Customer Reviews

Critical Mass

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Threshold released their definitive masterpiece, "Hypothetical", in 2001. 2002's "Critical Mass" is also an enjoyable release, but falls short of the lofty heights of "Hypothetical". The high points are sky high, some of the best prog music I have ever heard. But there are some glaring weaknesses. Essentially, you could split this album into two: the 4 Richard West (keyboardist) compositions and the 4 Karl Groom (guitarist)/Jon Jeary (bassist) compositions. The 4 West songs ("Phenomenon", "Falling Away", "Echoes of Life", "Avalon") are lively, fresh, unpredictable, beautiful and take the Threshold sound to the next level. You can definately tell these songs were composed on keyboard. The Groom/Jeary songs ("Choices", "Fragmentation", "Round and Round", "Critical Mass") sound weary, tired, predictable, uninventive and boring. The riffs often have a "been there, done that, hey wasn't that on the last album?" feeling and the choruses are usually annoying. The exception is the epic "Critical Mass" which works well. Despite the shortfalls of this album, the Richard West songs are so good to warrant this a 4 star release. Vocalist Mac puts in his best performance. He has a great, mature British voice with can be cutting at one point and gentle later on. Johanne James also deserves accolades for his powerful and technical drumming throughout. Richard West may be the star of this release, with not only his great songwriting but his gorgeous synths and piano. The production on this album is great on the keyboards and drums, which sound fresh, warm and alive. But the guitars lack bite. Also, there are too many mid-tempo songs. A few faster numbers would have definately helped with the pace of this album. Generally, I think Richard West is now the most potent songwriting force in this band. Karl Groom seems to have run out of ideas.

Despite the shortfalls of this release, I still recommend it. And I recommend you get the Limited Edition which has 2 more great songs and some very enjoyable multimedia elements and liner notes.

"Phenomenon" is an excellent way to start off the album and a great introduction to the Threshold sound. It's punchy, somewhat fast and extremely melodic. Vocalist Mac sounds quite fierce and at other times very gentle. Keyboardist Richard West makes use of samples to enhance the song and lush backing keyboards during the chorus. The mid-section of this song is amazing. Mac sings very gently, "I don't want many things. Just a chance to spread my wings. Don't know what the future brings, but I want to be there". He then repeats these lyrics at the top of his lungs. A nice dynamic.

"Choices" is an 8 minute tune with tons of changing parts and the most solos I have ever heard in a song, it's ridiculous! This song ends up sounding very choppy and disjointed, and really doesn't have many memorable parts. Even the solos get annoying after awhile. The guitar riffs are very boring and the chorus is very weak.

"Falling Away" is arguably the best song on this album. It is a 7 minute epic power ballad. It opens with piano, before moving into an extremely lush synth part. The verses are very sparse with some tasty cymbal shuffling by Johanne. Mac puts in a gorgeous, restrained performance. Mac then explodes into the AWESOME chorus! Words cannot describe how amazing this chorus is. "We're powerless. We're paranoid. We'll never know what we destroyed. We're falling... falling away!" The vocal melody is just sublime. This is then followed by a brief passionate guitar solo before entering another lush verse. This song has such a great atmosphere, the perfect night music.

"Fragmentation" is a long, slow song. It has boring guitar riffs and an uninteresting chorus. The most annoying thing about this song is the "breathing" that Mac does throughout. This song is a lyrical nadir for Threshold as well, especially the embarrassing fragmented sentences in the middle.

"Echoes of Life" is the other best song on this disc. It is a 9 minute excursion into prog-metal bliss. Like "Falling Away", this song starts off with gorgeous piano. Mac provides some more beautiful gentle vocals: "Everything's gone out of control, silently sliding away. Destiny's end is calling again, the future was yesterday". The song then builds up to a powerful verse with lots of excellent piano. Great chorus, memorable melodies and technical chops galore! There's a lot of transitions and time signature changes. There's also some 70's sounding Hammond organ.

"Round and Round" starts off with a beautifully morose verse, but it ultimately ruined by the "round and round" curse. It is my theory that any sound with a chorus that relies on the phrase "round and round" is doomed to failure, and this song is no exception. Repitition of "round and round and round and round" is exceedingly annoying.

"Avalon" is a Richard West composition with the piano as the primary instrument. It is a ballad with a very 80's neo-prog sound to it. Mac puts in a very calm vocal performance. The chorus is rather beautiful. "And you laughed and you cried. And that made it all worthwhile. And you hoped and you prayed. That your world would never change. But all that it's become... is Avalon". This song isn't very deep musically, but is rather pretty and calm. This song has a very intimate sound to it.

"Critical Mass" is the 3 part 13 minute epic closer to the album. The first part is called "Fission" and it starts off very softly with nice vocals by Mac. It builds into a rather rousing chorus. The second part is called "Fusion". This part is instrumental. It features a lot of crazy technical musicianship and transitions. The third part is "Lucky". This is a very soft acoustic ending. Mac provides one of his most gentle and gorgeous vocal performances. "I don't pray so I'll have to stay lucky".

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.

THE BAND: Andy "Mac" McDermott (vocals), Karl Groom (guitars), Nick Midson (guitars), Jon Jeary (bass), Richard West (keyboards), Johanne James (drums & percussion). Band origin: Surrey, UK.

THE DISC: (2002) Two versions of "Critical Mass" are available. 1. - the single music disc contains 8 tracks and clocks in at approximately 59 minutes, and 2. - the double-disc version, containing the music disc and a bonus 2nd disc containing 3 music tracks (an edit of "Phenomenon", and 2 new additional tracks totaling approximately 14 minutes), and a multimedia section for your PC (with a band documentary; in the studio/diary, personnel/bios, screen saver, backstage, and weblink). Included with the disc is an 18-page booklet containing song titles/credits/times, song lyrics, band photos, production notes from Groom/West on each track, and thank you's. Even track numbers written by Groom/Jeary; odd track numbers written by West. Recorded at Thin Ice Studios, Surrey, England (March - June 2002). Label - InsideOut.

COMMENTS: Though I own several Threshold discs, I've never been a hugely over-the-top rabid Threshold fan. "Hypothetical" (2001) was my 1st purchase years ago and is still probably the sentimental favorite. However, I firmly believe this "Critical Mass" double-disc edition is their most accomplished release. Polished, slick, mature (all aspects of the band firing on all cylinders)... and simply some great writing. I love the double guitar attack. Threshold fits nicely in the family of prog metal bands. I hear similarities to Dream Theater, Enchant, Fates Warning, etc... and if you're into this genre of music - I see that as a compliment. Similarities, but never clones of any other band. Groom and Midson's guitar work is what intrigues me the most here. James' drumming is solid, even if he is the band's 3rd drummer. West's keyboards are stunning - he is a tier 1 player. Mac's vocals are good, though limited in my opinion. I read a review in a music magazine years ago where one of the writers compared Mac to Meatloaf (the "Bat Out Of Hell" Meatloaf)... and that always stuck with me. Mac can handle the heavy tunes, but I feel he really shines on the slower songs... he may be at his best on the soft ending of the title track. As for the music - the disc opens with one of my all-time favorite Threshold tunes, the fast paced "Phenomenon". Track 2 ("Choices") has some great lead guitar work. "Falling Away" slows the pace down and is my 2nd favorite song on the disc... heavy on melody and West's atmospheric keyboards (as is the song "Avalon"). Seven of the eight tracks fit nicely into the 5-8 minute range. The album closer - the title track "Critical Mass : Parts 1/2/3" - is a lengthy listen at over 13 minutes... it's the album opus and a climactic ending - full of ups and downs, blistering guitar work, great keyboards and intricate drums. The limited edition 2-cd set is worth looking for as the 2 bonus tracks ("Do Unto Them" and "New Beginning") are outstanding, and the multimedia section is informative. If you're a fan of the band, you probably all ready own this album. If you're just learning about Threshold, "Critical Mass" is a great place to start (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?

I will say just one thing, I like it. I like it a lot. They still making great progressive metal that isn't played at light speed with million notes per second.They made a great album, even though I thought that they couldn't top Hypothetical, this is just as good. My favourite tracks are Phenomenon, Falling Away, Echoes Of Life and the title song Critical Mass(you don't get to many songs (and bands) that use terms like neutrons, protons and gluons these days ;))

Good rock with some prog tinges that reminds me of the band Enchant. And, that's a good thing. The vocalist is powerful but at times delivers some weak performances. The first song is a good rocker but the vocals sound too Scorpionish. After that it gets much better ending on a great note with Critical Mass (Part 1-3). Definitely worth checking out and makes me interested in hearing their other CDs.

Critical Mass, the sixth studio album of British prog metallers Threshold, is the first album ever that features the same line-up with its predecessor, and that is a big plus. Threshold has gone through many changes in their line-up, especially with their vocalists and drummers. They've had three different singers (Damian Wilson, Glynn Morgan and the current Mac), and five different drummers (Tony Grinham, Nick Harradence, Jay Micciche, Mark Heaney, and the current drummer Johanne James). While all of these musicians are very talented in their own way, these changes have affected the band's style to a certain extent and made it somewhat difficult for Karl Groom and Richard West to define the real Threshold sound.

So, Critical Mass is the first album that features the same line-up with the previous album Hypothetical, which to many Threshold fans is considered the peak of the band. Hypothetical was an amazing disc in many respects, and Critical Mass is a very good follow-up. However there are slight differences in the approach to songwriting mainly because of Nick Midson's contributions. The last Threshold album where he had input to the compositions was 1994's Psychedelicatessen. And although that is a great album, I feel Critical Mass, compared to its amazing predecessor, somewhat suffers from lack of focused songwriting. While the Karl Groom and Richard West tracks on this CD have the Hypothetical vibe all over them, the other songs with Mac and Midson have a different feel. Not that they're bad, it's just they sound like they're all parts of one big song all arranged into several tracks. I could be wrong though, just my opinion.

Guitarist and main songwriter Karl Groom said that Mac's voice was getting better with every release and he's just come to such a position where he actually 'defines' the style of Threshold a great deal now. I quite agree with Groom's assessment. Mac has a very powerful voice, nothing wrong with his performances on Clone and Hypo, but he really seems to know what he's doing on Critical. The double guitar work is once again mindblowing, not in the technical virtuosity sense but in the way that Groom and Midson once again prove that they have breathed new life into this very Dream Theater-driven prog metal genre. The rhythm section provided by Jeary (he's like the Jon Paul Jones of Threshold) and Johanne James is once again stunning. James is definitely the best drummer Threshold has ever had. His playing is tasteful and very well arranged in the mix--not too high and not too low. As for Richard West, the other brainchild of the band, he is once again proving that he is simply put one of the greatest keyboard players in the genre. What makes all of these guys so special is that they know when to stop and when to let themselves loose. It's not like you'll hear a 12-minute instrumental section with lots of guitar and keyboard trade-offs on a Threshold CD. Not that they can't do it, it's just that their songs don't need it.

My respect for this band is growing day by day, for having developed and matured their own style throughout the years. They're like UK's answer to Dream Theater. I love both bands. It's just that DT has been cloned over and over again that the genre has been overflooding with unoriginal prog bands lately. Threshold on the other hand knows what they're doing. They're exploring new territory and covering new ground, trying to find what suits them best, rather than copycating other big acts out there. As far as prog metal goes, I consider Critical Mass to be one of the best releases of 2002 along with Pain of Salvation's godly album Remedy Lane and Vanden Plas' Beyond Daylight.

Quite a bit of time has passed since we were introduced to "Hypothetical" but if anything, it has led to a more mature and focused album from the Brits. If you liked the last record this one is certainly going to grow on you after the first listen or two.

Standout tracks include "Phenomenon", "Falling Away", "Round and Round", "Critical Mass (Pts. 1-3)" and "New Beginning" from the bonus disc. Hey, Inside Out, your single to push from this one is "Falling Away". The Chorus is permanently etched in my brain after three spins.

Definitely consider getting the Limited Edition if not for the Multimedia section then definitely the two bonus tracks and the edit of "Phenomenon". "New Beginning" is a song that should have made the final cut for the album instead of the bonus cd. "Do Unto Them" is the first track written by Mac and the chorus melody sounds vaguely familiar from another song but I can't place it at the moment.

The liner notes give a great description track-by-track of the recording process of each song and they even cover the bonus songs in their review. Nice touch.

Gotta give a tip of the hat to Inside Out for their packaging. Both the German and US companies put out some of the best, most complete packages for this genre and this CD is no exception.

Now, if only the US company would back them on some tour dates here in the US, beside ProgPower III, of course. Maybe get some label mates together and do an East Coast swing of 10-15 cities?? Spock's Beard, Enchant, Threshold and RPWL??? Sounds like a great combo to me.

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.

Hypothetical was the first Threshold CD I heard, and while I also consider it a 5-star release (Narcissus is nothing short of a prog/metal masterpiece) I'm honestly beginning to think I like this CD better overall (maybe...still deciding)! While Hypothetical has several songs that didn't go on my MP3 player, Critical Mass doesn't have a single bad song. And the fact that the first 4 songs are all on the DVD Critical Energy should tell you something. All 4 are great but I particularly like Falling Away and Fragmentation. The build-up at the end of the latter sounds GREAT cranked up with good subs!! And while Avalon is somewhat mellower, it is also a great song with an outstanding guitar solo!!

I will definitely be getting more by this band and now consider them another example of why the American mainstream music industry SUCKs....I've never heard them on the air and only 2 people I know have even heard of this band.

If you like prog/metal/heavy rock, or just good rock, check this band out immediately!! If you like Dream Theater/Symphony X and the like - this is right up your alley. If they get more exposure who knows, they might even tour over here and the rest of us would get to see them live. And by that I mean more than just festivals and major markets...I mean an actual tour!

And a short note to anyone who doesn't consider this prog - you must be stuck in the past. Just like everything else prog DOES evolve. It's no longer just a bunch of bands that sound like Yes/Genesis/ELP, otherwise it would become boring.

I definitely consider this prog, though I consider it a sub-genre, variously called melodic metal, heavyprog, powerprog or, more simply, progmetal.