LEGENDS OF THE SHIRES

Review # 76. Legends of the Shires is the 11th studio album of the English Prog-Metal band Threshold, and I dare say one of their best ones. Prog-Metal was never my cup of tea, so I try not to write reviews about albums that belong in this sub-genre. But that doesn't change the fact that Threshold released a really wonderful album, which I enjoy a lot; And when I saw them on stage performing songs from it, I liked it even more!

The album is filled with great guitar riffs, "catchy" melodies and very interesting compositions in general. The performance of the musicians is superb, having as "maestro" the leading guitar riffs of Karl Groom.

The album includes a couple of "hit" songs, like for example Small Dark Lines and/or State of Independence, together with a couple of "epics". (The 10-minute-long Lost in Translation is one of the best songs of the album). Well, what else can you ask for? In my opinion, Legends of the Shires is equally good (if not better) with some legendary albums the band released in the past, like Critical Mass or Subsurface for example. 4.0 stars