the double album Legends of the Shires and an idea of what is to come on release day 8 September 2017.”

Legends Of The Shires is available to pre-order on a variety of formats:

Limited Edition Gatefold Double NB Anniversary Green Vinyl inc signed insert from the Nuclear Blast UK store: http://bit.ly/ThresholdShop
Limited Edition Digipack CD and Limited Edition Gatefold Double Vinyl inc signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk: http://bit.ly/RSThreshold

THRESHOLD announce new album ‘Legends Of The Shires’ & unveil artwork. Listen to epic first single ‘Lost In Translation’

British Progressive icons THRESHOLD have announced their new album ‘Legends Of The Shires’ will be released via Nuclear Blast on 8th September.
Today the band unveiled the first single from the release, the ultra-Prog epic ‘ Lost In Translation’ which has a song length of over ten minutes!
Commented Threshold’s Richard West “We’ve made a monster of an album so we thought we should release a monster of a single! This epic really showcases the many sides of our sound and is a great prelude to our album release”

‘Legends Of The Shires’ will be the band’s eleventh studio album and their first ever double album; it also features Glynn Morgan back on vocal duties for the first time since 1996.

Check out the ethereal album artwork above by Russian artist Elena Dudina. Speaking about the artwork Richard West commented “I love it when a cover tells you what sort of record you’re buying. This one really shouts “progressive” and reminds me of some of the classic prog albums from the 20th century.”

Pre-order the album here on the limited edition formats below:  
Limited Edition 2CD Digipack (inc signed insert) from Recordstore:
http://www.recordstore.co.uk/search.html?term=threshold
Limited Gatefold Double Vinyl (inc signed insert) from Recordstore:
http://www.recordstore.co.uk/search.html?term=threshold
Limited Edition Gatefold Double NB Anniversary Green Vinyl (inc signed insert) from NB UK:
http://www.nuclearblaststore.co.uk/shop/nuclearblast/products.php?cat=4233

Or pre-order the album digitally on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/legends-of-the-shires/id1258208732

Tracklist for ‘Legends Of The Shires’:
CD 1:
1. The Shire (Part 1) 2:03
2.Small Dark Lines 5:24
3.The Man Who Saw Through Time 11:51
4.Trust The Process 8:44
5.Stars And Satellites 7:20
6.On The Edge 5:20

CD 2:
7. The Shire (Part 2) 5:24
8. Snowblind 7:03
9.Subliminal Freeways 4:51
10.State Of Independence 3:37
11. Superior Machine 5:01
12. The Shire (Part 3) 1:22
13. Lost In Translation 10:20
14. Swallowed 3:54

Threshold play HRH Prog in North Wales on 17th November – get your tickets here:
https://www.hrhprog.com/tickets.html 
The band also play a headline show at London’s o2 Islington Academy on 10th December – get your tickets here:
https://academymusicgroup.com/o2academyislington/events/924878/threshold-tickets  

More info:
www.thresh.net
www.facebook.com/threshold
http://nuclearblast.com/threshold-legends