Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Confidence is a complex feeling, too much and you can come across as arrogant, self absorbed and even out of touch for the others around you to truly grasp; not enough belief and you might come off as dull, the sacrilage of having no charisma in the world of art and artistry is more heinous than forgetting your lines, of bowing to a faded king in an overpriced venue when the next generation is scraping by with good wishes and likes on social media. Confidence is not pride, it is not arrogance; it is just a state of mind that gets the canvas painted, the sonnet polished and the song remembered.

For the celebrated and reknowned Threshold, confidence is something to behold in the very art itself; for to take on the concept album in Progressive Metal might not seem novel or unapproachable, the time, the sheer weight of volume that has gone into their new album Legends Of The Shires is arguably more than many would expect in an era when arguably attention spans are not suited for the ebb and flow dynamic of an album that lasts as perfectly as this one does.

Confidence is knowing that the listener will sit down and take time to drink the aural waters in, there is no rush, the only reason why we are so busy and impatient is because somewhere along the line we have been force fed the lie that to do nothing, to just witness and listen is a crime of time; Legends Of The Shires takes that thought to task and bathes in the reflection of a truth, a spirtual one, a timely one and makes the music worthwhile.

For Glynn Morgan, returning to the Threshold fold as vocalist, Karl Groom, Richard West, Steve Anderson and Johanne James, Legends Of The Shires is arguably the magnus opus that has been threatening to come for a long time, a sense of time being completed and of a story being narrated, not just told to a reader but one in which every scene is given so much depth that it feels like a book delivered to a publishing house under the name of the greatest of authors.

Whilst one narrative, the songs Trust The Process, the epic and lengthy       The Man Who Saw Through Time, Snowblind, State of Independence and Stars and Satalittes all hammer home the intricate nature and blend of the album, the force behind it and one that is absolutely remarkable. Threshold just keep coming back for more; in many ways it is a good job they do.

Threshold release Legends Of The Shires on September 8th

Ian D. Hall