Nocturnus - The Key - guest review
Nocturnus - The Key - guest review
Tracklist
01. Lake Of Fire02. 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
Guest review by
Clintagräm March 24, 2008
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 | March 24, 2008
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
9
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Posts: 4943
Nice to see this great album reviewed here.
---- Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.  Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01
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Posts: 2437
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..
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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Posts: 40071 Written by Deadmeat on 22.10.2008 at 15:26 Not too strange, because Mike Browning was the original drummer and vocalist of Morbid Angel.
---- 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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Posts: 2437 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 22.10.2008 at 16:01 really?didn't know that.thanks...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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Its awesome, I like part where you capitalized KEYBOARDS: maybe most revolution band ever, I like it, damn awesome.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| terroriser
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Posts: 639
Groundbreaking album. One of the albums that really bolstered my interest in death metal beyond the basics at the time
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