UK progressive metallers THRESHOLD are confirmed for the Summer's End Festival, which set to take place September 15-16 at The Robin 2 in Bilston, England. PAIN OF SALVATION and IT BITES are also on the bill. More acts will be announced soon. For more information head to www.summersend.co.uk.

As previously reported, Threshold hit the road on the Live Reckoning tour, in late August with a support package featuring COMMUNIC, MACHINE MEN and SERENITY.

Dates include:

August

31 - Die Halle - Reichenbach/Fils, Germany

September

1 - Plato - Helmond, Holland
2 - Boerderij - Zoetermeer, Holland
3 - Matrix - Bochum, Germany
4 - Colos Saal - Aschaffenburg, Germany
5 - Der Hirsch - Nürnberg, Germany
6 - Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany
7 - N8 - Osnabrück, Germany
8 - Retro Music Hall - Prague, Czech Republic
9 - Schiff A38 - Budapest, Hungary
11 - Transbordeur - Lyon, France
12 - Roxy - Saarbrücken, Germany
13 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
14 - Biebob - Vosselaar, Belgium
15 - TBA* - London, England

(* London details and supports to be confirmed)

Threshold are touring in support of their new album, Dead Reckoning, which is out now via Nuclear Blast. BW&BK; asked keyboardist Richard West recently for his thoughts on why Dead Reckoning is so damn catchy – something none of Threshold’s prior releases can lay claim to – he offers the following:

“I think it has a lot to do with the sequencing of an album. If we had put songs like ‘One Degree Down’ or ‘Fighting For Breath’ at the beginning people would have thought we were still quite busy trying to put lots of ideas in one song, but we’ve got more songs on Dead Reckoning that are three or four minutes long. They’re shorter songs, which makes a definite impression on people they first time they hear it. When we were writing this album we put the same attention to detail into it as we always do, but we wanted a slightly more direct sound. With (previous album) Subsurface, the first song was a big epic, and you have to be ready for that sort of thing to get into it, whereas if you turn on the radio or you’re looking around the internet for music, if you don’t like a song within two minutes you’ve moved on, haven’t you?”

More of BW&BK;'s interview with Threshold can be found in BW&BK; #104, which can be ordered here.