British progressive metal legends Threshold are releasing their eleventh studio album Legends Of The Shires on September 8.

Guitarist Karl Groom says they didn’t initially intend on writing a double album, also a concept album, but it happened organically.

“We had gotten to 55-60 minutes and we realized we hadn’t finished saying what we wanted to say so we kept going, at the end it was 83 minutes,” Karl says.

“If I ever did an album like that I always wanted it to have a theme and reason for every track musically, not just a lyrical theme.”

“If you listen to the album from beginning to end you feel the story evolving musically and the dynamics are right.”

Karl says there is a dual-theme running through the album about an individual – or a country – trying to find its place in the world.

“You could relate that to England leaving the European Union last year, the political events there and the blurring of borders of the countries as well,” Karl says.

“On a personal level, it’s about someone’s journey through life and the struggles of their aims and ambitions.”

“Situations where you end taking advantage and then regret it later because it impacted on someone else’s life, so it’s all about reflection.”

Glynn Morgan took over vocal duties for this album, after previously performing in the band from 1993-1996.

The lineup change started from last October, when previous singer Damien Wilson decided to leave the band.

The current lineup consists of Karl (guitars), Glynn (vocals), Richard West (keyboards), Steve Anderson (bass) and Johanne James (drums).

“It’s been a constant theme in our history, but lucky our music is mostly written by myself and our keyboard player,” Karl says.

“He (Damien) gave a few names of people that could replace him, but we decided to go back and ask Glynn who ended up wanting to rejoin.”

Complications arose when Damien initially chose to return and they group performed at the Ice Rock festival at the beginning of the year.

They started recording vocals for new material, but after being unavailable for other shows, the atmosphere started to change again.

“When you feel someone is about to leave and then they come back it really changes how you feel about thing,” Karl says.

“It’s still a privilege to write and record music to an audience, so I hope people can something from this album they really enjoy.”

You can pre-order the new album here.

By Nutman

Photo from facebook.