LEGENDS OF THE SHIRES

The leader of the British Prog Metal is back with a big double album of gorgeous melodies crafted by talented musicians including the solid vocals of Glynn Morgan back in the band after more than 20 years. His voice is more delicate than the last 2 Threshold vocalists and suitable for that kind of music. The album starts with a beautiful ballad. The second track delivers again the talent of Karl Groom on guitar who knows how to create some emotional guitar solos. The 11 minutes "The Man Who Saw Through Time" start and finishes with some Kraftwerk techno effects sounds starting as a ballad and developing into a typical Threshold metal structure. "Trust the Process" show some multi-parts vocals that the band has used a lot in the past and then let a lot of space to Richard West on keyboards. "Stars and Satellites" is very melodic and show some guitar riffs that remind me of Rush. "The Shire" part 2 is linked to the first part with his peaceful atmosphere letting the vocals and the acoustic guitar take the spot. In the second part of "Lost in Translation", we can hear the influence of Pink Floyd when the band brings things down with some Gilmour guitar style passage. The production as always is perfect here using the latest technology with some short electronic sounds giving new textures to the sound. Karl Groom manages to reinvent his guitar palette at times. Threshold could give you some lessons to how to compose great songs that are good from start to finish., not complicated, but deep enough to require many listenings. Yes, there is still some repetitive chords in this music, but with this double album, the band has the freedom to expand their sound a bit if you know well the band's music.