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Customer Reviews of Critical Mass

The problem with this album is that after listening to it a dozen times, i still can't remember any of the tracks, with the exception of "Fragmentation", which is the best track of the album and also my favorite track from Threshold. The musicality is almost uniform which makes the re-listening value very low. The band is creative but not enough; Some arrangements seem to have been recycled from other tracks and the originality of the record suffers from a lack of musical freedom. Every instruments and vocals are tightly coupled and lack a bit of breathing space, even though nothing on this album seem to prevent further experimentation or improvisation. Overall the album is less attractive due to lack of strong instrumental flavours.

On the good side of things, the vocals almost fit perfectly on every track. The band tries to stay as far as possible from the popular verse-chorus-verse and it works arguably well. There is still room for improvement for Threshold. If they truly want a more progressive rock sound, they need more freedom of expression in most of their songs and need to experiment a tad more outside of their metallic mold.

Consistency in the line-up shows
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.

Non-Critical Listening
I was anxious to get my hands on this CD after buying the very good Hypothetical last year. Hoping Threshold would deliver something as good or maybe even better. Needless to say I am very disappointed in this new offering. First of all these songs lack serious energy heard in songs like Light & Space, Oceanbound, and Long Way Home. All of the songs on Critical Mass just seem to plug along at sort of a programed mid to slow tempo that completely bore the listener. These songs simply drag and go on too long. Secondly, this album can't be considered metal just progressive rock. The heaviness was seriously scaled down from Hypothetical, which was not super heavy or anything but was at least in the metal category. That is what I thought I liked about Threshold, being slightly heavier than most prog bands but it's not happening here. Lastly the hooks are way too predictable and manufactured sounding. I am sorry to rip this album but I spent my hard earned money on it and it didn't deliver nearly the quality heard on the Hypothetical album. Also to note the bonus CD is just 3 more songs of the same boredom. Maybe on the next album Threshold can garner some inspiration and write good songs again. Add some aggression and heaviness to the mix! They are certianly talented musicians no doubt.