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Review Summary: A loss of progress. Listening to For the Journey, one can only wonder if the accompanying cover art is indicative of Threshold's current situation. A figure walking along railroad tracks into the bleak unknown isn't exactly an exciting pitch, and given 2012's March of Progress, the metaphor may seem unbefitting. Yet such symbolism has come to be. If the drab wasteland on the cover can be interpreted as the band's own terrain, then the railroad tracks represent just how on-rails For the Journey really is.
Granted, Threshold have never been much for innovation. For 26 years these Brits have retained a decidedly niche formula and barely toyed with it. The fact it's worked this long defies logic and expectation, but like Amon Amarth, Threshold have kept their sound fresh and entertaining. Or so that was the case. For the Journey finally sees complacency creep into the band's framework, withering their music down to the point of stagnation. An immediate red flag is how "Watchtower on the Moon" compares to the rest of the album; when the lead single (and album opener) is one of the better songs, you know something's amiss. What's more is that we get a twelve-minute piece three tracks in. I normally approach epics with interest and enthusiasm, but "The Box" merely stands as an example of what not to do. It isn't as simple as carrying out a song into the double-digits, otherwise you simply wear the listener out. As a result, For the Journey practically runs its gamut before so much as reaching the halfway point.
From there on, everything feels irrelevant. There are no surprises or moments of intrigue, just a series of tracks that showcase Threshold on autopilot. If you thought they already sounded too settled for their own good, For the Journey will put things into perspective. In that, the real challenge in critiquing For the Journey is that it doesn't offer much to pick at. You could just as easily call this March of Progress: The Stale Version and be done, but then you'd have to alter the title. Instead of developing what worked on its superior predecessor, For the Journey slumps into a state of regression. To paraphrase (using the band's own lyrics): "there are better sights to see."
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Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
Band have posted a link to the album on their Facebook through Prog. Link below:
http://prog.teamrock.com/news/2014-09-17/threshold-stream-for-the-journey-exclusive
Review is really brief, I'll admit, but there's not much to touch on here. Very bland album that fails to leave an impression. I enjoy "Unforgiven" and a stretch in "The Box," but that's about it.
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Good review, pos.
Haven't checked the band since Clone.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
Unfortunately, I have to agree. Whilst I enjoy the album for what it is, it is quite uninspired and probably one of the weaker ones in their discography. It's a shame, I think March of Progress may have been my favourite of theirs.
Parts of The Box and Siren Sky hint at greatness, but they never quite reach it.
@Voivod: Really, dude? Hypothetical, Critical Mass and March of Progress are amongst their 3 best. Check em out.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
Also, where's the prog??
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Band didn't impress me all that much back then, plus I'm a fan of their early era, especially Psychedelicatessen.
I will check them out in due time, since you recced them so warmly.
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nice, concise review xeno. pos
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
The first two songs are fantastic. However, there is almost no innovation, and the production style is just about identical to March of Progress as well. And the all-out progressive approach of that album has been scaled back significantly. They couldn't exactly get more progressive than MoP, so Threshold had to take a different approach. Still, I don't find it as effective, and presently don't find much that makes it any amount superior to the last album. But hearing it in proper quality with lyrics attached may help.
Still, it's a 3.5 right now.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
Wow, wasn't expecting a feature for my review. I'm very pleasantly surprised!
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i liked their last album, need to check this, nice rev
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Looks like I am alone in not agreeing with review. I enjoyed the album, thought it was a solid release
| | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
I wish I agreed with you, Kopkiwi, but it was simply unremarkable especially compared to their other works.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
3/5 but probably will drop quickly as time goes on.
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always thought this band was good, but there's a reason why they never got really popular in prog, and it's because they're not much more than just good.
| | | Album Rating: 1.0 | Sound Off
Utterly disappointing, but I can't really say I was surprised after hearing those singles.
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The single from here I heard was nowhere near anything on Wounded Land. I sure hope this will not be worse than Clone.
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Threshold has always been an average band for me.
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I have heard Wounded Land, Extinct Instinct, and Clone, with the first two being excellent. I doubt they became any better after Clone.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
Hypothetical as a March of Progress are solid, Subsurface has its moments too.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I'm hearing a lot of influences on this album, from the AOR style of "Lost in your Memory" to the much heavier, more aggressive likes of "Turned to Dust". There's even a bit of neo-prog in the same vein of IQ in "Autumn Red", but I think that Threshold's musical talent is best shown through the eye-opening "The Box", and to a slightly lesser degree on the lovely "Siren Sky". The problem is that to me these two songs seem to render the others less memorable and somewhat weaker in terms of quality and ambition, but it's not a particularly big problem given that the album is very consistent in general. Perhaps not one of the best prog metal albums of 2014, but certainly one of the year's finer releases.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I can also hear Yes very clearly in just about every Threshold disc. Here, it's heard in The Box. But there and elsewhere, Damian sounds remarkably like a metalized Jon Anderson.
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