CLONE

UK prog metal band Threshold seem to have changed vocalists and drummers at alarming regularity. Clone saw the arrival of vocalist Andrew "Mac" McDermott which would give the band a much needed spell of stability in the vocal department at least and he would stay until 2007's Dead Reckoning.

The bands best album would be the following release Hypothetical where they got just the right balance between powerful riffs, a pleasing balance of keyboards and strong melodies. Clone can be seen as the precursor of that album and shares a similar sound and vibe. Very good it is too with some excellent tracks, the best generally speaking being the longer ones like The Latent Gene and Goodbye To Mother Earth where they can flex their musical muscles better and up the prog quotient. There's still much to enjoy in the shorter pieces though and Freaks makes a powerful and memorable opener.

Where it falls short of the excellent Hypothetical is simply in the quality of the riffs and tunes. As good as many of them are they lack the killer punch that the majority of songs on that album packed. Still if you enjoy Threshold this one's well worth checking out and is one of the better releases of the "Mac" years. 3 ½ stars.