MARCH OF PROGRESS

Threshold's March of Progress sees them knocking out a brand of prog metal which draws on the same sort of melodramatic emotional hysteria that Muse have made their own. The preceding Dead Reckoning, their final album with Andrew "Mac" McDermott on lead vocals, proved to have a woefully ironic title, since McDermott died in 2011 after leaving the band.

Many groups would be knocked off their stride by such a blow, but Threshold instead seem to have risen to the challenge. It helped that they had acquired the aid of Damian Wilson, their original vocalist; this represents his third stint as frontman of the band (having stepped into the role briefly in 1997 between the departure of Glynn Morgan and the arrival of Andrew), and it's the strong performance from him this time around which really keeps this together. Between this and the first release from Headspace, 2012 was truly a busy year for Wilson, and any band which can count on his services is lucky to have him, though musically speaking this album seems more a matter of treading water than breaking new ground.

That said, in the wake of both the drama of Mac's departure shortly after the release of Dead Reckoning (which prompted both Wilson and Glynn Morgan to offer to return to save the planned tour) and the trauma of Mac's death, perhaps it was the right call to consolidate rather than to push on, and to a certain extent March of Progress represents a somewhat more polished version of the format experiment undertaken with Dead Reckoning - push out some more straightforward and heavy tracks early on, keep the proggier stuff to the back end of the album. Here, the dabbling in the heavier end works somewhat better - there's no attempts to integrate harsh vocals into the band's sound, a twist which was incongruous when it was attempted on Dead Reckoning, and in general I think the album flows somewhat better.

I was a bit likewarm on this on my first listen, but like all of Threshold's albums it's a real grower and rewards the patient listener. Don't expect anything world-shaking, but do expect something of the general standard Threshold have led us to expect.