After much critical acclaim was heaped on their 2017 epic, Legends Of The Shires, prog metal exponents Threshold are back with their 12th studio album, the darkly brooding Dividing Lines. With tensions between bandmembers past and present now resolved, founding guitarist and producer Karl Groom sheds some light on the bleak themes it explores.

Words: Alison Reijman Images: Robert Burress

No more divisions: Threshold are back!

“It has ended up being more like Subsurface , which had elements of political commentary, talking about propaganda and censorship.”

Arevolving door’s been in operation at Threshold HQ throughout the veteran prog metallers’ 34-year history, most notably in the lead vocals department. The last revolution in 2017 saw singer Damian Wilson leave for the third time and the return of other erstwhile vocalist Glynn Morgan for their 11th studio album, the epic Legends Of The Shires.

Five years later, studio album number 12, Dividing Lines, was handed to the record company in January, heavy CD and vinyl pressing schedules delaying its release. The hold-up frustrated Karl Groom, Threshold’s founder member and lead guitarist, who was hoping for a summer release. But, as he tells Prog, it’s only because he’s so happy with the finished result.

“I feel really confident about this album,” Groom enthuses. “I love the sound we’ve got on the vocals and how the music on it has come together.”

Billed as Legends Of The Shires’ darker, moodier brother, Dividing Lines delivers 10 contrasting cautionary tales reflecting on a fractured world, its dissonance, discordance and strife. On it, Morgan re-establishes himself not just as an incisive vocalist and rhythm guitarist, but as composer of three of its hard-edged, immersive songs alongside Threshold’s regular writing team of Groom and keyboard player Richard West.