EXTINCT INSTINCT

After my initial disappointment with Psychedelicatessen I stopped following Threshold and completely overlooked this fine album. I didn't even know they had the Damien Wilson featuring on any album other then the debut. Here he shines again, full of melody, surprises and emotion.

This is a beautiful melodic rock album with some soft metal and slight neo-progressive influences. When I first heard them they reminded me a bit of Fugazi-era Marillion: similarly constructed epic songs, fluid guitar solos and layers of keyboards. The main elements that they add are the crunchy rhythm guitars and a singer that could stand in for Robert Plant if Jimmy Page would want to go ahead with that Zep-reunion tour after all.

Almost every track is entirely convincing here: Exposed, Somatography and Eat The Unicorn are an excellent trio of songs to kick things off. Forever and Virtual Isolation are less though and hint at things to come. But The Whispering and especially Lake of Despond are poignant compositions, also Life Flow and Part of the Chaos are ok but stand in the shadows of the preceding highlights.

In my perception, Damien Wilson is the main factor that was responsible for lifting Threshold above the many similar bands that populate this melodic-metal-with-long-songs style. He managed to put some real emotion in this often too sterile and too smooth type of metal.