Wow... I just heard this today and I'm blown away. For some reason, I assumed this would much weaker than their debut, but I downloaded the remasterd version of this album and the guitars just ripped through my speakers. The Key is still better, obviously

Awesome, I assumed their debut was their only album worth looking into. I'll have to check this out as well.

Written by bard on 22.02.2010 at 17:18

Awesome, I assumed their debut was their only album worth looking into. I'll have to check this out as well.

Make sure it's the remastered version.

This is an awesome piece of underrated metal history

Better than The Key

Written by Grody2themax on 24.03.2012 at 07:09

Better than The Key

uh, no

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 24.03.2012 at 10:54

Written by Grody2themax on 24.03.2012 at 07:09

Better than The Key

uh, no

Whats your reasoning behind that? The Key isn't a bad album but its way overrated IMO.

I started out with Thresholds for this band and I couldn't get into it for a while. So I bought The Key expecting it to be way better like everyone says but it bored me pretty hard. I listened to it about 5 times in the car. Its almost like its the same thing the whole album. The drums are mostly on beat, boring tremolo riffs with on beat accents, good (but boring) guitar shredding, but the keyboard/synth was nice. Though, imo it wasn't until Thresholds that they got really good. Thresholds is a way more varied and professional sounding album. I don't even think my previous statement is even very subjective either. Whether or not this appeals to you more than their previous efforts (The Key) is subjective though.

Awesome as the first one. However I don't like the guitar sound. It's muted... I hate when the electric guitar is played like that. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's the tuning, but that's how it sounds, muted. It's like they hold the palm always on the strings to diminish the sound. It's so annoying, how is that suppose to sound good.

Written by Dangerboner on 23.02.2010 at 07:03

Written by bard on 22.02.2010 at 17:18

Awesome, I assumed their debut was their only album worth looking into. I'll have to check this out as well.

Make sure it's the remastered version.

Sorry to quote you three years later, but are you sure this album has been remastered? I can't find it, I have only seen the remastered version of The Key....

Yeah, I believe it was remastered in 2003

Absolutely not as good or as vital as "The Key", but nonetheless, this one is a fine album in it's own right. The sound on this album is fantastic!

Written by Dangerboner on 12.09.2013 at 10:06

Yeah, I believe it was remastered in 2003

I think that you could be mixing this with the "Two from the vault" series of Roadrunner records, where some records where remastered in 2003, but anyway, I will check out the copy of Thresholds that I have (remastered or not haha)

Written by Guillero on 12.09.2013 at 13:25

Written by Dangerboner on 12.09.2013 at 10:06

Yeah, I believe it was remastered in 2003

I think that you could be mixing this with the "Two from the vault" series of Roadrunner records, where some records where remastered in 2003, but anyway, I will check out the copy of Thresholds that I have (remastered or not haha)

most of the 'two from the vault' series weren't remasters, most probably not a single one was a remaster. They were just re-releases where they put two albums in their Original form on a cd and at times a double cd. It was just a cheap rerelease which didn't cost RoadRunner anything extra.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 12.09.2013 at 15:29
most of the 'two from the vault' series weren't remasters, most probably not a single one was a remaster. They were just re-releases where they put two albums in their Original form on a cd and at times a double cd. It was just a cheap rerelease which didn't cost RoadRunner anything extra.

That's correct. I own some of the "Two from the vault" series, and none of them are remasters, as far as I can recall...

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 12.09.2013 at 15:29

Written by Guillero on 12.09.2013 at 13:25

Written by Dangerboner on 12.09.2013 at 10:06

Yeah, I believe it was remastered in 2003

I think that you could be mixing this with the "Two from the vault" series of Roadrunner records, where some records where remastered in 2003, but anyway, I will check out the copy of Thresholds that I have (remastered or not haha)

most of the 'two from the vault' series weren't remasters, most probably not a single one was a remaster. They were just re-releases where they put two albums in their Original form on a cd and at times a double cd. It was just a cheap rerelease which didn't cost RoadRunner anything extra.

I can tell the difference in Sufocation's Effigy of the forgotten, and I think that was remastered for that ocassion, but it's true that the majority of them were just a re-release, maybe because the albums were remastered before Two from the vault series (like Obituary's and Mercyful Fate albums, for example), or they have never been remastered.

Written by Guillero on 12.09.2013 at 17:42


I can tell the difference in Sufocation's Effigy of the forgotten, and I think that was remastered for that ocassion, but it's true that the majority of them were just a re-release, maybe because the albums were remastered before Two from the vault series (like Obituary's and Mercyful Fate albums, for example), or they have never been remastered.

I just remembered, Nocturnus The Key and Thresholds can't have been released as 'Two From The Vault' because that series is a RoadRunner series and The Key and Threshold were and still are Earache releases. Earache never sold the licensing of those albums to any other label.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 12.09.2013 at 17:52

Written by Guillero on 12.09.2013 at 17:42


I can tell the difference in Sufocation's Effigy of the forgotten, and I think that was remastered for that ocassion, but it's true that the majority of them were just a re-release, maybe because the albums were remastered before Two from the vault series (like Obituary's and Mercyful Fate albums, for example), or they have never been remastered.

I just remembered, Nocturnus The Key and Thresholds can't have been released as 'Two From The Vault' because that series is a RoadRunner series and The Key and Threshold were and still are Earache releases. Earache never sold the licensing of those albums to any other label.

Yeah, I know. I have only commented about two from the vault series because I thought that Dangerboner could be confusing these with those re-releases.

Written by Grody2themax on 25.03.2012 at 21:04

Whats your reasoning behind that? The Key isn't a bad album but its way overrated IMO.

I started out with Thresholds for this band and I couldn't get into it for a while. So I bought The Key expecting it to be way better like everyone says but it bored me pretty hard. I listened to it about 5 times in the car. Its almost like its the same thing the whole album. The drums are mostly on beat, boring tremolo riffs with on beat accents, good (but boring) guitar shredding, but the keyboard/synth was nice. Though, imo it wasn't until Thresholds that they got really good. Thresholds is a way more varied and professional sounding album. I don't even think my previous statement is even very subjective either. Whether or not this appeals to you more than their previous efforts (The Key) is subjective though.

What?! So you're basically saying that Thresholds is "objectively" better than The Key? If so, then you don't know what objectivity and subjectivity mean since stating a thing like that is totally ludicrous. I'm convinced judging music is a bit objective but definitely way more subjective. I won't say that The Key is a much better album objectively but I do think it's much better than Thresholds as this one actually bored me a bit and didn't really click with me all that much.

I have this like in bootleg tape somewhere(or original tape, got from friend) , just re listened it Cd verison,. gosh this needs re mastering, so poor quality, but still kick ass album. US military in approximately 1993 told and reported that climate controller will be weapon in 2020. Now do we have winter, where in last 5 years time goes winter and snow? Saudi, Siria, polar circle is warm .... think, just think about it.

8.5/10 leaning towards a 9. Not as strong as The Key IMO, but still an enjoyable listen with great songs.

Fan remaster with less muddy sound. The low end sounds funky but it's better overall

Seems to be overlooked in comparison to The Key - even though it's just as good .... on second thought, I think I like this a bit better than their debut

Wow what an amazing album cover. It blows my mind that bands still don't hire artists to do hand drawn covers like this. They'll look SO much better than anything digitally produced nowadays.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 27.09.2022 at 18:01

Wow what an amazing album cover. It blows my mind that bands still don't hire artists to do hand drawn covers like this. They'll look SO much better than anything digitally produced nowadays.

Dan Seagrave is the king of metal album covers. I recommend checking out his website (you might recognise a lot of them!).

Written by nonZero on 28.09.2022 at 12:27

Dan Seagrave is the king of metal album covers. I recommend checking out his website (you might recognise a lot of them!).

I agree that Dan's good but this cover was made by Pete Knifton.

Written by Zap on 28.09.2022 at 15:15

Written by nonZero on 28.09.2022 at 12:27

Dan Seagrave is the king of metal album covers. I recommend checking out his website (you might recognise a lot of them!).

I agree that Dan's good but this cover was made by Pete Knifton.

I wonder why he's credited as the artist on here then

Written by nonZero on 28.09.2022 at 17:05

I wonder why he's credited as the artist on here then

Good point, hadn't noticed the additional info here listing him as cover artist. Can't find any other website aside from MS that claims it's Seagrave, and it just doesn't look like his style, so I'm sure that's a mistake.

^^ Thank you both

That's what happens when the one who added the info (10 years ago) used Metal-Archives as a source, which is funny because they fixed it too since.

Anyway, Seagrave did The Key and Knifton did Thresholds -> fixed.

Nocturnus' "Aquatic" song begins with "In the future year, 2023 Multinational warlords, build an aquatic colony"