Threshold is my favorite progressive band hailing from the UK, and probably my favorite progressive band of them all. I more or less love all their albums but one really stands out, the one I’m reviewing today. Dead Reckoning got released ten years ago but the record sounds as fresh as in 2007. It really is the peak of Threshold's career, their best effort of them all.
The band was a part of Inside Out – a record label specialized in progressive music – for years and Dead Reckoning was their first album released by Nuclear Blast. It’s like the change of the record label infused the band with mainstream quality while at the same time keeping their signature sound they were known for.
Every song is very tight with superb production. Drumming is amazing, Ryan McDermott, who sadly passed away in 2011, is at the top of his game behind the mic, and guitar work is phenomenal with catchy riffs contained in every song. The album starts with Slipstream, a rocking composition filled with insane hooks. All you have to do is to play the song once and you’ll be hooked for life. Guest vocals from Dan Swanö launch the track into the stratosphere and the thick riffs along with masterfully crafted chorus will make you fall in love with the band the moment the song ends.
The rest of the album keeps up with the opening track – tight riffs, subtle keyboards (not something we see every day with Threshold), perfect drumming and hooky choruses make Dead Reckoning a huge progressive album. This is Your Life can be played ten times in a row and it will be fresh as the first time, Elusive (with more Swanö’s growls) has incredible bridge along with some highly attractive guitar solos.
Simply put, every song in Dead Reckoning is excellent. There are no fillers here, just quality compositions showing how you can incorporate mainstream metal sound while at the same time keeping all of the elements that made the band popular.
Just find the album and play it, then play it again and again since something this good just can’t be played once and then forgotten. As I already stated, all songs are standouts. You can’t get bored while listening to Dead Reckoning, the only way to get disappointed is to try listening to the band’s other albums and realize that they sounded way more progressive, and way more complex. On Dead Reckoning though, the songs are complex but incredibly catchy, filled with different elements but highly cohesive, always keeping the same groundwork and building upon a similar structure from start to finish. Do yourself a favor and spin Dead Reckoning a couple of time, the album deserves that, believe me.
