Although the British progmetal pioneers Threshold had drastic personnel changes before and during the recording of the new album, the work on it was pure joy for founder Karl Groom. Why it has nothing to do with Hobbits, but a lot to do with self-discovery and Brexit, he explains in conversation.
eclipsed: What's Legends Of The Shires about?
Karl Groom: You can interpret the concept of the album in two ways: It can be about a nation finding itself and its place in the world, which is basically a current relation to England, its relation to Europe and what happened last year [through the Brexit]. But it can also be a person who is also trying to find his place in the world after painfully realizing that he deeply regrets some things in his life.
eclipsed: What's with the title?
GENESIS - 40 years of "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"
It wasn't as if Genesis hadn't explored the idea of conceptual rock art before 1974. After all, the band had previously released "Supper's Ready", an epic that spanned an entire LP page, and in 1973 presented songs on "Selling England By The Pound" that were held together by a certain idea of Britishness. However, Genesis had not yet dared to produce a record that would tell a coherent story from beginning to end.
ROBERT PLANT - Escape to the front
A full five years lay between "Dead Reckoning" (2007) and "March Of Progress" (2012). Five years in which almost all members of Threshold were also busy with personal and private changes. The negative highlight in 2011 was the death of their former singer Andrew "Mac" McDermott, who left the band in 2007. Meanwhile the new line-up with guitarist Pete Morten and the returnee Damian Wilson has worked out very well. A more fan-friendly frontman than Wilson, who has an outstanding voice and a similar charisma, can hardly be wished for by a rock group: Before the beginning of a concert, he likes to mix with the audience, sounds and jokes with them. The man with the Rübezahl beard is also very open in the interview. The usual promotion snack for the new album quickly becomes a minor matter.
eclipsed: Usually guitarist Karl Groom and keyboarder Richard West do the interviews for you. You'd better back off. What's the matter with you?
"March Of Progress", the title of the last Threshold album, proves to be a bit exaggerated in retrospect. The British are stagnating at a high level even with "For The Journey", without being able to reach the class of their first two 2000 works "Hypothetical" and "Critical Mass".
GENESIS
Turn It On Again! - Comeback of the year?
The big reunion fever doesn't stop at Genesis either. In June, the old masters of 70s progressive rock and tasty to tasty 80s pop go on their first tour (with Banks/Rutherford/Collins) in 15 years. Before that, they are still waiting with ambitious re-issues from their opulent back catalogue. eclipsed met the band for an exclusive interview in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
BRYAN FERRY
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eclipsed is a music magazine based in Aschaffenburg and has been on the German market since 2000. It is aimed at friends of sophisticated rock music who want to go on a new acoustic voyage of discovery month after month.
eclipsed deals in detail with the rock greats of the 60s and 70s in the areas of art rock, prog, psychedelic, blues, classic, hard rock and much more as well as with the current scene in these areas.
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