WOUNDED LAND

First, let me say that I am a fan of Threshold's material from 'Extinct Instinct' to their latest 'Subsurface'. But how 'Wounded Land' is rated higher than the excellent 'Clone' is beyond my comprehension.

First of all, the production is just horrible. It sounds like a glam metal band from the early eighties (note that I base this review on the original Giant Electric Pea release, and not the Inside Out special edition), with over-triggered drums, static bass, crappy sounding synths and razor-toned guitars.

Second, their first drummer, Tony Grinham, is as bad as his sound, uncreative and untalented (at least on this record, I don't know if he recorded anything else, and frankly, I pray to God he did not. Good thing he only recorded this album with Threshold).

Third, the keyboards are also uncreative, unoriginal and quite frankly, cheesy at best. Some keyboard moments have more in common with Europe (the band) than with prog metal.

Fourth, the lyrics; even though this is an extremely environmentally engaged album (and we have to give them credit for that), the lyrics end up being close to ridiculously embarassing and laughable.

Fifth, the songwriting has absolutely NOTHING to do with prog metal. It's not because songs are long that they are prog, and this album is a perfect example.

Sixth, the guitars sound really bad and are very generic thrash metal sounding.

There are only two positive elements I can think of about this album : Damian Wilson, and Threshold's birth. Wounded Land is the last album I bought from Threshold (after having purchased all their official releases), and unless you are a huge fan and a completionist, I urge you to stay away from this one.