ProgCenter - Threshold 4/4 - March Of Progress (2012)

Today I will Post the last part of this 4 parts post about Threshold. March of Progress makes a major turning point for several reasons. I think this cover is something simply amazing. In my interpretation is like you're trying to catch something or someone beautiful and interesting that will give you joy, but your hands are tied/chained, so even if you try harder you will never catch what you wanted. In Threshold perspective the message is clear, when you have ideals, ideas and want to follow your decisions, you can't be chained to anything you need to open the chains and try to catch/achieve what you want.

One important thing changed from Dead Reckoning to March of Progress, has I have already said Andrew MacDermott quitted the band in 2007, because of a Kidney problem. Big Mac was readilly substituted for a previous vocalist of the band who entered the formation in 1992 but quitted in 1993, being Threshold vocalist in their first studio album, Wounded Land. As so Damian Wilson entered the band smoothly and fitting well the band.
 The band formation form 2009 to now, and crossing March of Progress is:

• Karl Groom - lead guitars (1988–present)
• Damian Wilson - lead vocals (1992-1993, 1996-1998, 2007–present)
• Richard West - keyboards (1992–present)
• Johanne James - drums (2000–present)
• Steve Anderson - bass (2003–present)
• Pete Morten - rhythm guitars (2007–present)

However in 2011 the band received some really bad news, Andrew MacDermott, got worse of his health condition and died with a kidney failure in August 3rd of that year, 2011. It left a feeling of sadness not only in the band, but in all the listeners of Threshold. Mac will always be remembered for all they've done to Threshold, for you to see how amazing is voice was, listen one of my all time favourite from Threshold - Avalon, from Critical Mass album(2002). Is one of my favourite songs, it gives me shivers, The pace is slow, but speeding, and some lines make you think

Returning to March of Progress, Damian Wilson fitted perfectly the band, The next post will be about another project Damian Wilson was involved, that will show you how good he is to. His voice however is different from Mac's voice, is I think heavier, stronger, but can't reach so well the lower notes, so some of the songs that had some doom atmosphere become less powerful with Damian, but allowed them to follow other lines. The music had some evolutions, that accompanied the entrance of Damian. The band knew how to adapt their sound to the new singer without loosing their identity.
The Track list form March of Progress is this one:

1. "Ashes" – 6:51 (Groom/West)
2. "Return Of The Thought Police" – 6:09 (Groom/West)
3. "Staring At The Sun" – 4:25 (West)
4. "Liberty, Complacency, Dependency" – 7:48 (Groom/West)
5. "Colophon" – 6:00 (West)
6. "The Hours" – 8:15 (West/Anderson)
7. "That's Why We Came" – 5:40 (Wilson)
8. "Don't Look Down" – 8:12 (Groom/West)
9. "Coda" – 5:24 (Morten)
10. "The Rubicon" - 10:25 (Groom/West)
11. "Divinity" (Morten) - 3:08

My favorite one from the album is The Hours, made me think a lot, however, the whole album as all the ones before are all simply amazing, one can listen any album from the first to last track and can't feel tired.
 Enjoy the videoclip taken from this album, the videoclip was made for a fan made competition asked by Threshold, with some adaptation it became the band official video clip, Staring at the Sun:

This Album ends this Threshold Post, when the new album appears surely I will talk more of them, or if I just want to share any of Threshold songs, even from album I didn't talk about.
As I said the next post will be about another band that counted with several good names, one you can call a super project, with Damian Wilson, Dan Swano, Russel Allen, Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Floor Jansen. This will allow you to figure out of which band am I talking about.

Stay Tuned

ProgCenter - Threshold 3/4 - Dead Reckoning (2007)

This Tuesday I will post the third part of the Threshold post. The third part for me came with Dead Reckoning, the band would hardly believe that this would be an album that wound bring them more fans, more public, and put Threshold on it's right place. I am one of the ones who knew Threshold only on Dead Reckning, had rediscovered the other albums later.

Dead Reckoning had this current line up and track list

• Karl Groom - lead guitars
• Richard West - keyboards
• Andrew "Mac" McDermott - lead vocals
• Johanne James - drums
• Steve Anderson - bass 

Track List

1. "Slipstream" – 4:54 (Groom/West) (feat. Dan Swanö)
2. "This Is Your Life" – 3:41 (West)
3. "Elusive" – 6:10 (Groom/West) (feat. Dan Swanö)
4. "Hollow" – 4:00 (West)
5. "Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams" – 9:46 (West)
6. "Fighting For Breath" – 8:16 (Groom/West)
7. "Disappear" – 4:17 (West)
8. "Safe To Fly" – 5:06 (Groom/West)
9. "One Degree Down" – 8:33 (Groom/West)
10. "Supermassive Black Hole" (Bonus Track)* - 3:08

This album makes a turning point in several things, the band follow is political view on lyrics, but now they also had some metaphoric stories and line, gives less linear musics, but as hard ans strong as before. Also some new subjects are added to lyrics, mainly the ones involving, good emotions, trust, partnership, belief. They now create a complete lesson on their songs. On their released single they release a rare thing on metal, at least not so seen, the drummer is a black one and the bassist seems to have any indian background, it's a multicultural band for sure. The Progressive elements are for me more evident than ever, all songs have their paces and rhythms.

On this album, Dan Swano (Edge of Sanity) appears in two songs, ading to that we still count with BIG Mac. However that would change Drastically and dramatically, in 2007 Andrew MacDermott left the band, didn't took long until the bad news came out, he was with somekind of disease in his kidneys. I will tell more on the last part of this Threshold post.

The song I will post was the first one I ever heard from Threshold and here you can see how a matter of trust, love, partnership, belief can be so easily related to a plane departing and all the troubles the plain senses with storms and so ever, and how it relates to any of us. It shows how our troublefree sky of dreams can suddenly become a torment and there is when is really important to have someone to hear us. I will put the Video Version, and right after the normal album version, enjoy.

Pilot in the Sky of Dreams

Official Videoclip

ProgCenter - Threshold 2/4 - Subsurface (2004)

Today I will talk about what I consider a second Phase on the career of Threshold
The one that comes with Subsurface album

On this Album, an also since 1998's album Clone, that the band had a new vocalist, Andrew MacDermott. Andre MacDermott, or just "Mac" was for me one of the best singers I've known in metal, singing with such passion, power and even tough being able to pass all the messages without eating words with bad diction, In the last part of this Threshold Post I will post what happened to Mac.

For now the complete line up of the band was this in subsurface:

• Karl Groom - lead guitars
• Nick Midson - rhythm guitars
• Richard West - keyboards
• Andrew "Mac" McDermott - lead vocals
• Johanne James - drums
• Steve Anderson - bass

And the track list is this one

1. "Mission Profile" (Karl Groom, Richard West) – 8:19
2. "Ground Control" (West) – 7:13
3. "Opium" (Groom, West) – 6:48
4. "Stop Dead" (West) – 4:21
5. "The Art Of Reason" (Groom, West) – 10:20
6. "Pressure" (Groom, Nick Midson, West) – 5:17
7. "Flags And Footprints" (West) – 4:54
8. "Static" (Groom, West) – 5:07
9. "The Destruction Of Words" (Groom, West) – 6:14
10. "What About Me" (Johanne James) – 4:21 (bonus track)

This album was clearly more into Progressive sound, longer musics, change of musical pace and sound atmosphere changing within the music, all that completing the lyrics to give a full symbiotic sound,
This album is for me one of the most political, anti-corruption and meanigful album that I ever heard. IT can sometimes seem really harsh and lyrically violent, but every word and every meaning obliges us to stop and think, what do we want this World to be for us and for our descendants?
Listen one sample, Mission Profile, the number 1 track of this album.

and if you want to see the lyrics in full

Can we go on?
Can we be strong?

We've got a system, you're going to use it
We call it freedom and you are free to choose it
If you're not against it, you've got to be for it
Neutral is dangerous and you cannot ignore it

Can we go on? Forcing our hand
Can we be strong? 'Til others understand
Can we go on? To save our wounded land
Can we be wrong?

We've got the money, we're going to spend it
Peace is our mission, we'll murder to defend it
Sooner or later you'll get the picture
We're the creator and you were just created

Devastation, is where we're heading if we follow this illusion
Escalation, of all the hurting that is borne of our confusion
Unrelenting, as we persist in putting everyone beneath us
Never ending, until we understand our honesty deceives us

There is still one truth on which we can depend
We've started something we can never end

We know although we try to justify the means
The truth behind the end remains unseen
And while we all assume we all agree
We're giving up the freedom to be free

Disillusion is always possible but we've got propaganda
Mass confusion is always better than the threat of understanding
We'll deceive you, we've got so many ways to make you stand behind us
If we need to, we'll use them on ourselves to constantly remind us

There is just one lie that we can still defend
We've started something we can never end

We know although we try to justify the means
The truth behind the end remains unseen
And while we all assume we all agree
We're giving up the freedom to be free

There is still one truth on which we can depend
We've started something we can never end

We know although we try to justify the means
The truth behind the end remains unseen
And while we all assume we all agree
We're giving up the freedom to be free

The freedom to be free
The freedom to be free

Can we go on? Forcing our hand
Can we be strong? 'Til others understand
Can we go on? To save our wounded land
Can we be wrong?

ProgCenter - Threshold 1/4 - Psychedelicatessen (1994)

Today I will start a theme that will have 4 different posts. Why 4 do you ask? because the next band I am talking next, can be divided in 4 different parts, maybe even 4, but I'm only focusing on musical/voice aspects

Threshold are a real singular band, It won't be easy for you to find a similar band as Threshold. With a Political oriented music and lyrics, with a cadence that follows the differente rythm of each part on any song, this Band formed in Surrey, UK in 1988 released by now 10 studio albums, being their current line up the following

• Karl Groom - lead guitars (the oldest in the band)
• Richard West - keyboards
• Johanne James - drums
• Steve Anderson - bass
• Pete Morten - rhythm guitars
• Damian Wilson - lead vocals

I will not talk about their first work, but I will talk about the 1994 album Psychedelicatessen.

This name could be a name for a german progressive band single, but no, is from the English band Threshold. In 1994 the band formation was this one

• Karl Groom - lead guitars
• Jon Jeary - bass
• Nick Midson - rhythm guitars
• Richard West - keyboards
• Nick Harradence - drums
• Glynn Morgan - lead vocals

The reason I'm talking of this album is because this is the only album with Glynn Morgan on vocals and the most raw and harsh album I know from them. With clear influence form the heavy metal and hard rock, that was being made back then in the early 1990's. The progressive elements are present, but not as much as in future albums. 

Psychedelicatessen track list is this one:

1. "Sunseeker" (Karl Groom, Jon Jeary, Nick Midson, Richard West) – 7:38
2. "A Tension of Souls" (Groom, Jeary) – 7:10
3. "Into the Light" (Groom, Jeary) – 10:00
4. "Will to Give" (Glyn Morgan) – 4:54
5. "Under the Sun" (West) – 3:05
6. "Babylon Rising" (Groom, Jeary) – 4:42
7. "He Is I Am" (Groom, Jeary) – 5:51
8. "Innocent" (Morgan) – 4:43
9. "Devoted" (Groom, Jeary) – 7:32
10. "Lost" (Jeary) - 2:41
11. Intervention (Groom, Jeary, Midson) - 7:53

 Here is one of the songs that I like on this album, is by far one of least albums that I like from Threshold, but from here we can identify some important influences from the divergence their sound makes a bit from here. The music that follows is He is I am, track number 7 from Psychedelicatessen

Soon I will post the part 2 of this theme about Threshold