Threshold formed in Surrey, England, in 1988, and they have been active in British progressive metal for more than three decades. The Threshold band has made twelve studio albums with three different lead singers, while guitarist Karl Groom has been there from the start to the latest record. This guide follows them from the cover-band days to “Dividing Lines” (2022).

The short version

Threshold started out playing covers of Ratt and Testament before writing their own songs. Their debut, “Wounded Land”, came out in August 1993 on Giant Electric Pea with Damian Wilson singing. Glynn Morgan sang on “Psychedelicatessen” (1994), Wilson came back for “Extinct Instinct” (1997), and Andrew McDermott fronted the band from “Clone” (1998) to “Dead Reckoning” (2007). Wilson sang again on “March of Progress” (2012) and “For the Journey” (2014), and Morgan for “Legends of the Shires” (2017) and “Dividing Lines” (2022). Keyboardist Richard West joined in the early years and is still a member. Since 2007 the band has recorded for Nuclear Blast.

Surrey, 1988: from covers to Wounded Land

According to Wikipedia, the first Threshold played metal covers in Surrey and spread their early original songs on demo tapes before signing a first record deal in 1992. Their first commercial recording, “Intervention”, appeared on a Dutch progressive compilation, and Richard West joined on keyboards soon afterwards. AllMusic’s biography dates the start to 1989; the band’s own site gives 1988.

“Wounded Land” was released on 2 August 1993. On it Damian Wilson sings lead, Karl Groom and Nick Midson play guitars, Jon Jeary plays bass, West plays keyboards and piano, and Tony Grinham plays drums. Wikipedia’s band article says the title and some of the themes come from a novel by Stephen R. Donaldson, and the album page lists songs about environmental destruction and the Gulf War. The band’s own biography credits the debut with “a distinctly British sensibility”.

Inside Out, Nuclear Blast and the long middle years

After the first four albums on Giant Electric Pea, Threshold moved to InsideOut Music for “Hypothetical” (2001), “Critical Mass” (2002) and “Subsurface” (2004). Reviewing “Hypothetical” for AllMusic, Gary Hill hears powerful, mostly direct prog metal rooted in 1980s metal, with darker reflective passages and moments that suggest a heavier take on Yes, and calls it “a fairly original take on the prog metal genre.” German Wikipedia notes that the magazine Rock Hard named six Threshold albums its album of the month, from “Extinct Instinct” to “March of Progress”.

In 2006 the band left InsideOut for Nuclear Blast. “Dead Reckoning” (2007) followed, and its song “Pilot in the Sky of Dreams” became the first Threshold track used in a feature film, “In the Name of the King” (2008). “Legends of the Shires”, released on 8 September 2017, is a double album of 14 tracks; Wikipedia reports Richard West describing it as a concept piece about a nation searching for its identity, written so that it also reads as a personal story. “Dividing Lines” arrived on 18 November 2022. Wikipedia says it began as a sequel to “Legends of the Shires”, until West took that storyline to his own project, Oblivion Protocol, as “The Fall of the Shires”.

If this is your scene, my books go deeper →

Album by album

Twelve studio albums, from “Wounded Land” (1993) to “Dividing Lines” (2022). Tap any title for its guide.

The players

Karl Groom is the only musician on every Threshold record; he also runs Thin Ice Studios in Surrey, where the band recorded “Legends of the Shires” and “Dividing Lines”. Drummer Tony Grinham left after the debut. In AllMusic’s account, Nick Harradence played drums on “Psychedelicatessen”, Jay Micciche then joined, and in 1996 Morgan and Micciche left to form Mindfeed. Mark Heaney drummed on “Extinct Instinct” and “Clone”, and Johanne James, who first played with the band on the 1997 tour, became the permanent drummer with “Hypothetical”.

Damian Wilson had three spells as lead singer: the debut in 1993, a return from 1996 to 1997, and a third run from 2007 to 2017. Andrew McDermott sang from “Clone” to “Dead Reckoning” and left in July 2007. Steve Anderson replaced Jon Jeary on bass in 2003, and Pete Morten took over from Nick Midson on guitar in 2007, staying until February 2017. The band parted ways with Wilson the following month, and Glynn Morgan returned. Outside Threshold, Wilson sang on the first three albums by Landmarq (1992 to 1995) and was a lead voice on “Into the Electric Castle” (1998) by Ayreon.

The current line-up is Glynn Morgan (vocals), Karl Groom (guitars), Richard West (keyboards), Steve Anderson (bass) and Johanne James (drums), the five musicians credited on “Dividing Lines”.

Where to start

Start with “Hypothetical” (2001), the first album with Johanne James on drums, the album Gary Hill praised in his AllMusic review, and one of the records Rock Hard made its album of the month, as German Wikipedia reports.

Then try “Legends of the Shires” (2017), the double concept album that marked Glynn Morgan’s return and gave the band its only entry on the UK Official Albums Chart. To hear where it began, go back to “Wounded Land” (1993) with Damian Wilson. If you like those, “For the Journey” (2014) reached No. 3 on the UK Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart, the band’s highest placing there.

Why they matter

Threshold matter to the progressive metal story for their continuity: the same guitarist from 1988 to today, a keyboardist who joined before the debut and wrote the lyrics behind the concept of “Legends of the Shires”, and three lead singers whose eras each have their own albums. AllMusic’s profile presents them as a British metal group writing large-scale songs that keep melody at the centre of their progressive ideas. On the UK Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart, five of their studio albums placed between 2007 and 2022, with “Dividing Lines” peaking at No. 9.

Through Damian Wilson’s work with Landmarq and Ayreon, they also connect to two other corners of the modern progressive map. I follow the modern progressive bands, from the 1990s onward, in my book Beyond the Decades.

Browse my books in the footer →