Search - Threshold :: Critical Mass

Getting better with each release!

Sven B. Schreiber | Fürth (Bayern) | 11/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Threshold is one of the bands that get better with each new album release. That's probably because the main songwriters - Richard West, Karl Groom, and Jon Jeary - continually improve their shills. Meanwhile, the writing team seems to have split sharply into two fractions: Out of the eight tracks, the odd-numbered titles ara written by Richard West, and the even-numbered by Groom/Jeary. All tracks are great, there's no garbage or filler material on this CD. The style is similar to the previous "Hypothetical" album: Powerful "Metal" with catchy melodies and rich "progressive" arrangements. Great ProgMetal for people who like Arena, Dream Theater, and the likes."

Britain's best prog metal band raise the bar a notch

Sven B. Schreiber | 10/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was fortunate to hear a pre-release mix of Threshold's latest album and was frankly blown away. If anything, getting the final, published package was even better! Their last album, "Hypothetical" was a landmark album which set the standard for others to beat. With "Critical Mass" Threshold have surpassed themselves and the competition.The songs on "Critical Mass" are uniformly strong and powerful but there are still many subtle and expressive moments throughout the CD. This is a mature album in the best sense of the phrase... Tracks like the opener "Phenomenon" and "Fragmentation" rock with the best of them and look set to become live favourites for years to come. Other tracks like the big power ballad "Falling Away" and "Avalon" show the real prog in prog-metal drawing from influences from as diverse as classic Floyd and Queen to Kansas and Saga without ever becoming derivative. These tracks are all 100% pure Threshold. The CD-closer "Critical Mass Pts 1-3" is simply pure prog without any of the pretentiousness.All the members of the group play to enhance the excellently written songs. This is a display of musicianship rather than ego! All in all, this album is a defninte "must buy" for any fans of prog, prog-metal or...frankly...any fans of good rock music. It is also worth checking out the Limited edition version which had a second CD featuring some impressive multimedia and a trio of bonus tracks.All in all, this is an album that mustn't be missed.Could you tell I liked it?"

Better than Subsurface... so far

Marcio Silva | Rio de Janeiro, Brasil | 10/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I like Threshold a lot. They're all great musicians that know how to create beautiful progressive music without adopting any existing ''recipe'' -- in other words, without cloning other successful bands. That said, I think Critical Mass is one of their better efforts; they couldn't top Hypothetical yet, but they've done an excellent job: the lyrics are meaningful and well composed; the singing and the instruments blend perfectly to create awesome songs and the production is very, very clear.



I've recently bought their last album - Subsurface -, and have listened to it many times since then, but I can't agree some people that say Subsurface is better than Critical Mass and Clone... maybe I haven't had time to get into it.



If you are new to this band, I recommend you to start with Clone, then Critical Mass and Hypothetical. There is also their older stuff, but I don't have any of those albums so far."