They say, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and Threshold have gone from strength to strength over the years managing to overcome quite a tumultuous history. The band however have now finally settled into what is their most comfortable line up to date and it is with this, that they have produced some of their finest work. Their brand new release “Hypothetical” is no exception and shows a more mature side to the band. Retaining their progressive roots whilst enhancing the accessibility of their overall sound to produce their strongest album yet. Formed just outside of London in 1989, the band released their debut album “Wounded Land” on GEP in 1993 to critical acclaim. A dedicated line up of musicians comprising Damian Wilson (vocals), Karl Groom and Nick Midson (guitars), Jon Jeary (bass), Richard West (keyboards) and Tony Grinham (drums) quickly received a lot of attention in the press and garnered excellent reviews all over Europe and Japan. Shortly after the release of their first album, the band suffered the departure of vocalist Wilson who chose to move on and pursue other projects. His replacement, Glynn Morgan however was quickly accepted by the fans and proved to be a valuable asset as a song writer. The band embarked upon their first European tour in 1994 co-headlining with Norwegian metallers Conception and received rave reviews. An important open air festival in Belgium closed the tour where the band shared the same bill with such names as Whitesnake, Paradise Lost, Gotthard and Tyketto. In 1995, the band re-entered the studio to write and record “Psychedelicatessen”. Just prior to recording, the drum stool was vacated and filled on a short term basis by Nick Harradence (Shadowland). Heavier in its approach yet still with a progressive edge, the new album received another succession of excellent reviews including the album of the month title in Holland’s Aardschok magazine. Still in need of a permanent drummer, the band eventually found what they were looking for with 18 year old Jay Micciche, who’s aggressive double bass playing complimented the band’s harder sound. To promote the new album, the band recorded a video for the track ‘Innocent’ and went out on a 25 date European tour with American band Psychotic Waltz. A mini live album, “Livedelica” was released and further dates in Europe, this time with Dream Theater helped to strengthen the band’s already growing fan base by playing to much larger audiences. By the summer of 1996, further unrest in the band prompted the sudden departure of both Glynn Morgan and Jay Micciche who would go on to form Mindfeed. With the original song writing team still very much intact, Threshold were not about to let this latest turn of events slow them down. A new album, Extinct Instinct was recorded with the surprise return of original vocalist Damian Wilson and session drummer Mark Heaney. The album was released to mixed reactions but received the coveted album of the month in Germany’s Rock Hard magazine. A successful tour with American progressive rock band Enchant followed the album’s release taking the band across Europe once again showing that the band still continued to fare well amongst its dedicated following. By the end of the Summer of 1997 the band were convinced that Damian would not be a permanent fixture to the line up and the search for a replacement began once again. Reconvening in the new year, the band headed back into the studio to write material for what would be their most accomplished album to date. Ex- Sargeant Fury vocalist Andrew ‘Mac’ McDermott was recruited as the band’s new front man and “Clone”, an ambitious new concept album was conceived. Clone was typical Threshold keeping the sound progressive yet very accessible whilst portraying a darker moodier side of the band. With the departure of drummer Mark Heaney from Threshold shortly after the recording of “Clone”, the much respected Johanne James was finally confirmed as a full-time band member following his involvement in the 1997 tour. “Clone” was taken on the road across Europe early in 1999 with support bands Eldritch and Pain of Salvation, culminating in a highly successful appearance at the prestigious Wacken Open Air German festival, which resulted in Mac being voted the best front man of the whole festival. With Threshold now confident of a line-up that will carry them successfully into the new millennium, they returned to the studio in the latter half of 2000 to record their fifth studio album to date “Hypothetical”. Once again centred around the core writing partnership of Groom, Jeary, West and Midson, with themes broadly based around nature, humanity and spirituality, “Hypothetical” consolidates the cohesion formed between the band members during the Clone tour. Their first official release on InsideOut, “Hypothetical” will be released in Europe in March and the band plan to tour the album later in the year.
