Thresholds

Nocturnus burst out of the gates with The Key in 1990. The disc was superb, a blend of death/thrash with an outer-space angle I wasn't hearing anywhere else at the time. The production was rough, rudimentary, and yet effective. Mike Browning's voice, while not particularly brutal, carried some originality; and the songwriting, while possessed of many twists and turns, also managed to settle in to several heavy grooves that I still enjoy to this day.

Enter Thresholds, released two years later, and much anticipated by yours truly. Gone is the raw production, gone are the rough edges. The execution is more polished and more precise. Also gone, much to my dismay, are those lovely grooves which tied together the madness on The Key. In their place are more progressive, wandering passages. A terrible songwriting choice; one that shows off the musical talent of the band but significantly mutes the punch and memorability of the material.

And that is one of the primary problems I have with Thresholds. So much of it is just pointless wankery. Riff after riff are thrown at the listener with no discernible structure. Guitar scales are plentiful, but apparently just random elements with no purpose. The songs just meander around rather than focusing anywhere. Hey, here's another part! And another. And another. Throw some growls in there; talk about space gods taking over. Everyone's doomed! Especially this fucking album.

Apparently Browning was fired, but only after the initial recordings since he's still given the drum credit. His replacement on vocals is Dan Izzo, who is entirely devoid of any originality. To me he sounds like just another growly Tampa death metal voice. Thresholds' production doesn't help, ensuring his voice gets lost in the shuffle. Priority is given to the guitar wankery instead. His mild disinterest is evident in several places. Either that or he's just struggling to force lyrics into the ever-changing cadence of the songs. At a certain point, what's he supposed to do? Even a death metal vocalist needs something to hang on to. It's just not there.

What the hell are these arrangements all about, anyway? Write some fucking songs with a theme or two. Give me something to latch on to, something that makes it an actual song. It's incredibly frustrating to me because I can tell the talent is there. These songs are gone from my head after 30 seconds. The only way to get them back is to listen to them again. Why would I do that when I can listen to something more recognizable and substantive?

Tribal Vodoun is a great example. It starts off with a nice, rhythmic riff. There's a little Morbid Angel happening here, and I've got no problem with that. But then? It's gone. 10 more riffs happen, all different, all monotonous. Climate Controller is the same way. Aquatica is perhaps a little better, but not by much.

I'll give some credit where it is due though. Arctic Crypt establishes some atmospheric melody, transitioning to an acoustic passage and back into a decently planned solo, and then into a nice groove to close the piece. Subterranean Infiltrator lays down a nice riff or two, complete with an interesting mid-song break. It's probably the best song on the CD.

But these are fleeting moments that cannot bind the rest together. The core of the material doesn't hold up just because the periphery has a few moments of quality. Nocturnus disappeared after Thresholds. Yes, they did a demo afterwards and a comeback full-length effort. But the momentum was destroyed. And this is the CD that killed it.