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As happens a lot with big names in the
rock industry who have a classical piece open their concert, Brit
progmetal heroes Threshold also enter the stage whilst classical
noises mingle with loud enthousiastic cheers. Recorded for both DVD
and audio purposes once again in Holland on june 6th
2003, “Critical energy” is kind of a greatest hits package performed
live with material gathered from the band’s six studio albums
although with a strong emphasis on the band’s latest three albums.
Incidentally these are the ones the band recorded with new singer
Mac so they surely have opted for the songs which are best suited to
his voice. And I have to admit that Mac is ideal for the Threshold
music because as we all know the band had a rough time in their
early days mainly having several line-up changes not in the least in
the vocal department. I have known the band ever since their humble
beginnings on IQ’s Giant Electric Pea label which in Holland got
distributed by the now defunct SI label. In fact the then long
haired Karl Groom was probably one of my earliest encounters with
someone from the progmetal direction which a good ten years ago was
brandnew to me. Karl as well as the rest of the lads seemed to be a
very amicable guy so in return I landed them a slot on the Viarock
festival which that year headlined none other than Whitesnake. I
thought they would be picked up by a major label straight away but
it was early days and as said before the ‘real’ Threshold was still
not formed. Personally I thought that Glynn Morgan was thé man who
could change all that but it later seemed he wasn’t the perfect
choice for the band although I have always loved his singing and
still do to this day. Before and after Glynn Morgan, Damian Wilson
came to the rescue but it soon seemed he would not be the steady
vocalist for the band. It was 1998 when with the album “Clone” the
band finally found their ideal frontman in the guise of Mac. Ever
since the band has gone from strength to strength and I have to say
that sometimes it might be OK for a studio album but the real
quality of a singer often can only be fully heard on a live
recording. In the case of Mac what you hear is almost identical to
what can be found on the studio recordings so the guy most certainly
has the quality voice Threshold really needs.
Expect the complete show spread over
two audio CD’s including no less than eighteen Threshold originals.
There are two songs from the band’s debut album “Wounded land”, two
from “Psychdelicatessen”, three from “Extinct instinct”, three from
“Clone” the first album with Mac on board, five songs from
“Hypothetical” and four from their latest effort “Critical mass”. So
whether you were a newcomer or a diehard Threshold fan you most
certainly were treated to the ideal Threshold show that particular
evening at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Holland. Of course everyone
was informed that a DVD recording would be made that particular
night and knowing this for sure a huge percentage of the audience no
doubt were heavy Threshold fans so I don’t know why singer Mac
became so unpleasant before and after the song ‘Critical mass’ ?
First he shouts “shut up” and when the song is finished you hear him
saying to someone “it’s my turn now, mate … shut up ! you can go
home now”. I don’t know what happened, so maybe on the DVD you’ll be
able to tell more, but it surely is no way to address the audience.
They all paid a fair price to get in, it’s because of them that you
get the chance to be in a band in the first place so don’t fuck
things up Mac ! Surely having performed tons of times you must be
professional enough not to get certain things get to you surely not
if you know the entire concert is being filmed and recorded for
posterity ! ‘Innocent’ is being introduced as being ‘one of Glynn’s
songs’ which is nice seeing the band most certainly hasn’t forgotten
him !
With Karl Groom as one of the band’s
main composers and guitarist also his studio knowledge is a great
plus for the band. Karl has worked years and years in the Thin Ice
studios next to Clive Nolan learning every single trick out of the
studio book, a thing which all of Threshold most certainly can
benefit from today. Hence the wonderful quality of this live
recording as every single detail is recorded in pristine quality.
Maybe the keyboards are mixed a little in the background whilst all
emphasis is given to the guitars from both Karl and Nick Midson both
backing the sustained notes from Mac. The hard powerful riffs which
introduce ‘Long way home’ get the audience to fully become one with
the music.
With their fanclub CD “Wireless” the
band tried their hand at the “unplugged” rage stripping their
compositions from the obvious hard riffs and powerful dynamics. Disc
two in this package kicks off in that same atmosphere by means of
two tracks from “Extinct instinct” where Mac’s wonderful vocal range
is backed by acoustic guitar and piano only. Luckilly the crowd
remains silent throughout no doubt motionless by the sheer quality
of these songs and it’s musicians. The acoustic guitar remains for
‘Narcissus’ whilst bass and drums are once again part of the
arrangement whilst I notice what a great track this should be if a
huge symphonic orchestra was to back them in the early stages of the
song ! ‘Light and space’ meanwhile perfectly illustrates the great
skills of drummer Johanne James. OK, he’s not Mike Portnoy but he
surely delivers some ass kicking power throughout ! The show is near
it’s closing section when Karl Groom can illustrate his craftmanship
on guitar during ‘Paradox’ extra helped out by the mad crowd. The
loud cheers of the latter does translate itself in one more encore
by means of ‘Sanity’s end’ which once again contains some damn good
drumming from Johanne ending in a true explosion of ‘critical
energy’ !
The DVD includes the complete concert
footage filmed during the recording of this album, three songs from
the band’s American Progpower contribution in 2002 (Light and Space,
The Latent Gene and The Ravages of Time), a Critical Mass tour
documentary, photo gallery, stereo and 5.1 surround sound plus
commentary by Karl Groom and Richard West. There’s also a deluxe
edition which contains both this double CD set as well as the single
DVD. |
