CLONE

Wow! Right from the very first song "Freaks" it's obvious that this album is something special. The opening track as well as the whole CD deals with the subject of cloning. The lyrics are saying; "Yes we will create some freaks!". And I think they are right. It's better to let the nature have it's own ways. The heavy guitar riffs are better then ever, and the new singer Andrew McDermott is better than both their previous singers Damian Wilson and Glynn Morgan are. They were great singers too, but Andrew's voice is very powerful and he's a perfect replacement! I just hope that he will stay in the band forever.

It's hard to tell which album is the best, their debut album "Wounded Land" (1993) or "Clone". Maybe you shouldn't compare them to each other, as they are very different in style. "Wounded Land" was very pompous and closer to progressive rock where "Clone" is more heavy Prog Metal. The production though is much better on "Clone". The album has got a very clear and crisp sound, which I think is necessary, especially when it comes to Prog Metal. Prog Metal has to be very powerful, and a good production is therefor a need. As always, Threshold are not forgetting the strong melodies and great arrangements that sets them apart from many other over-technical progressive metal bands.

The music on this CD is somewhere between Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, Genesis, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Queensryche, Shadow Gallery, Spock's Beard and Yes. The musicians are as always very talented. This is one of those CD's that you can't name any favourites on, as the whole album is just excellent! "Goodbye Mother Earth" and "Voyager II" though are really excellent tracks.

I can't say anything else but: Buy this CD if you're into Symphonic Progressive Metal, and I assure you that you will enjoy it. Threshold is Prog Metal at its best, and with this release I think they deserves the same attention as Dream Theater. This is one of the best Prog Metal releases for 1998. Highly recommended!

Wif, waf, wof...not legendary.

I guess the weakest of the pile with Mac Dermott as the singer. It's just not as progressive as Extinct Instinct and not as melodious as Critical Mass. But still good in some parts, no doubt. The songs are not as flashy or catchy as they treated us with the later albums.

Mac Dermott singing is more conventional and gives more commercial potential. Most of the listeners will have no problem to like his vocals, but Wilson gave us more marginal stuff back then. A lot of the black and white coldness disappeared to more use of choruses (Life's too Good).

There's not a song here that part from the herd as live material, but some of them are low quality.

Good songs + not so good ones = an even album.

I'm glad this wasn't cloned. It's not essential or progressive at all.

Most of the songs sound the same... pop-metal with a grating distored rhythm guitar tone thats irratating. "Freaks", "Voyager II", and "The Latent Gene" are tolerable. But the rest of the disc is average to ghastly. "Change" is very commerical sounding, and the chorus of "Life's Too Good" is horrid.

Don't waste your time or money on this.

I know this band since 2002, and i'm starting to apreciate more and more this band from England. First, this is one of top bands in prog music. In my opinion this is not a masterpiece but good enough to listen every time you need a good music. The first album with Andrew McDermott. He replaced Damian Wilson, and i think he fits very well in the music they play. Description of the music is a little bit of power and a little bit of prog, combine the result is a damn good one. The high light of the album for me is The latent gene, but all tracks are well played with catchy choruses and instrumental sections. 4 stars for sure

or When things fell into place...

Yet another change of staff for this band, but, as for previous changes, this one was for the better. Enter lead vocalist Andrew "Mac" McDermott. The perfect choice for Threshold. Don't get me wrong, I think Damian Wilson is a great singer, but I find Mac's voice is THE voice for this band.

Musically, this album is the one that paved the way for the band's future. It is the album with which they really defined their sound, their signature style. And, what makes it even better is the fact that it is a concept album. Without a doubt their most prog metal album up to that point.

Unfortunately this was to be drummer Mark Heany's last album, and he offered a good performance. Fortunately his replacement, in the person of Johanne James, is more than suitable and adequate for the seat. In fact I find he is better than Heany.

If you are familiar with and like Threshold but don't own this album, do not hesitate to buy this one. It is as good as Hypothetical, Critical Mass and Subsurface, although a bit heavier.

If you are not familiar with them, this might be a good place to get acquainted with the band (along with the 3 other albums I mentionned as they are at least of equal quality when not better).

As far as progressive "metal" album, this album by Threshold is something that we need to consider as one of good albums in the end of nineties. This album I bought mistakenly due to good review at the time on the net and progressive metal was not something that I was into at all until I knew Dream Theater - sometime in 1995 / 96? Not quite sure. When this album was released I was actually in position to like this album but it was not and I put it somewhere at my CD shelf. I even complained that the music was too raw for me to digest.

But that was the past .. and now .. having been exposed to many vatious kinds of heavy music like power metal, progressive metal and even thrash metal, finally I can appreciate this album. Perception changes, of course. Still, I feel like this album is raw but I think I can enjoy the music, overall. One thing for sure I like the guitar riffs and melodies produced by double guitar players Karl Groom and Nick Midson combined with powerful and transparent voice of Andrew McDermott. The combined work of double guitars and pulsating keyboard work of Richard West is also a strong point for this album You can easily refer to interlude part of "Angels".

Not only at music harmony that this album offers, it also has good melody and vocal harmony as demonstrated at "The Latent Gene" (track 3). This track also gives a symphonic flavor and a bit of bluesy guitar solo. It's a nice offering. "Lovelorn" combines ballad and heavy music in relatively slow tempo music. Yes, there is guitar riff accompanying McDermott's vocal but it stems from slow rock style. It's quite accessible track.

The band shows its power through an excellent composition "Voyager II" which combines heavy music with some powerful breaks with melodic singing style. The music moves into heavier part right after minute 2 plus but it comes back to soft part with a bit ambient nuance. Right in the middle of the track, West puts his keyboard solo beautifully combined with guitar work. It's an excellent composition and it's not too heavy and complex for most people, I think.

Overall, it's a good album with tight composition, energetic performance, powerful vocal line. For those of you who love progressive metal, this suits you. Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours, GW

I have to agree with "Melomaniac" that having "Mac" on board as the singer for THRESHOLD was a good move. I'm a big Damien Wilson fan but Mac's vocals seem to really suit this music.This record is pretty much a riff laden, in your face, metal-fest.

The guitar riffs and solos reminded me of JUDAS PRIEST(dual lead guitars too) on four different occasions, I felt this right away on the opening of "Freaks" a song that is riff heaven. "Angels" is one of my favourites. It's a great prog tune with time changes and mood shifts, lots of keyboards and guitars. Check out the heavy riffs before 3 minutes. "The Latent Gene" features some atmosphere to open and then the riffs come in. Some good vocal harmonies and heavy riffs throughout.The vocals with the riffs sound awesome !

"Lovelorn" is a slower paced, heavy tune with a wicked guitar solo. Amazing tune ! "Change" features a really good guitar passage that is both soaring and screaming. "Life's Too Good" is another favourite of mine. It's powerful and atmospheric with different paced riffs, an amazing song ! "Goodbye Mother Earth" is surprise ! A riff-fest ! "Voyager II" doesn't do as much for me as the others, it's slower paced with a keyboard solo. Still a good tune. The last song "Sunrise On Mars" doesn't sound at all like the previous songs, it's my least favourite.

If your into music that features a great vocalist with lots of powerful riffs, then check out "Clone".

The Beginning of a New Era

Threshold has always been a very high quality band. Although they were plagued with personnel changes and thier earlier releases, although quite enjoyable, didn't boast the highest production quality, or the best vocalists. After burning through two singers and three drummers, in 1998 Threshold released their groundbraking album, Clone.

This album marks the beginning of Threshold's signature sound. The keyboards are more modern, showcasing more synthetic sounds as opposed to the strings, piano, and choir-ish sounds from Wounded Land up to Extinct Instinct; the guitars have a warmer crunch and emit more emotion; the bass rises to new rhythmic heights and the drums are more energetic. I almost thought Johanne James was drumming on this album, but it turns out it's a much improved Mark Heaney. And finally, vocalist Andrew ''Mac'' McDermott proves to us that he is Threshold's best vocalist. Like Glynn Morgan, Mac sings in the lower registers, but what sets the two apart is the fact that Morgan always sounded a bit forced when trying to evoke emotion into certain passages of a song (''Innocent'', anyone?), but Mac maintains his voice, choosing to lock it up most of the time, except for the first verse of ''Freaks'' when he is almost shouting but still sounding like 100%.

Much of the album is heavy and fast (''Freaks'' and ''Life's Too Good''), and also somber. A couple of the songs are about genetic experimentation, ''The Latent Gene'' especially will keep you hooked. ''Angels'' is about changing yourself physically, and features good crunch from Nick Midson. ''Voyager II'' features a crazy keyboard intro from Richard West. And there's even a little ballad to close the album. ''Sunrise on Mars'' is one of my favorite songs by Threshold. Mac is at his best here, and exudes incredible emotiveness amid uplifting music.

This album would mark the beginning of a wonderful and classic era for Threshold. One that would sadly end 9 years later with Mac leaving the band.

My favourate record of Threshold.

The first one with Mac on vocals, this one is a concept record of wich I never fully understood the story line. But apparently so doesn't lyricist bassist Jon Jeary :)

The album is mostly mid-tempo avoiding the heavy metal cliches so often found in the follow-up albums. A definate highlight on this album is Bowie-esque Sunrise on Mars, wich features probably Karl's best solo ever.

This album has sadly not been remastered, and we're still waiting for it. Maybe the band can finally explain what the story is about.

Another great song on the album is Voyager II with it's dark foreboding ending with female vocals. Simply sublime.

5 stars!

UK prog metal band Threshold seem to have changed vocalists and drummers at alarming regularity. Clone saw the arrival of vocalist Andrew "Mac" McDermott which would give the band a much needed spell of stability in the vocal department at least and he would stay until 2007's Dead Reckoning.

The bands best album would be the following release Hypothetical where they got just the right balance between powerful riffs, a pleasing balance of keyboards and strong melodies. Clone can be seen as the precursor of that album and shares a similar sound and vibe. Very good it is too with some excellent tracks, the best generally speaking being the longer ones like The Latent Gene and Goodbye To Mother Earth where they can flex their musical muscles better and up the prog quotient. There's still much to enjoy in the shorter pieces though and Freaks makes a powerful and memorable opener.

Where it falls short of the excellent Hypothetical is simply in the quality of the riffs and tunes. As good as many of them are they lack the killer punch that the majority of songs on that album packed. Still if you enjoy Threshold this one's well worth checking out and is one of the better releases of the "Mac" years. 3 ½ stars.

Clone falls somewhere in between good and unsatisfactory. Crunchy rock like Freaks is mixed with cheesy songs like Angels. Sometimes, as in The Latent Gene, they even shift from a beautifully built tension to cringing inferior breaks within one song.

At best this album delivers decent repetitions of what they already did on previous albums: Freaks, Lovelorn, Life's Too Good are decent melodic metal, and The Latent Gene and Goodbye Mother Earth have their share of enjoyable moments. Overall I sure do miss the grace, emotion and inspiration that Damian Wilson had so plenty off.

For me this is the last Threshold album worth listening to. From this point onwards, an occasional song not withstanding, Threshold would continue the commercial and predictable metal FM-rock that first surfaces here and has nothing on offer that I want to be near to.

Threshold's 1998 album "Clone" is one of the better albums from the earlier period of the band. Right from the start it blazes with metal excellence on 'Freaks', one of the best songs on offer here. I especially like the Hammond sounds played so well by Richard West. Mac's vocals are certainly in fine for throughout, clean and easy to listen to so that we can pick up the concept of DNA cloning and the dangers therein.

The songs have a strong melody and are driven by hammering riffs, such as with 'Angels'. It is great how the time sig switches midway through and moves into a new feel. The wah- wah lead is welcome, played by Karl Groom. The keyboard finesse of Richard West is on display here, one of the best most creative songs on the album.

As usual on a Threshold album there are lengthy splashes of instrumentation on lead guitar and keyboard. One of the best examples is on the 8 minute 'The Latent Gene'. It has a melodic hook on vocals but is equally on song in the breaks. The lead guitar soars to the stratosphere, and then the song switches into a quick tempo. It switches gears a few times and holds the interest throughout. Lyrics are concentric on DNA tampering and the mantra is "my generation's lost its patience." 'Lovelorn' has a stirring lead guitar intro, segueing into clean guitar picking and gentle vocals; "I can look at you and move you physically, I'm not the only one I cannot be, how can I touch you when I feel that you would break". The tension and release of soft verses and raucous chorus is a trademark of Threshold. Then they flow into extended soloing, the lead guitar really sings along those sustained effusive keyboard chords. I like how a different guitar solo sound follows to augment the melancholy atmosphere. This is backed up beautifully by a third solo over the main riff; an absolutely wonderful song. 'Change' is a more commercial sounding power ballad with a strong lead break that lifts it up considerably. It is followed by 'Life's Too Good', with spacey intro, and a fistful of metal riffs. It is great how the sig speeds and slows down at will, and then moves into harmonics on guitar in the instrumental break.

I like the science fiction themes inherent in the trilogy at the end of the album. 'Goodbye To Mother Earth' begins quietly with clean guitar picking and atmospheric keys. This is followed by a platter of vociferous guitar riffs that power it along. The vocals come in bang on cue spouting on about "the tower of Babel is fallen from the sky" and "chemical weapons, the perfect inspection is out of your hands, under protection in enemy lands." The riff breaks eventually to make way for a gentle passage of ambient elegance. The lyrics are profound; "Goodbye mother earth, you're no longer free, can't you see your situation, no one's there to cover you for all the things that you forgot, soon you'll find there's not much time to go." The next section with duel speedy riffs on an odd sig has a Dream Theater feel. The keyboard solo is akin to Pink Floyd, and the tasty guitar dishes out wonderful fire. "You brood of vipers" we hear in the vocals reminiscent of Jesus' words to the religious zealots of the day. The anger is personified in the music, and then it settles into spaciness and segues into the next track seamlessly. 'Voyager II' opens with a barrage of guitar chords over speedy keyboard runs. Again it settles with gentle guitars to make room for Mac's vocals. The chorus bang the gavel down with thunderous guitars and vox. It moves to an organic keyboard solo, sounding like Rudess' Continuum sound. Groom's lead guitar is not far away and he launches into a fret melting flurry of notes. The ending has NASA control voice overs, and then an extended coda of majestic vox over colossal metal chords. This is an incredible song and drives the nail home as one of Threshold's masterpieces.

The closing track is 'Sunrise On Mars' seguing from the last track, and opening with a grand melody reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Mac sings, "never thought I'd fall from grace, it's hard to tell you why it hurts or how to make it go away, so far away." The melancholy feel of being down is present but the song injects hope that things will get better, "I will give you rest and I'll restore your soul for sunrise on Mars." The lead break is as usual beautifully executed, more like David Gilmour than anything else I have heard from Groom.

Overall this is another of the better Threshold albums, not in the masterpiece category but still wonderful prog metal. The album has a fantastic quality production and ends with three of the best, and in some ways I wish the whole album was as progressive without the excursions into more poppier ballads. I have found that Threshold tend to lapse into a mainstream sound which are okay songs, but they are certainly better suited to the longer songs where they can unleash the furious keyboard and guitar attacks.

And so to Threshold's fourth studio album, and consequently the fourth with a different line-up. Damian sang on the debut, then left only to return to sing on the third, but by this time had departed again. None of us expected to see him fronting the band ever again but he did return in 2007 and has been there ever since. But, with this album we are back in 1998 and Threshold had a new frontman in Andrew 'Mac' McDermott. Now, I am a Damian fan through and through, but I would be the first to stand up and say that Mac more than filled the shoes and dominates on this album. It was during this period that I saw the band in concert more than any other, and playing this album after a break of a few years is like coming back to old friends. The songs are familiar, but only because I played this album to death when I first heard it, so it is really hard to be objective about it all.

Here is the perfect mix of guitars, keyboards and drums in a melodic metallic progtastic environment with a singer who knows exactly what he is about and then the whole package is wrapped up by the engineering and production skills of Karl Groom. Who on earth could wish for any more? This is not going to be suited to everyone's taste, as metalheads may argue that there is too much prog going on while the progheads will state that it is too metallic and there isn't enough noodling and self contemplation to make it worthwhile.

Me? I love it, from "Freaks" through to "Sunrise On Mars" I love it. Listen to "Change" to see what I mean. Here is a song that is controlled and slow in pace, yet there is passion in abundance and the guitar break is stunning but what makes it such an epic is the way that everyone plays their part and it all fits together so very well indeed. No-one could imagine that this is Mac's first album with the rest of the guys as he seems very much at home indeed. Yet again this is an essential release from the guys, now available again as a 'definitive edition' from Nuclear Blast with bonus songs. www.thresh.net

9/10

Now, this is the masterpiece I knew Threshold could give me. I mean, their previous albums were all great, but none I tried to give a rating of 5 stars, what happened to Clone. What explains this? I do not know, but maybe the Mac input is an important factor. Listening to him here I can see that the three vocalists the band has had it's definitely the best (even if Damian Wilson and Glynn Morgan are also great). It is sad to know that one of the best voices in the progressive metal bade farewell to the world in 2011, but I think a way to honor his memory is enjoying his work with the band here.

All songs are great in their own right. Well, I would say Lovelorn and Voyager II are slightly below average, but they are still good songs, then the level of the others is phenomenal. At the time of writing this just to hear once again the ballad Sunrise on Mars, and I feel compelled to say, this band knows how to make ballads! I know they can sound AOR, corny or whatever, but I have a weakness for this kind of music and Threshold can do very well. Other highlights are the great Angels, The Latent Gene, the ballad Goodbye to Change and Mother Earth.

4.5 stars \ o /

Threshold embarked on a brilliant phase in their career with the addition of the talented vocalist Andrew "Mac" McDermott in this album "Clone," leaving behind a period of constant singer changes.

"Clone" was produced by Karl Groom and Richard West. It was recorded at Thin Ice Studios in England. The artwork for the album cover was created by Ioannis, and the album was originally released in the year 1998 through the label InsideOut Music.

Musically, we find a much more focused Threshold, with considerably more addictive and well-composed songs than on their two previous albums, and Mac is absolutely dynamic, with a distinctive voice that fits perfectly into the band's sound.

Right from the impressive introduction Freaks, the album begins with tremendous quality, which is maintained throughout, with the exception of a few slightly weaker songs like Lovelorn and Voyager II (a bit repetitive in my opinion)

In any case, "Clone" stands as an excellent progressive metal album that undoubtedly marked a turning point in the career of this great British band, which would continue to improve on subsequent albums.

Best Tracks: Freaks (an addictive song with a fierce Mac ready to conquer the world), Angels (notable for its instrumental section, simply excellent, with an amazing keyboard and guitar solo), The Latent Gene (a true Threshold classic, perhaps the best song of their first four albums), Change (an spectacular chorus), and Life's Too Good (another song with superb instrumental and vocal work)

My Rating: ****

Clone is a significant landmark in the Threshold discography for two reasons: it's the last studio album they put out on Giant Electric Pea, the small neoprog-focused label they started out on, and it's the first one to feature the vocals of Andrew "Mac" McDermott, who counting this one would fill the role for five studio albums - more than any other lead vocalist they've had, at least the time I'm writing this.

So, how is he? Well, here he feels a touch more generic than Damian Wilson, but then again I thought the same of Glynn Morgan on Psychedelicatessen and then discovered he was able to get more into the swing of things on the live release Livedelica, so perhaps after this Mac would spread his wings a bit more. He's certainly competent at his craft, but as with Psychedelicatessen this is a case where you have a vocalist who is acceptable but not exceptional performing over a musical backing which, by and large, is more interesting.

Then again, like I said when I reviewed Psychedelicatessen, this is prog metal - a field which can sustain that sort of approach if the material's good enough. By and large it is, with a futuristic theme based around concerns about genetic engineering (and, perhaps more on point, concerns about whether such technology would be responsibly be used in the lassaiz-faire corporate environment of modern capitalism), supported by a darkly compelling musical backing. I found myself warming to Mac's voice by the end of Clone more than I'd warmed to Morgan's vocals on Psychedelicatessen - like I said, it took Livedelica to sell me on him - and he has some of his finest moments towards the end on tracks like Voyager II.

As with all Threshold's early albums, it takes me a while to ease into this one; I also think Change is a fairly weak song which the album would be significantly tighter without. That's a shame, because I think that other than that the album finds them continuing to refine their approach. After this, they'd shift from Giant Electric Pea to InsideOut, following in the footsteps of other acts who got sufficient traction on GEP to move over to InsideOut in order to benefit from the larger label's broader distribution network and more active marketing. Threshold were here on the threshold of the big time - which means it's good that they took this moment to take stock and give their sound a last tune-up to make it ready for prime time.