Threshold is a reference band that defines progressive music in the English way. Like Fates Warning, the English have participated in the creation of the style. A few years after "Legends of the Shires" with its overwhelming beauty, Karl Groom's band, more united than ever and having found the right balance with Glynn Morgan, releases "Dividing Lines", a new record in the line of what they have already done.
Progressive pieces such as 'The Domino Effect' or 'Defence Condition' should delight for fans of sharp riffs and soft melodies. The voice reinforces the warm aspect, helped sometimes by a discreet grunt. The variations of rhythms and climates are numerous and superb soli of an aerial guitar make the tracks take off.
The more classical tracks, of great quality but less catchy ('Silenced', 'Run' or 'King Of Nothing'), soften the percussive effect of the progressive cavalcades. However, when these songs seem simpler, Threshold variations and technical elements that spice them up. Thus 'Hunted', although in this line, with an effective riff and a very good catchy chorus, proposes a break on a background of acoustic guitars, divine vocals and a superb hot solo guitar.
"Dividing Lines" is a synthesis of everything Threshold has done since its beginnings, namely a combination of ambitious songs that justify the term progressive and less technical tracks. Even if it doesn't repeat the feat of "Legends of the Shires", this new record, melodic and balanced, is a real success.