Thresholds

Just where do you go after such an intense album as The Key? Nocturnus could have just as easily gone and done another hi-tech(nicality) album, and bumped it up another 20 or 30 BPM, but instead they brought us Thresholds. What else would you do to rightfully hold the title of "progressive death metal?"

The progressive term here is at times misleading--though we do have face melting guitar solos and some cool drumming, there is a clear injection of groove and simplifying of riffs going on here, which makes Thresholds a lot easier to digest than its predecessor. But that in turn robs it of the brutality and overwhelming nature that made The Key so damn heavy (even with shitty bass). The open string grooves on "Climate Controller" or the straight forward main thrash riffs of "Arctic Crypt" and "Alter Reality" are, however, super catchy and will get your head banging. There's much more atmosphere here, as evidenced by "Nocturne in Bm," which is perhaps due to keyboardist Lou Panzer having more input, and works wonders to enhance the "spacey" vibe. Song structures, as well, are simplified, and rather than confounding mazes of tunnels in the bowels of spaceships, you have more predictable verse-chorus songs with more repetition.

The riffs themselves have more of a thrash feel, and it's not until "Gridzone" that you hear some quasi-Possessed riffing and blast beats that Thresholds can truly call itself death metal. Luckily, the thrash here is more in line with bands like Demolition Hammer or Morbid Saint than Anthrax, so it does have an edge to it--it's just layered over with flashy guitar work and alien synths. I don't know who played bass on here, but its a clear improvement on Jeff Estes' shitty, shitty bass on The Key, and even shines in a few places like the choruses of "Arctic Crypt."

And on the note of Possessed, The Key and Thresholds are very much like Seven Churches and Beyond the Gates in their stylistic changes as well as problems with production and mixing. This music would benefit immensely from a remix that makes it less of a muddy mess.

Sean McNenney and Mike Davis are still tearing it up on their solos but do bring in a few clean moments, such as the interlude in the middle of "Arctic Crypt." Lou Panzer really shines on Thresholds, throwing various sound effects and melodies over the simplified riffs. I'm a huge fan for atmosphere, unless its some weak black metal where the riffs end up super compromised--here they are lightly compromised, edging close to puss territory but not going overboard.

Dan Izzo isn't a bad vocalist, he just isn't Mike Browning, who though far from perfect, has an iconic voice and presence behind both kit and mic. Having Browning on vocals would have knocked this up another five points. Not only do you miss the harsher vocals, but the Satanic/blasphemous lyrics of The Key certainly kept things in the death metal realm. He's no slouch on the drums though, and that gives Thresholds an added prog touch where Browning reaches for some Neil Peart fills. The tribal percussion on "Tribal Vodoun" and numerous roto tom fills show he was still growing as a drummer, the fruits of which you can hear on Nocturnus AD's superior Paradox album.

Thresholds is the album that brought Nocturnus to my radar. I heard a crappy mp3 of "Nocturne in Bm" in 1997 and scoured the earth for a copy of this on CD for about 2 years. Morbid Angel has been my favourite band since 1995, so just having Mike Browning in here was good enough. And I was already a huge fan of Pestilence and Savatage, two more bands with stellar guitar work and keys/synths that really pushed metal into weird territory. Thresholds certainly does that in its own way, but sadly doesn't quite reach the stars.