Thresholds

A legendary and pioneering death metal band, Nocturnus was formed in 1987 by drummer/vocalist Mike Browning after his departure from the fledgling Morbid Angel. They broke significant ground in 1991 with the release of "The Key", a sci fi-themed death metal album that not only displayed startlingly good guitar work, but also prominent keyboards. Not just the typical string/pad sounds that some bands had made use of (and that many would make use of), but actual synthesizer sounds that lent the album a very unusual tonal quality. It was, and to be honest, still is unlike anything else out there and remains essential listening for death metal fans. In this review, however, I'm taking a look at the sophomore "Thresholds", an album which I see as somewhat underrated and no less brilliant than the first one. Thanks to Earache recently reissuing this fairly hard to find album, I was able to get a copy of it (at a normal price) that I've been after for many years.

The first thing you'll notice about "Thresholds" is how much fuller and thicker sounding it is than the debut album. The production is a little muddy, so picking out some of the details will require the listener to be paying attention at times, and believe me this is definitely something you want to be paying full attention to. Guitarists Mike Davis and Sean Mcnenney unleash some tight and catchy riffs, but the main feature is their fantastic soloing and lead parts. It's very shreddy at times, which may turn off some listeners, but I find it absolutely great to listen to, very tasteful and classy and it really embellishes the songs nicely. Some of the more technical riffs are almost shreds in themselves.

Mike Browning steps down from the mic to focus more on drumming on this album. While never the world's most amazing drummer, he holds everything down flawlessly and has a few cool tricks up his sleeve and some really good beats. The new vocalist is Dan Izzo who, while not as vicious sounding as Browning on "The Key", fits the album fine and manages to spit out some pretty fast lines at times. The bass player can be heard throwing in some cool ideas from time to time, though he is fairly submerged in the dense-sounding mix. Louis Panzer's keyboards are brilliantly atmospheric, a little more subdued overall, though there are times when he's given a melody line that really adds to the overall sonic picture. There's some very atmospheric use of samples on this album too, from futuristic warfare to the sounds of the ocean depths.

As before, the themes of this album are largely futuristic and non-standard fare. "Aquatica", for example, reads almost like a science fiction short story about an underwater city (Bioshock before Bioshock?). "Arctic Crypt" reminds me a little bit of the movie The Thing, an alien terror in the frozen wastes. "Subterranean Infiltrator" is supposedly inspired by the Metal Gear game series. "Nocturne In Bm", despite being an instrumental, has to be mentioned for being probably the best instrumental I've ever heard, featuring perhaps my favourite soloing on this album...and, of course, the artwork. Just awesome. It wouldn't look out of place on the cover of a classic sci fi novel. I just love the colours and detail used here.

All in all, this is a very adventurous album that fans of death metal should seek out just for the stunning musicianship if not the unusual sounds and themes that are on display.