Thresholds

1992 was not the best year for Mike Browning to say the least. That year, the band basically screwed him over by trademarking the band name and kicking him out of the band. However, before that happened, The band recorded their second album in 1991 titled "Thresholds", which would be released a year later. While "The Key" was a good starter in their careers, Thresholds would take the ideas presented in the debut and go even further with them.

To see what makes this album so great, we'd need to check out the instruments first. The first track "Climate Controller" once again starts off the album with an ambient piece, but this time, we hear a deep, dark voice making proclamations of various lords creating destruction. The opening is much stronger here than in the debut, as it leads the listener in with a more dark and creepy atmosphere. When the rest of the instruments kick in, however, this is where things get crazy. The guitar riffs still maintain a similar sound from "The Key", but this time, the technical parts are more faster, complex, and composed better. The balance of the technical riffs and OSDM sound is perfectly balanced here, and mixes well with the other instruments. The drums are also just as good, with its blastbeats being more powerful and flowing well with the guitars even better. The bass has even seen some major improvement, being less sloppy and more rigid in structure. The overall atmosphere still maintains that spacey theme, but since there's better execution of the instrumentals, its atmosphere is more fleshed out and better. While "Climate Controller" is a powerful track, other tracks like "Arctic Crypt" and especially "Aquatica" are just as strong with their technical execution. The mix of tech-death and OSDM is more balanced overall, and in turn, makes the execution of the instrumentals feel stronger.

As for the vocals, they're also majorly improved on. The vocals were done by Dan Izzo this time, and he's clearly a much better vocalist than Mike. His voice is more deeper, and does have a more powerful personality. This is particularly the case in the next track "Tribal Vodoun", which adds in some tribal influences. Dan's deep growls flows well with the fast chaotic riffs and the groovy ritualistic drumming, and further enhances the story about a ritual sacrifice. When compared to Mike's vocals in the previous album, Dan basically blows the latter out of the water with his angrier personality and wild demeaner.

Even the lyrics are fantastic. Like the instrumentals and vocals, they've gotten better, and the songwriting here especially fits to the more technical-orientated riffs. Take the lyrics to "Subterranean Infiltrator" for example, where this verse quotes:

Agent of espionage
Bearing north of the peninsular
Invitation to lay clear
Think - over - the strategy

This verse is about an agent going through to infiltrate the space base. The structure of the lyrics are more descriptive and technical in writing, so the story presented is more presentable and thorough when it comes to the styling and structure. Furthermore, these lyrics are perfect with the instrumentals and vocals, as the technical riffs do enhance the complex operation, and Dan's chanting and growling further adding into the intensity of the mission. That, plus some themes on Necronomicon and the occult, and these lyrics are overall better than on the previous record.

While many fans of Nocturnus do prefer their debut, I actually think the second album is their best release. The more technical riffing is done well with the OSDM mix, Dan's vocals are a massive improvement when compared to Mike's lousy voice, and the lyrics take on more themes with a better writing style. This album was the last Nocturnus album Mike Browning was involved in before being booted off the project, but it would've been interesting to see what their next albums would've been like had Mike stayed. For now, though, this is easily the best album from Nocturnus, and it is an album I absolutely recommend.