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Nocturnus - The Key review



Reviewer:
8.5

278 users:
8.62
Band: Nocturnus
Album: The Key
Release date: August 1990


01. Lake Of Fire
02. Standing In Blood
03. Visions From Beyond The Grave
04. Neolithic
05. Undead Journey
06. BC/AD (Before Christ/After Death)
07. Andromeda Strain
08. Droid Sector
09. Destroying The Manger
10. Empire Of The Sands

When you think of the early innovators of Death Metal, names like Possessed, Death, Master, Morbid Angel, and Deicide are probably what come to mind. And rightly so, they all had a huge impact on the genre, and are still credible, durable, and enjoyable today. But one album, which might pass by some people in favor of say, 'Altars of Madness' or 'Scream Bloody Gore,' was released in 1990 by band called Nocturnus from the home of many of the early Death Metal acts: Tampa, Florida.

That one album is called 'The Key.' The album itself doesn't deviate from the contemporary scene and is packed full of everything that you would expect from extreme metal at the time: neck-breaking riffs, blasting drums, blazing solos, tortured screams, and an energy that is sure to get a murderous mosh pit churning. However, there is one huge thing that sets this album apart from most, if not all, of the extreme music known at the time: KEYBOARDS.

The year of 1990 was a time before Symphonic Black Metal, "Extreme" Power Metal, or any other keyboard-laden Extreme Metal genre had really been set in stone. The innovation of digitized effects wasn't entirely new as some extreme bands (Possessed, Slayer, Morbid Angel) had used processed sounds before, but it was Nocturnus which made heavy use of the keys on every song and rightfully earned their album's name.

A note on musicianship: Mike Browning delivers the goods in an unusual combo of drumming and vocals, providing the listener with a solid foundation of blasts, along with some mid paced beats, and the occasional fill. His vocals are reminiscent of early David Vincent and Jeff Becerra, which were more of a forced rasp as opposed to guttural-produced sounds. Mike Davis and Sean McNenny managed to churn out plenty of speedy, heavy riffs but their real highlight are their shredding solos. And even though Jeff Estes is by no means a driving force on bass, his playing helps provide some solid groundwork for the music. Lastly, Louis Panzer manages to set all kinds of moods with the use of his keys, and while sometimes he seems to come off over the top, it's a very interesting and enjoyable listen all around. The album opener "Lake of Fire" is a perfect representation of the album as a whole, though each song has it's own identity.

All in all, the album is musically innovative, largely due to the use of keyboards and effects. Aside from that, the brand of Metal seen here isn't a major deviant of the scene at the time, but it is definitely better executed than some and while lyrical content isn't very flashy and quite primitive, the underlying concept and song titles are quite interesting. This album helped to breath new life into the scene and can be seen as a revolution in keyboard-heavy Extreme Metal.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 9
Production: 8

Written by Clintagräm | 24.03.2008




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 193 users
24.03.2008 - 01:37
Damnated
Churchburner
Nice to see this great album reviewed here.
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Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.



Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01

if my wife and I can't conceive, I want a medical shipment of your sperm so our baby will be just like you.
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22.10.2008 - 15:26
Rating: 7
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
Good review. A nice album to listen something different. To me the vocals are a copy of Morbid Angel but that may happened not intentionally..
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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22.10.2008 - 16:01
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Deadmeat on 22.10.2008 at 15:26

To me the vocals are a copy of Morbid Angel but that may happened not intentionally..


Not too strange, because Mike Browning was the original drummer and vocalist of Morbid Angel.
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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22.10.2008 - 20:48
Rating: 7
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 22.10.2008 at 16:01

Written by Deadmeat on 22.10.2008 at 15:26

To me the vocals are a copy of Morbid Angel but that may happened not intentionally..


Not too strange, because Mike Browning was the original drummer and vocalist of Morbid Angel.

really?didn't know that.thanks...
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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15.07.2010 - 22:46
derplo

Its about an alien guy going back in time to kill jesus. SOO METAL!!
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04.03.2017 - 19:01
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Its awesome, I like part where you capitalized KEYBOARDS: maybe most revolution band ever, I like it, damn awesome.
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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04.11.2017 - 20:51
Rating: 10
terroriser

Nice to see that people still remembering about this great album. In 1990 many didn't like it, i remember my friend saying its to flashy and to electronic...

Imo one of the first and one of the biggest revolutions in metal that we all benefit from till today.
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https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4i2hn2aUeKBtxzw8UN2EML?si=_gXZwweyShiek4Dmk5UzpA
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01.10.2020 - 01:03
Rating: 9
sgtrobo

Groundbreaking album. One of the albums that really bolstered my interest in death metal beyond the basics at the time
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