The Key

One of the most beautiful sensations one can experience is when you go back to something you liked in your childhood or teenage years once you're an adult and it's even better than you remembered it. This is what happens to me with "The Key", one of the first death metal albums that captivated me when I discovered death metal when I was 14 years old, many years later I rediscover it only to realize that I love it even more and how all its qualities please and excite me more than before. My knowledge of the genre and my tastes have expanded, and far from making me see it as inferior or outdated, I can only see it with better eyes.

"The Key" can be understood as one of those cases where everything connected in a formidable way. The expression "ahead of his time" is often overused when talking about works that are quite a few years old, but this seems to me to be one of the cases where it can be genuinely mentioned, although it seems that even the band members themselves may not have been aware of it. Mike Browning had left Morbid Angel and clearly there are several common bonds that the two bands share, but the end result of Nocturnus reached a level of depth and quality unimaginable with everything they were proposing. What exactly do I mean by this? That the sound of Nocturnus is composed of a multitude of elements that in principle were not supposed to combine, and that on top of that they were quite experimental for their time, a real blind leap of faith.

Let's start with the guitars, one of the most fundamental components and surely the most satisfying part of the album, Sean McNenney and Mike Davis make a showcase display of technical skills and speed, the album is full of leads and outrageous solos that seem to be played at the speed of light by an intergalactic virtuoso, there is a lot of Possessed and Morbid Angel in the thrashy and chaotic style they use, but here it is taken to the maximum limit over the top, the guitar assaults are permanent every minute of the long play, to the point where it seems like the lead guitar goes on its own without caring about the rest of the composition and I can't emphasize how fun that sounds, as if an outsider had sneaked into the band's rehearsal and was just intermittently throwing in the coolest punches and licks he could think of at any random moment of the song, bringing a sense of freedom and creativity that is incredibly contagious.

The keyboards are the main reason why this band is often highlighted, being the first death metal band to include that instrument in their music, and the truth is that they couldn't have done it in a better way, these are not some simple atmospheric keyboards whose only purpose is to reinforce the ambient while fitting in the aesthetics (which they also do), no, the keyboards on "The Key" are pure fire, every time they appear they build up a stellar moment, they reinforce the already powerful riffs, and when it has sections totally led by himself, Louis Panzer makes those excerpts incredibly epic and memorable.

It's funny how the most criticized elements of this album are the ones that Mike Browning himself is responsible for, the drums and vocals, and this is largely what I meant when I said that the sound of this album was made up of elements that shouldn't work once combined, as if the contrast between the melodic and ambient keyboards and the fast and technical guitars wasn't enough, the thrasy, violent overly simplistic and primitive drumming also comes into play, which at first has no busisness in being on par with the rest of the instruments played in such an exceptional and sophisticated way, and yet I think it just all ends up complementing each other perfectly. The drumming gives the album the strength and energy needed to make it feel really heavy and intimidating and at the same time gives both guitars and keyboards room to shine. As for the Mike Browning vocals, it has a rather peculiar delivery and cadence, probably the result of singing to the rhythm of the drumming, and that gives it a strong personality and charm, plus the sci-fi vocal effects used at certain points make it fit the atmosphere and make it more accessible to anyone who has trouble with his style.

The production is ok, maybe in its time it felt better as now it can feel a bit outdated, the bass is completely inaudible and there is a lo-fi component throughout the whole long play, especially noticeable in the keyboards and effects, making it feel retro-futuristic, like a 50's sci-fi movie where it is evident that what is presented to us as the future is impossible to see it in any other way than with a view of the past, and that has its charm, and being an album so rooted in sci-fi makes it feel more in line with what it is trying to convey.

The songwriting is, perhaps, what I have come to appreciate more over time, before I simply enjoyed Nocturnus' approach on this album, now I do too but with more motives. I can appreciate a clear differentiation between the first and the second half of the album, being songs like "Lake of Fire" or "Standing in Blood" the most chaotic aggressive and technical versions of Nocturnus, this last song consists of an instrumental intro that changes register up to seven times before entering the core of the song, plaguing the song with flashes of slayer-inspired guitar solos but with much more abrupt tempo changes that give the composition a certain progressive value. In the middle part with Neolithic or Undead Journey, while maintaining that intensity and those skilled flashes, the compositions are denser, they resort to keyboard tropes and the instrument gains presence overall, we can also appreciate a greater effort for the compositions to be varied and have clearly differentiated segments in which you never know what will be the next step of the band. By the time the song "BC/AD" comes along, we reach the final stretch of the album, the one where the conceptual story is told, and here the album is shown in all its glory, because without giving up any of the elements they have previously shown, they expand the concept and take it to more solemn and serious heights. The atmosphere feels deeper and more narrative, Mike Browning's voice is more focused and the compositions gain depth. For example in "Andromeda Strain" the song reaches a climatic point, but doesn't break, and returns to the initial style, only to take us back to that climatic point and this time break with a melodic and futuristic keyboard performance that leads into four consecutive guitar solos well differentiated from each other, making the compositions feel both labyrinthic and incredibly technical. Maybe by modern standards this is a bit naive, but hell, this was in 1990, who was making music like this apart from Atheist? This album is before Death and Pestilence started to take a more technical and progressive approach to the genre, and on "The Key" although it doesn't reach very high heights everything it aims to do is achieved to perfection. "Destroying the Manger" and "Empire of the Sands" end up being the apex and the deserved finale making an amalgamation of everything that has been previously presented to us in the previous eight tracks while maintaining the total creative essence.

"The Key" is a cult classic, an album considered a must for old school death metal, a work generally well appreciated by death metal enthusiasts. And yet, I feel that it really is an album that deserved, and still deserves, much more recognition than it is given, and this is my contribution to that cause. If for whatever reason you haven't listened to it, do yourself a favour and do it now.

Technical death metal's origins can pretty much be traced back to Nocturnus. Sure, there were some technical thrash bands like Sieges Even, Coroner, and Voivod were part of the influences, but Nocturnus is usually the big name that gets thrown around when referring to early tech-death. Originally coming from Morbid Angel, Mike Browning left the band in 1986 and went on to form Nocturnus as a way to offer a more technical approach to the MA sound. And while they haven't fully fleshed out their ideas yet, I still think their 1990 album "The Key" is great as far as debut albums go.

Starting off with the instrumentals, we can tell right from the first track "Lake of Fire" that this record was gonna be different from other death metal albums at the time. Instead of opening with some sick guitar riffs, it actually opens up with some mystical synths playing an atmospheric melody. Louis Panzer did the keyboards on this album, and they're actually really good, as they further enhance the spacey theme in the tracks. But we'll go more into that in a bit. Once the rest of the instruments kick in, this is where things get really good. The guitars riffs are very reminiscent of that early Morbid Angel, but they do show off some of that technical composition, being faster and more complex. The drumming is also good, as the blastbeats are steady and maintain a consistent tempo for the other instruments. The bass can be sloppy at times, but otherwise is decent at providing the track's foundation. The overall atmosphere in Lake of Fire is chaotic, but does have a spacey tone in it that makes the listener feel like they're in space. This is especially the case in the third track "Visions from Beyond the Grave", in which the laser synths and more technical riffs do perfectly capture the experience of a war in space. The instrumentals might not be perfect, but they do set in the foundations of that Nocturnus sound that would later be improved on.

The vocals, however, aren't as strong. Don't get me wrong, Mike Browning isn't horrible with his vocals, but they could be improved on. He goes for that ferocious screaming similar to other death metal vocalists, but it doesn't pack a punch. A good example of this is in the track "BC/AD", which is yet another fantastic track with a bigger emphasis of the space stuff. Mike's young age, however really does show in the track, as his bouncy, energetic voice feels out of place in the rigid, technical riffs. If his vocals were on a standard thrash metal record, they would've been accepted, but these types of instrumentals call for more intimidating vocals. Mike's vocals don't completely tarnish the tracks, but they haven't exactly aged well when compared to the instruments.

On the plus side, though, the lyrics are good. Mike Browning wrote much of the lyrics, and while his strongest suit isn't the vocals, he is a rather talented songwriter. Take the lyrics to "Neolithic" for example, where this verse quotes:

As the earth began to tilt
All the polar caps had started to melt
All the seas had overflown
Ripping the continents apart

This verse does focus on themes of the Earth dying. Considering how huge saving the environment was in the early 90s, you might think that they're hopping in the bandwagon in saving the rainforests and whatnot. Instead, it combines that with the Earth reincarnating into a new form with new continents and life, which is executed neatly with the simple descriptions of the changes happening. Furthermore, this also goes hand-to-hand with the instruments and vocals, as the chaotic, technical guitar riffs captures this event well, and Mike's vocals are actually decent here, since he further enforces the severity of the changes happening on Earth. While many death metal lyrics were more focused on gore, Nocturnus introduced spatial themes and science fiction in death metal, which I think they've done really well.

The Key is no perfect record by any means, especially when factoring in Mike's disappointing vocals. However, that hasn't stopped the instrumentals from being great technical works that also include some nice keyboards and lyrics. While Mike had some more plans in Nocturnus, as we'll see in their next album, things didn't go as planned to put it lightly. Regardless, if you wanna hear some nice technical death metal with some OSDM influences, this is an album I'd highly recommend.

One thing I have realized about death metal is that the most praised albums of the genre are usually those which are most bizzare and otherwordly. In short, the bigger "what the fuck" factor, the more it is revered (Nespithe, Obscura, Focus, Seven Churches, Atheist's and Cryptopsy's first two albums, Death's last four albums etc). This also applies somewhat to other subgenres of metal (King of the Dead, Awaken the Guardian and Manilla Road's albums from Crystal Logic to Mystification for heavy, Eternal Nightmare, Voivod's albums from Killing Technology to Nothingface and the two Watchtower and Toxik albums for thrash, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Drawing Down the Moon, Bergtatt and Filosofem for black etc), but death metal has a greater number of avant-garde classics that any other metal subgenre. The Key should also, in theory, fit into this category. This combination of technical riffing and soloing with the spacey keyboards is pretty much unique to this band alone, and expectedly, this album is hailed as a classic and one of the peaks of death metal. However, while this album has some legitimately amazing moments, I cannot consider it good, let alone a classic.

Mike Browning formed Nocturnus almost immediately after leaving Morbid Angel. Considering the completely over-the-top style of the album, it would be safe to assume that Browning, much like Dave Mustaine, wanted to completely outdo the band he was forced to leave. It would be a great irony if that is the case, because Browning himself is The Key's weakest link. His drumming is constantly sloppy and powerless, as if he's just gently and clumsily touching the drums and cymbals with his drumsticks, while his vocals are unbelievably atrocious. Not only is he constantly out of breath and rasps without any power or conviction, but he reverbs out his voice, making it sound much, much worse. Songs like BC/AD, Droid Sector and Empire of the Sands are almost completely unlistenable due to horrible, overeffected vocals. I suppose I can't be too hard to him, because it's not easy to play drums and do vocals on a death metal album simultaneously, but Autopsy's Chris Reifert pulled this off a year earlier and much more competently than Mike has done on this album, proving that it is possible to to both (I'm aware that Mike also both played drums and did vocals on Abominations of Desolation, but even there, he was a sloppy drummer and a powerless vocalist). The band should've just recruited another member to play drums and/or vocals.

The Key is categorized as a technical death metal album. The guitars are often doing insane acrobatics, as expected from this genre, but it's not particularly interesting or enjoyable. The main reason for that is that the songwriting is mostly incoherent and incohesive. Most of the riffs are either Slayer/Morbid Angel rejects (Lake of Fire is a blatant Raining Blood ripoff and I cannot believe I am the first reviewer to point that out) or overfast wanking which sounds like a bad imitation of Coroner or Atheist. On top of that, the transitions from segment to segment are quite haphazard and as a result, the entire structures of the songs are fragmented. They're almost as bad as At The Gates' first two albums. Adding to the fragmentation of the songs are wanky solos that come out of nowhere, go nowhere and for all their widdly diddly shredding, do not possess a single anti-lux(?) or darkness that Trey Azagthoth frequently evokes. Now, there are some amazing riffs (2:54 of Lake of Fire and 0:57 of Standing in Blood, for example) and solos (1:54 of Destroying the Manger and 1:03 of Empire of the Sands, for example) on this album, but they are few, far in between and rarely last long enough to be fully enjoyable. On top of that, since the song structures are so fragmented, any expectations or atmosphere that the good riffs and solos evoke is almost immediately lost, making the songs very anti-climatic. Worst of all, since the drumming is so sloppy, it just adds to the overall disjointedness and cacophony of the album. Watchtower, Coroner, Atheist, Cynic, Death, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, all of these bands are supported with competent drumming that successfully compliments and adds to the technical riffs and solos. Excellent drumming is often the key (pun not intended) to the brilliance of a technical metal album. Nocturnus lacks this essential ingredient, and the music suffers greatly for it.

Another characteristic that distinguishes this album is the frequent use of keyboards. However, other than perhaps the intros, the keyboards are completely superfluous and add nothing to the music whatsoever. On the contrary, they make an already cacophonic and disjointed album even worse. Admittedly, it's not nearly as godawful as Pestilence's Spheres, but it's pretty bad nonetheless. The saddest thing is, the keyboards could have been implemented well (Morbid Angel's Immortal Rites has a keyboard section at 1:39 that is more menacing and evil than the entirety of The Key). Even the intros to some songs, like Destroying the Manger, are overlong, fail to evoke the atmosphere they're going for, and as a result, merely test your patience. No Cosmic Sea, Piece of Time or No Truth to be found here.

If Mike Browning had issues coping with the fact that he was not in Morbid Angel anymore, it's evident on this album. Many riffs are, as already mentioned, Morbid Angel rejects (0:17 of Standing in Blood being the most blatant example). Visions from Beyond the Grave, or is it Visions from the Dark Side? Funnily enough, they're both the third tracks on their respective albums. The "I'll rule once again" from BC/AD is very reminiscent of "Ancient ones rule once more" from Angel of Disease. Hell, Mike's vocals sound on the surface level like David Vincent's on Altars of Madness, except much weaker.

A deduction that can be made from all of this is that the band members are simply overambitious and lack the skills, either in songwriting or instrument playing, to pull off what they intended to. They rely on too many cheap compensations for their shortcomings. Mike attempts to hide his powerless growling by effecting it out and other band members attempt to hide mostly bland and mediocre riffs behind incoherent shredding and gratuitous keyboards. In short, style over substance.

I don't see a reason to recommend this album over the first three Morbid Angel albums or any of the death metal albums I mentioned in the first paragraph. Nor is this album groundbreaking in any positive way, since this style of tech-death was done much, much better by Atheist just one year before. Sure, this was the first death metal album with a significant presence of the keyboards, but the only other well known death metal album of that sort is Pestilence's Spheres, and that album is a piece of shit. The Key, on the other hand, is not a piece of shit, but it is largely lackluster and disappointing. If you want a mind-blowing, technical masterpiece with interesting twists and coherent songwriting, get any Watchtower album, Coroner's first three and Atheist's first two albums. Those who desire an album filled with relentless brutality and malevolence should get Altars of Madness, Seven Churches, Nespithe, Suffocation's first three and Cryptopsy's first two albums. These albums, unlike The Key, don't hide their lack of quality under layers of nonsense, and actually deserve the praise they receive.

Leading the charge of blooming progressive metal and progressive/technical death metal scenes, former member of Morbid Angel Mike Browning co-formed Nocturnus, a band far ahead of its time that challenged the almighty Death for the throne of death metal’s most forward-thinking innovators. The Key, their 1990 debut, is an absolute onslaught of guitar wizardry, blast beat percussion, and highly-advanced songwriting.

“Lake of Fire” opens with rapid picking and some beautiful guitar soloing before diving headfirst into carefully-crafted, chugging riffs that fly out of nowhere one after another. The scattered pace changes and pure talent displayed in the guitar licks are simply a cut above the likes of Morbid Angel, Autopsy, and the rest. Nocturnus is bringing something fresh, full of energy, and frankly unheard of on this album. The dark “Visions from Beyond the Grave” follows suit with a relentless assault of blast beats as the guitar weaves in and out of the rhythm.

There’s no doubt that Chuck Schuldiner analyzed this album note-for-note. The Key blows Death’s first three albums out of the water, with precisely-played riffs and a bottomless well of solos interspersed throughout the record. The band seems to know just when to employ these ten- or fifteen-second snippets of shredding to keep the songs vibrant. What might be most impressive about this album is the band’s ability to evade retracing their steps. Often when pioneering a new style, a band will overload the album with similar tricks simply because it’s new. Think Seven Churches by Possessed (although that works out in their favor). Nocturnus strays from this possible pitfall and keeps every song a revolving door of new ideas, from the slower moments of “Neolithic” with its anthemic buildups to the 2:55 pause in “Undead Journey.” There’s hardly an avenue the band didn’t explore, but seldom is there one they repeated either.

Pound for pound, The Key is as technically sound as any Dream Theater. The band’s ability to combine this instrumental genius with brilliantly-composed song structures catapults this album to cream-of-the-crop status. The symphonic intros to a few songs and the harmonic traces that are peppered throughout add a touch of surrealism to the album, almost proof that this album was hand-delivered to us by the Gods. Somewhere in Hell, Evil Chuck is still kicking it to killer tracks like “Andromeda Strain.” Truly, any of the ten tracks are excellent, it all comes down to personal preference. Every song is filled with rushes of instrumentation, clever keyboard enhancements, and evil vocal performances by Browning, but the band doesn’t miss a beat on any moment of the almost fifty-minute runtime.

The first death metal with a keyboard as a full-fledged instrument and cosmic theme - Nocturnus. The drummer/vocalist Mike Browning - that was kicked out of the Morbid Angel - came up with such an interesting and original concept, and it was fully realized together with keyboardist Louis Panzer, guitarists Mike Davis and Sean McNenney and bassist Jeff Estes on their debut album "The Key" (although it would be necessary to pull up some demos, especially the second one - "The Science Of Horror"). This is how one of the most interesting albums combining quite primal death metal with s-f climates was created.

The music performed by Nocturnus is therefore characterized by frequently appearing (also in the form of solos!) keyboards, a large guitar duo technique (led by their proprietary, few-second solos), a tendency to combine in the structure of the songs (despite being catchy), mysterious climate and...the person of the frontman - "barking" subsequent phrases and playing rather sparingly from the drums side. The effects of this ingenuity, of course, exploded with enormous momentum (as can be seen from the rating above), but most importantly, it came into a great number of excellent compositions, dripping with brilliant patents at almost every step and which are simply great to listen to! For example, the technique, the number of thrilling riffs (some as if in the spirit of Slayer), patents to develop certain motifs, though probably the most exciting and at the same time charmingly kitschy atmosphere, make a great impression on "The Key", carrying this music so clearly into space. As confirmation - not to mention everything - "Before Christ/After Death", "Droid Sector", "Visions From Beyond The Grave" and "Lake Of Fire". For additional confirmation (although I assume that one is not especially needed) - the excellent cover of Dan SeaGrave.

As it turned out, "The Key" is surprisingly the last stage of Nocturnus' band (key-word) activity. Moments after the release of this disc, disagreements began in the band, all kinds of divisions and brawls that lasted for years, mostly harmed to the members of this band. The most interesting thing is that later - ironically - they managed to create some meaningful music, in the spirit of what they achieved on "The Key". And in that, too, I would see the genius of this cd.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/07/nocturnus-key-1990.html

The magnificence of The Key has an important role in pioneering technical death metal, as well as influencing progressive death metal, which in this case adding keyboards as part of the experiment. Besides that, the album cover always had me intrigued, though never checked what’s behind it (referring to the music). Had I played this record when I originally found it, Nocturnus would’ve been my first death metal band. I remember stumbling on the thumbnail of The Key on YouTube probably when I was 15 years old, so this goes back seven years - and man, I wished I had played this before! I would say this is also one of Dan Seagrave’s unique artworks that stands out from most of his style.

Nocturnus isn’t like other Florida death metal bands that pioneered the aforementioned subgenres, per se. They’re not Atheist or Cynic that offered challenging and unmatched technical abilities in their time. Their jazz incorporation made for a stronger impact as well. Then you have a range from Death’s Human to the criminally underrated Hellwitch. But Nocturnus made very heavy music, and by adding keyboards in comparison, they created a strong vibe to help deliver the music in their style. It’s simply creative.

The Key developed a strong experimental sound in death metal, revealing that you can do more than just the traditional attributes of the genre. The drums and vocals, while sounding rather standard, are still showcasing an exceptional performance from frontman Mike Browning. Part of being the drummer whilst singing should be a challenging task, yet interesting to learn. I think this combo is great, since drummers whom take on the position as lead vocalists are uncommon. The bass also sounds decent but not audible enough. The guitars here are unbelievably shredding and melodic, which was convenient for something to come out in the early 90s, when death metal was on its way to reach its peak.

Already judging by the opening song, Lake of Fire brings out eargasmatic guitar solos and melodies, with somewhat over-mixed drums that otherwise sound good. The keyboards, using this alien-like sound (probably something you’d hear from the parody film Mars Attack) during the song’s opener, where the main riff plays. Of course, can’t forget about the slow and beautiful intro from the keyboards that sound mystifying. Of all the death metal songs during the early 90s, this one has also received a music video - a rarity at its time for the genre. Visions from Beyond the Grave consists of a strong bass, as the song is pretty heavy. I’d say it’s got a smooth groove to it, as the drums pound to the title being sang. Andromeda Strain sounds like a marathon: the keyboards are sonic and atmospheric and the guitars are consistently melodic as hell in their shredding. It’s a solid competitor to Visions from Beyond the Grave, in terms of structure and heaviness.

The final three songs is where this record struck me the most. In addition to the musical compositions of the keyboard, we’re also hearing extra samples in the background to help with the atmosphere. Droid Sector‘s first minute is just too damn futuristic, thanks to the keyboards that resemble the dark ambience of Blade Runner, and the song’s main opener is just crazy! Robotic and cruel is the definition, reinforced by Mike’s vocals and harmonized quick sweepings of the guitars and keyboards. Destroying the Manger has a similar intro, only much more electronic, with a sample that sounds like you’re pressing on a screen to operate your space ship. As the music kicks in, it’s an arrangement of slow but powerful palm-muted riffs, and the keyboards... arguably the best song when it comes to that instrument. They really vary between whatever available sounds to contemplate through the music. Let’s not forget about the bridge, where we get very sinister vocals, with an intense entrance to the blast beats. Finally, Empire of the Sands, as the name suggests, is fucking epic! If you want another taste of those sinister vocals and blast beats, this song offers it at between 2:30-2:50 minutes. Along those lines, displaying unnerving explosive riffing and chilling keyboards throughout certain parts of the song remain prominent. These last two longest songs perfectly defined the experimentation.

The debut record features four returning songs from the The Science of Horror demo, though each one is about a minute shorter. The keyboards’ presence is stronger on The Key and the songs sound cleaner than their original counterparts. However, they’re not that great like their demo versions, which were raw, evil and crushing. BC/AD is the exception to the rule. Though shortened, it’s good enough. At least it made me appreciate them again, knowing they’re amazing songs.

To conclude this one-time, yet phenomenal masterpiece, The Key shows importance in the whole genre that succeeded in future bands. They’re quite overlooked, as their debut is the only recognizable work. Often than not, they deserve more credit for their work. Perhaps hard ones to pick, but for me the best songs are BC/AD, Droid Sector, Destroying the Manger, and Empire of the Sands. Basically, the second half of the record.

Provided quite early, if you think of it, in 1990 AD… just when death metal took a fuller, more tangible shape at the dawn of a new decade came this album to provide an early culmination of the whole death meal cohort’s endeavours, in the form of keys, lakes of fire, Andromeda strains, and other weird, totally unexpected configurations… incredible, but a fact.

The strives for more complex ways of expression in the late-80’s started within the thrash metal realm logically led to similar urges in the new kid on the metal block, death metal that is, and before you know it both genres formed several quite impressive intricate bonds: Vacant Grave’s “Life or Death”, Hellwitch’s “Syzygial Miscreancy”, Incubus’ “Beyond the Unknown”, Atheist’s “Piece of Time”, etc., some carefully plotted and meticulously arranged, others charmingly chaotic and dishevelled…

but all aiming at loftier horizons where musical mediocrity and complacency simply couldn’t be tolerated. Their purpose was to just draw the line that was to be followed in the years to come until a logical completion of a journey that was inevitable under the circumstances. Only that said journey had a huge, quite unexpected as well, stopover in the form of two albums, the one reviewed here and Atrocity’s “Hallucinations”, the Germans taking care of the awakening process on the other side of the Atlantic; both provided very, very early before anyone could even get mildly sweaty from the efforts made. Yeah, these nocturnal animals from Tampa, Florida, who didn’t show that much promise on a demo stage, paraded for a bit as the true keepers of the key to all technical/progressive metal mysteries.

A prodigiously mature effort for the time, this album also had the audacity, or even the temerity if you like, to insert keyboard sweeps into the still developing death metal template. A heretical decision, to put it mildly, but one that is so marvellously pulled off here that if we remove the keyboards right now this opus may not be considered the colossal triumph that it actually is. Fortunately, they’re here to stay, and not only, but their very tangible presence at the very beginning is already a firm statement of intent although the listener wouldn’t have to worry about them for very long as the infernal guitar duels of Mike Davis and Sean McNenney commence with all the technical grandiosity and virtuoso Shrapnel-like dexterity that the initial keyboard sweeps would be the fan’s least urgent agenda by the end of “Lake of Fire”, a superb dramatic progressive shredder followed by fireworks of leads and riffs that announce the coming of a formidable death metal roller-coaster with supreme technical walkabouts, haunting melodies, and classically-inspired lead guitar work.

Its price of admission handsomely paid from the very first piece the album, free now of the “newcomer’s early promises (un)fulfilled” pressure syndrome, carries on with a carnival of exorbitant technical shreds the more dramatic build-ups requiring a couple of more officiant stomping decisions those overwritten, however, by fabulous fever-pitch crescendos. Contrasting vistas will one come across on the amorphous “Neolithic” where morose pounding motifs tussle with the only blast-beating outbursts on the album to a further dramatic effect with the keyboards featured more prominently, creating captivating epic atmosphere the latter cancelled vehemently by the furious speedy skirmishes on “Undead Journey”, the keyboards still finding their way into its hyper-active structure on the more laid-back sections. A more subdued, sinister minimalistic mid-pacer (“BC/AD”) ensures the calm before the storm that “Andromeda Strain” is, a whirlwind of supreme vitriolic crescendos, the guitars duelling with the keyboards nearly the whole time for a wild thrilling, also addictively melodic, ride.

Such a feat would be tough to beat, but “Droid Sector” is no sloucher despite the overlong ambient/electronic etude at the beginning, the otherworldly riff-fest continuing on full-throttle with classical virtuosities provided all over, some of which even go beyond Helstar’s “Nosferatu”’s grandeur, with short spastic leads carving burrows into the listener’s mind. More robotic/technical ecstasy with “Destroying the Manger”, a progressive metal masterpiece with some of the most fabulous hectic, abruptly applied time-changes in the history of metal that alone have served as the template on which acts like Theory in Practice later built their entire repertoire. All roads inevitably lead to Rome… sorry, “Empire of The Sands” which adeptly sums it all up into one cavalcade of gorgeous melodies and frenetic technical vortexes, the keyboards indelibly giving their contribution to this most enchanting epitaph, the exuberant classical-fixated finish siding with the best from the mentioned Helstar magnum opus again, and Yngwie Malmsteen’s arsenal.

Despite his sincere efforts behind the mike, Mike Browning simply can’t possibly impress anyone with this exquisite musicianship around although to these ears the man’s forceful, but intentionally muffled semi-recitals are perfectly fitting into the magical soundscapes, never obstructing the musical goings-on, and yet instilling intimidating authority when in action. It beats me why the guys decided to replace him with another, not nearly half as suitable, vocalist (Dan Izzo) on the sophomore... anyway, the guy, alongside his comrades, had left a most striking vestige in the music archives with this feat here, a work of art that beggared belief back then, and even nowadays one can only marvel at the extraordinary creative swing exhibited. A flash of genius after another are served in such a quick, dizzying succession that the fans have no choice but to absorb this opus with their mouths gaping wide, already thinking about how many more times they’re going to listen to it in the next few days before all this comfortably settles into their brains; cause the late-80’s/early-90’s fan was hardly fully prepared for such achievements as this wasn’t jazz-peppered mathematical equations ala Watchtower and Deathrow; neither was it based on elaborate hyper-active vortexes ala Realm and Toxik... for a while I thought that the description “the deathly mutated offspring of Helstar’s “Nosferatu” and Coroner’s “No More Color” spoilt with keyboards” would be a fairly adequate one, but the more I listen to it, the more I deem any such short summaries not doing it justice whatsoever.

Cause this was an entirely different interpretation of the musical canons at the time, and not only because of the keyboard implementation. Mentioning the keyboards time and again, it’s understandable why they attracted, and still do, so much attention; radical innovations within an already familiar metal structure were generally frowned upon back then, especially with so much happening on the field at the time, with the technical/progressive thrash movement already confusing the regular fan, with the up-and-coming death metal wave, with the alternative/grunge flourishes, with the rising groovy/aggro tide… a lot to try out and not much time to leave for all these new gimmicks to sink in. The album reviewed here by all means raised a few eyebrows upon release, but the concentration on it wasn’t inordinately big with so many other musical detriments… sorry, innovations rushing in.

Still, the death metal brotherhood paid all the attention needed, and duly took notes; attempts at emulating this opus’ manic grandeur didn’t follow suit immediately, but it did inspire the other practitioners, those who followed their own path, to outdo themselves with Atheist bringing the extraordinary “Unquestionable Presence” to life, with Death producing the inhuman “Human”, with the Canadians (Gorguts, Martyr, Cryptopsy) breaking the ice over there and instigating the dazzling brutality movement among other unearthly delights, the suffocating contribution of their US brethren Suffocation also well documented; the conquest on the other side of the Atlantic spearheaded by Pestilence’s “Testimony of the Ancients”, with hugely talented newcomers like Baphomet, Decision D, Pavor, Chemical Breath, Polluted Inheritance, to just name the more obvious ones, all making waves any which way they could.

Yes, “The Key” got the job done, to propel the good old death metal to heights deemed impossible at the beginning, and to make it the most musically proficient and demanding metal genre. Copies of said key are to be found, outside the two earlier mentioned ones, some of which quite faithfully reproduced and by all means worthy as substitutes, as a matter of fact; the majority can be found in the Theory in Practice discography, key-masters of nearly nocturnal... sorry, infernal, proportions… and yet, I would also strongly recommend another one, with the uncommon “made in Austria” label, created by the obscure sorcerers Korova in the ancient 1995 AD, and esoterically disguised under the “A Kiss in the Charnel Fields“ name. The most recent, truly distinguished copy will take the dedicated seeker back to the Scandinavia who will find it meticulously reproduced by the Norwegians Ram-Zet on their “Intra” (2005) saga.

Keys turned to kisses, secret Scandinavian practices, Egyptian deities, strolls along the Austrian fields… the mind boggles; what else would befall the poor metal head during his/her nightly somnambulistic wanderings, that even the Almighty Keeper of the Seven Keys would find hard to foresee.

The first release from Nocturnus. Wow, what promise this held. I still remember putting it on for the first time, being astonished. Space and Death. Whoa! That's a mix for you!

I should note right here that I'm a bit of a geek at heart. One minute you might find me checking out old episodes of Star Trek. The next minute? Banging my head to Morbid Angel or Carcass. Yeah, not a real great combination for attracting women, I know. Not something I mention on the first date.

But a combination that nonetheless puts me right in the demographic Nocturnus was undoubtedly looking to woo with their first release!! Or maybe -- just maybe -- they're really as weird as I am. Regardless, it goes without saying that The Key was right up my alley, and I still love playing it every once in awhile. Here's why you should, too (even if you don't like Star Trek).

The CD opens with Lake of Fire, which explodes from your speakers with seething death, keyboards, and power. Nocturnus is not afraid to let the keyboards shine. It sets them apart for sure. The guitar work is twisted, fast, unusual in its style. Actually I think they hold a bit of a shredder's sensibility. There's just so much soloing happening, at every opportunity. And Browning's vocals, while I would call them a weak point, for some reason seems to add to the package here. I feel like a "traditional" death vocalist would take away from the effect. Actually, I think Nocturnus tried this on their followup, Thresholds, and the vox were better, but somehow didn't work as well. But anyway, I digress.

The CD progresses through atmospheric death riffing with weird keyboard interludes, death vocals -- always this theme of outlandish aliens threatening to arrive in orbit and take us all hostage. Good God -- look at the cover art. It's some freak from beyond sitting in orbit piloting some otherwordly machine, initiating the command that sends us all to our doom.

All of this is not to suggest Nocturnus doesn't know how to settle down and groove with the best of them. Witness the opening riff of Neolthic, or the entire song Undead Journey (a highlight of the release by any measure). But there's a certain swirl happening, always. Something unhinged about the whole affair. Raw, not produced. And I like it. Give me less polish. It adds to the whole thing. Undead Journey probably has the most logical layout of the entire album, but there are definitely other more structured parts, such as the chorus section of Before Christ/After Death, or the bridge work in Droid Sector.

But most areas of the CD are populated with this spacey, technically challenging, space-death metal. Andromeda Strain, Destroying the Manger, Droid Sector -- all of these find Nocturnus exploring their inner Trekkie. With a brutal touch. Listening to Nocturnus' further work -- especially the 2nd CD -- I feel like they may have let the technical overtake the brutal. This first CD was a great mix of the two. It's monstrous and mysterious at the same time, and is unlike anything I've ever really heard since.

“Keyboards? In Death Metal?” That’s what I first thought when I heard of this band a few weeks ago. I thought that this album would sound something like the death metal equivalent of Dimmu Borgir (and we all know how horrendous that would be)! Fortunately for me and the entire death metal community, this album is among the greatest death metal albums ever! Almost at the level of Cynic when it comes to innovation yet at the level of Massacre when it comes to brutality. Now all I’m wondering is: “how did they pull it off?”

The vocals on this album are nothing special. Perhaps the worst aspect of this masterpiece. They’re sort of raspy like David Vincent on Altars of Madness but not as deep or raspy as that. In fact these growls are pretty weak...

But the guitars save it! There are some really heavy riffs here. This album is also laced with brilliant guitar solos, often more than one per song! The guitar also goes really well with the keyboards. Often the keyboards play the intro to the song and then the guitar picks up where the keyboards left off.

Since I mentioned the keyboards, let’s go over them in more detail shall we? As mentioned before the keyboards are often used as intros to the songs. This is true but they are used in the middle of songs too. I believe the best example of this is Neolithic. They use some really cool almost alien-ish sounds in that one, it really gives the effect of something spacey and out of this world.

The bass isn’t really audible but hey, this isn’t Atheist. This album is innovative in its own way and only really needs the bass to keep the songs together.

The drumming on this album is really cool. Not as accentuated as the guitars or keyboards but it’s still really good! It nicely complements the guitars with fast drum patterns but never gets old or boring. If there is one thing this album isn’t it’s boring.

There you have it. This album is the debut album by one of Florida’s most innovative, interesting and brutal death metal bands. All fans of death metal should enjoy this album and if you don’t then I suggest listening to this: http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=134197 it should be more to their liking.

Highlights:

- The keyboards
- The riffs!
- The intro and middle to Neolithic
- The songs Lake of Fire and Destroying the Manger

Aw fuck it. Even the modern death can't be better than this. This is basically the ultimate album for any fucker who likes death metal just as much as keyboards. At the time this album came out, it was regarded as some obscure avant-garde music. Death metal with keyboards and Sci-fi lyrics? What the fuck! That was probably the only reason this band didn't become as big as Morbid Angel, something they really deserved (as they didn't fucked their fans in their later career). It was too weird for the early metalheads to listen to. The quality, however, is the very opposite of the generic-ness of the band.

Each song has dozens of riffs, all very consistent, yet quite different from each other. Check the chorus of BC/AD for some old-school thrash at it's best. Andromeda Stain on the other hand is melodic death metal all the way. The addition of a keyboard player is also one of the best things they’ve ever done. Not only does Louis Panzer provide great atmospheric intro’s, the way the keys compliment the guitars is magical. Instead of making the music sound soft, the keys are evil as fuck. Check the 4:04 of Destroying the Manger for example. Fucking evil.

Because of the addition of a keyboard player, the band can play leads without destroying the riffs at all. And the guitars are sick... Not only does guitar prodigy Mike Davis provide some of the greatest shred solo’s ever, the riffs are strong, evil and varied. Only a very few riffs sound alike. Much of the playtime, Mike Davis and Sean McNenney experimented with speed, leads, time signatures and chord progression. There is thrash involved (mainly on Lake of Fire), there is death involved and on some occasions the guitar plays a lead on melodic style. This doesn’t sound like any Gothenburg lead at all. The intro of Andromeda Stain for example has the greatest, yet most evil lead guitar who ever roamed the valley of death metal. It’s very sad though that the bass is inaudible, although I wouldn’t expect much from it. Other than following the guitar riffs the bass had no other destination on this album, and I’ve got the feeling it would sound yuk to hear bass leads on this album.

Along with the evil vocal duties of Mike Brown, who also handles the drums, this is a most evil record. Especially considering the time it came out. I really praise this album as one of the most underrated albums ever. Not only because of it’s originality and quality, but also of the fact that every kind of metalhead can find some relief in it. There are leads, death metal riffs, thrash riffing and even some black metal influences. It’s all done better than any band who came after this band trying to copy the idea’s and perfect them. This album can’t be more perfected than it already is.

Standout tracks of the standout tracks: Andromeda Stain, Destroy the Manger, BC/AD, Droid Sector, Empire of the Sands, Visions from Beyond the Grave.

Note: BUY THIS ALBUM

I lend my ears to Nocturnus since I love old school death metal (mostly swedish since American DM is too much thrash oriented compared to swedish). I've got them as a suggestion after reading about the funk-thrash metal act Mordred just because both bands was "special" in their respecitve genres. I've got surprised when I heard Nocturnus. It was a perfect mix of athmospheric keyboards and DM like Morbid Angel and Death. Since that point, I've listened to Nocturnus pretty much and I can safely say that it's gonna be more.

"The Key" starts off perfectly with the amazing "Lake Of Fire" which has a very nice and almost beautiful (if I might call it so) intro on keyboards. "Standing In Blood" and "Visions From Beyond The Grave" are two violent tunes with a lot of guitar bending, drum assault and bass rape. "Undead Journey" and "Before Christ, After Death" also has those nice keyboard intros and massive death metal riffs which breaks the silence after a while. "Droid Sector" is another sick song with some excellent riffing and blasting solos. "Destroying The Manger" and "Empire Of The Sands" are two perfect last tracks for an album like this. They're very athmospheric and those fucking keyboards are so damn beautiful in the mix of the dark and furios death metal. "Empire Of The Sands" also has some totally awesome riffing.

The production is great. It sounds like a thrash / american death metal album is supposed to sound like. It's like a mix of Morbid Angel (in which Mike Browning was the drummer before Pete Sandoval) and the always almighty Death. The most fucking awesome thing on this album is the guitar solos. They're fucking awesome. They're screaming and blasting your ears full of DM solo candy.

The cast are awesome. These guys might not be the best musicians in the world but they sure can make some killer metal! They invented this kind of DM and they should have a lot of credits for that. The guitar solos are particularly good and the guitarists should have been rated among the masters with solos like these ones. Mike Browning's drumming are insane too. The double bass drum sometimes go out of synch but who the fuck cares? I don't, that just shows that he's a drummer built on flesh and blood and not of metal like a fucking drum machine like in Godflesh. The whole thing sounds more human when it's not "perfect" which it still is.

So finally to my last comments on "The Key"...

This album is totally amazing and a legendary piece of DM history. I've heard that this album is outta print nowdays but I still suggest that you somehow look up this album. It's worth it and you're worth hearing it too!

Nocturnus is one of the most unique death metal bands that ever existed, but they're not very well known, even within the metal community. "The Key" is very hard to find in CD format, and the copy I won on eBay cost me $33, but it's worth every penny. Earache Records really needs to re-release this album (along with other Nocturnus albums) with bonus material because no metalhead should have to go in savage hunts for this.

Now to the album itself, this is one of the weirdest yet coolest death metal albums you'll ever hear, and it's one of my all-time favorites. Louis Panzer plays the keyboard to make sounds like space-age computers and alien-spacecrafts etc., and they go with the music very well. Louis's shining moment is the trippy keyboard passage on the three-minute mark in "Neolithic," it sounds alot like The X Files theme song, and this was made four or five year before that show even came along!! Mike Davis and Sean McNennery are some of the baddest mofos concerning death metal guitarists, their riffs and solos will amaze you while peeling your face off. Mike and Sean make Tom Morello and Kirk Hammett look like those guitar "playing" retards from Korn. Jeff Estes's bass isn't very audible, but I'm sure it's very good. Mike Browning is a very good drummer, and his vocals are very cool too as they aren't generic cookie-monster growls. Last but not least, the song-writing isn't the least bit generic or stupid. This album will make you headbang, give you goosebumps, and melt your brain. This is a death metal album that shouldn't be missed by any death metal fan.

I've listened to this album many times from start to finish, and there isn't one bad song on here. My favorites on it are "Lake of Fire," "Visions from Beyond the Grave," "Neolithic," "BC/AD," "Destroying the Manger," and "Empire of the Sands."

It's so sad these guys couldn't hold it together and would brake up for good in 2002, because these guys really had a unique and awesome sound. I hope Mike Davis starts another DM band where he shreds as crazy as he does on here, or better yet, join Morbid Angel. Mike and Trey shredding together would go together perfectly like peanut butter and jelly.

If you enjoyed "The Key," be sure to pick up their follow-up album "Thresholds."

If I'd make a list with all the albums out there that deserve a 100% rating or are a milestone in the metalscene, the key would be leading that list without a doubt. The Key is an essential and unique album to date, nothing like this was released back then in 1990. Imagine a mixture of lyrics like in "Seven Churches", the technicality of "Mental Vortex" and "Spiritually Uncontrolled Art", a touch of sci-fi and the most fucked up and skin-shredding solos you can imagine and you have an idea about what this album could sound like.

What differs this album from the most death metal albums, is the speed and the catchiness. The Key is not the fastest album in the land, but it's truly the one with the catchiest riffs.

Unlike most of the technical bands, these guys have a lot of variety and catchiness thrown in; the songs are not only impressing you with over-the-top technicality and speed, but they get stuck in your head. If you heard the first song, "Lake of Fire", you can sing along to it after the first listen.

Talking about songs, let's get started.

10 Songs, each of them is disembowelling you, again and again (Uh?). The vocals possess you, the drums are beating you up, the bass is crushing you and to end the violence, the guitars grind you down.

Vocals: Somewhat scratchy deep growls and they fit perfectly to this album. I can't imagine any other vocalist for this album, no matter how good they would sound, this guy is the only one who fits perfectly into the key. Unlike most vocalist, even though that the vocals are growled, they are not hard to understand, plus point for that.

Drums: The drums don't sound like anything new, there is nothing all too special about the drumming, except for the bass-drumming. While most death metal bands used the legendary "d-beat" (created by Discharge) double-bass drummed or just blast beats over blast beats, the drums here are somewhat improved and they sound different on all songs.

Guitars & Key's: Nothing but respect for this. Though I may be young, but I experienced some technical, stunning and "out of this world" albums that were released up to date, but none of them had the skills that could reach the water to the shredding, grinding and crativity going on here. What I like about the keyboards, is that they are placed in the background, they truly bring you on a journey and you feel the outter space atmosphere. Don't you hate it when the entire album is dominated by the key's? The solos stand above anything created on this album. Most bands play riffs over riffs, a solo, some riffs and a final solo. But this album is full of solos. I'm not sure if we have more solos or more riffs in it. Fantastic, nothing less.

There's a stigma attached to this album; the bass. It's seriously the only thing on this album I could not get into, why? Because (of the production?) you don't hear it very good and the basslines are nothing special neither. Though, they are somewhat harmonized with the keyboards, which is good, because so the all around heaviness and atmosphere get's more intense.

This album is full of perfect songs and it's really hard to make top-list, but the top of the bunch in my opinion, is: Lake of Fire, Standing in Blood, Neolithic, Andromeda Strain and Empire Of The Sands.

For the love of death metal, old school and anything technical, get this album. If you're a fan of Atheist, Gorguts, Cynic, Liers in Wait, Phlebotomized, Hellwitch, Septicemia etc... you'll love this album.

Typical Scott Burns/Morrisound production + unimaginative lyrics and riffs + lots of widdly-widdly shredding + gratuitous keyboards that really don't add too much to the music = boring and overrated. People made a big stink over this album when it came out in 1990, and I listened to it, but really didn't get too into it after a while. Let us not forget Mike Browning's heavily effected-out vocals and the fact that, well, he wasn't a pimple on Pete Sandoval's ass in the drumming department. I can hear his feet faltering on some double kick parts and on the few blast beats on this album he totally loses it.

Everybody was on about Mike Davis and Sean McNenney and how they shredded so much--the songs were really only vehicles for them shredding. And even then I found the soloing not that inspired, more Slayeresque wankery than anything else. The bass as always is buried underneath everything else and the keyboards...all those who think black metal these days is all gratuitous keyboards should hear this joker trying too hard to add atmosphere when all he does is make silly horror-film noises. Quite laughable, really--and live he looked like he was being electrocuted when he was headbanging behind his keyboards!

The songs are, as I said, more vehicles for guitar wanking more than anything else and when they're not wanking they are playing the most boring and basic riffs ever. And when they try and go off on tangents to try and seem more "artsy", it just doesn't work; it comes off as forced and unnatural. The lyrics are utter tripe, too, silly Satanic cliches to the max. Kam Lee's appearance is limited to a couple of backing vocal grunts here and there, and adds nothing to the overall picture. In short, the record label promoted his appearance to try and whip up some interest.

If you are a completist for the heyday of Floridian Death Metal, pick this CD up if only to see where it began going downhill. I really didn't find this anything special when it came out and feel about the same to this day.

After getting signed by Earache Records, Nocturnus unleashed this fucking beast onto the Death Metal world in 1990. At the time, this certainly tore down some boundaries at the time, as just about no other extreme Metal bands utilized keyboards as an integral part of their music. That along with the fact that their drummer/vocalist Mike Browning used to be in Morbid Angel were key factors that helped to gain this band more recognition.

Musically this can be compared to bands like Death, Sepultura, Possessed, Morbid Angel and the like. This entirely avoids blastbeats, and stylistically is more old-school Death Metal, made technical and with synthesizers adding to the atmosphere at points. Because of the synths, this is almost like a video game or movie soundtrack at time. Despite the synthesizers though, this is still a very menacing and haunting album; the synths just add to its menacement and hauntment!! The vocals are basically harsh, raspy shouts that sound almost like Thrash shouts at times, but overall they are still Deathish in nature. Lots of guitar solos appear everywhere here, making Slayer sound hesitant in comparison. As far as riffing goes, the guitars are constantly interlacing melodies in between thrashy riffs, which often goes with some keys underneath, playing a counterpart melody alongside the guitars. This is usually what establishes an atmosphere to the music.

The lyrics often have to do with Satanism or Death, although there’s a subtle sci-fi touch here and there. A good example of this is in the song Destroying The Manger, which describes someone going back in time to kill Jesus Christ at the moment of his birth. Which is actually pretty fucking stupid, but that just adds to the charm of the music. The cover art is also sci-fi themed. It shows a blue robot (evil Mega Man? heh) holding the pentagram disc from the Nocturnus logo (with the lightning-bolt) up to a beam of light from a computer/gun thingy. Then there’s a yellow circle behind him. I can’t tell what the hell that is, although it might just be the back wall of the ship. Overall the presentation fits with the theme of the music. And finally, the production is not horrible, but not 100% polished. You can hear everything clearly, yet the overall sound is slightly muffled, and gives off a colder overtone. It ends up adding more ambience to the music, like as if you yourself were on an alien spaceship while this was playing.

This is a very solid debut for a band that was unfortunately overshadowed by its more brutal counterparts in Morbid Angel. It wasn’t a rehash of what had already been done in Death Metal, and it also wasn’t different for the sake of being different. It struck a nice balance between the two, and was technical yet catchy enough to be enjoyed easily. This remains one of the best starting points for one who is interested in discovering the music of Nocturnus. If you’ve never heard Nocturnus before and you want to get some old-school Death Metal, or are interested in early technical, atmospheric extreme Metal, then I highly recommend you check this out.

Kids, this is one of the most original death metal albums ever created. Stunning technicality, keyboards, and Satanic themes never sounded so good. If you think that bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth invented keyboards and metal...listen to this. Nocturnus utterly annihilates both those bands, as well as the current powder puff shred "metal" (this term used extremely lightly) in a furious maelstrom of cybernetically reanimated Sumerian demons!

There's a simple base of crushing, Slayer inspired riffs from the opening song "Lake of Fire" and "Neolithic." Add Louie Panzer's keyboards on here, as an accompaniment to, not as a substitute for, guitar playing, and the music takes on a strange, synthetic dimension. When the guitars go off on a shredding tangent, like on the chorus of "Destroying the Manger," or "Andromeda Strain," they sound like an army of flesh tearing zombie droids from a black hole rather than light powder puff noodling.

The soloing here is a real treat. Both Sean McNenny and Mike Davis (especially Mike Davis) can fucking shred. And not just wild, Trey Azagthoth tapping, but actual shredding, and they don't sound weak or like show offs either. The placement of solos is also key, as they pop up even in some choruses, little one or two note peaks, to really terrific effect (the chorus of "BC/AD"). It's kind of reminscent of old blues songs...if B.B. King were actually a brain devouring cyborg reanimated by the spirits of the Ancient Ones.

Mike Browning's throaty bark is present throughout the album, but on some tracks he is backed up by Kam Lee of Massacre. Kam's vocals are the typical cookie monster roar, but used appropriately to keep some sense of gravity to the music. Mike's vocals definately suit the music more, keeping the spacy, airy vibe going.

Mike's drumming is surprisingly technical. On Morbid Angel's Abominations of Desolation, he was a little sloppy in an Abbadon way (which was great for that album), and on Thresholds he has a bit more of simplistic power to his drumming. Even in After Death, his new band, he doesn't go completely apeshit, pulverizing everything from the hi-hat to his rototoms in a techinical whirlwind. Amazing that he could still perform the vocals from the work out on this album!

The shit part of this album is the bottom end. It is NON EXISTENT! From what I read in certain interviews, bassist Jeff Estes didn't come into practice before this album, so when it came time to play on the album, his bass sound was absolute shit. Instead of re-recording the tracks, they simply took them down in the mix. What a shame, as songs like "BC/AD" and "Neolithic" have a very heavy groove, and a few other technical passages in "Andromeda Strain" and "Droid Sector" would have really benefitted from good bass playing. Imagine what Roger Patterson or even Steve Digiorgio could have done for this album...ah, but that could be asking way too much!

Quite a good production job was done on this, as the guitars and drumming are quite technical, but then sometimes go to a simple chugging. I can only guess that this was a real nightmare for the boys at Morrisound, who were used to producing bands like Deicide and Massacre. Then along comes Nocturnus with keyboards, ultra technical, layered guitars, and bass tracks that sucked. Kudos to those guys, and aspirin for the headaches that were probably induced at the mixing board.

Despite being a very techinal band with a sci-fi edge, Nocturnus still brings out the best in death metal and keep it evil feeling, unlike other bands that destroy things with overabundant use of keyboards, happy solos, and female vocals. What's more, the technicality doesn't ruin the music, and you can still tap your toe or bang your head to this stuff.

That is, if the flesh eating droids don't get you first!

If I'd describe this as extreme thrash turned black metal with keyboards, I'd actually not be far off, yet I would probably also put people on the wrong track. I could also call it deathmetal, but that would be misleading even more. For that matter Nocturnus first put me on the wrong track as well. When I first heard this, I thought it was pretty uninspired black metal with keyboards. On closer inspection, there appears to be a lot more to this album.

First track already opens with some synth stuff, then after 0:50 deathmetal-esque soloing and random guitarnoodling kick in, and not much thereafter, the synths sound as if they were directly taken from a cheesy old sci-fi movie. After that, the song goes into what is to be the style of the rest of the album; a steady up-tempo form of thrash, but with the guitars giving away prominence to the slightly corny synths superimposed on them. The vocals could be described as a harsher variant of a thrash-scream.

One of the things defining the sound on The Key would be the occasional frantic and almost seemingly random guitar-noodles that are short of being a solo, and the slightly off-key keyboard-play. When I put it like that, it might sound like a bad thing, but the weird thing about this album is that it helps to create a sense of alienation. The aforementioned sci-fi-esque synths aren't the only time a sci-fi-movie atmosphere is conjured up.

At the first few listens, from what Nocturnus plays, you're expecting standard songstructures and playing, but Nocturnus continually seems to deviate from what you'd expect, by throwing in a few extra notes/noodlings, by making the timing seem just slightly off, by sounding slightly off-key, or simply hitting a note you wouldn't expect, and this seems to work for Nocturnus.

Overall, this album won't appeal to many, and it takes some growing before you can apreciate it, but it is good. And from as early as 1990, so that's a bit extra in the points department.

Here we have it: one of the best, if not THE GREATEST death metal album of all time. Better than any Death, Morbid Angel, Carcass, you name it....Hell, is even a small notch above Seven Churches and that says a whole fucking lot. The secret: the technical genious, but above all the marvelous COHESION that makes all the complicated arrangements unite into one single piece (song).

Oh, and it owns you, totally, from beginning to end. Listen to "Lake of Fire", "BC/AD", "Standing in Blood".....all good riffing and 100% pussy-free.

The cool thing about this is that the songwriting values are never above the technical factor, which is the case among many modern prog metal bands. And yes, i consider this to be prog too (the riffs that scale up and down that are all over this album, the odd timed tempos here and there), but no wanking is to be found here. Well, maybe a little, the guitars do show off, specially in the solos, which appear seemly every five seconds. Plus, no br00tal sillyness to be found. Special praises for Mike Browning. He managed to improved A LOT since his Morbid Angel years, specially in his drumming which doesn't dumb or forced in any way and while he's not as technical as his band partners he does handle the time changes very fluidly.

Oh, and there are keyboards here, too. To enhance the darkness and heaviness of the songs, the keys add a very haunting atmosphere to them. No classically influenced or soundtrack melodies a-la Puritanical era Dimmu Borgir bullshit. I'm talking some seriously sick keys here!

Highlights? All the songs. Trust me, buy this and you won't get dissapointed one bit. If you do, fuck you. Is really that simple. Excellent death metal and yes, prog can be fierce and evil too. "Find me kindness - Find me beauty - Find me truth"? Fuck you. "Cybernetic crafts approaching - through skies lit with fusion discharge - androids from the Gamma quadrant - moving at the speed of death" is more like it. Hehehehe.

So this is where Mike Browning took his talents, and this is why Morbid Angel sucked after the demos. THIS shit is great!!! This is classic DM the way it should be played - with an emphasis on the riffs, and absolutely no grindcrap to be found anywhere.

What is here though is an unusual accent on the lead instruments - little solo noodling everywhere, and also keyboards in the mix. But, note that the keyboards detract nothing from the riffs, and thus are utilised properly. The lead guitar is very nicely done, and provides a definite highlight, because it doesn't just appear in the Designated Solo Spot (after the second verse) but rather everywhere.

Highlights... probably "BC/AD" for its crushing speed/thrash riffage, or maybe "Undead Journey". The riffage is reminiscent of Possessed meets Coroner, while the song structures definitely have an influence of Watchtower, and other tech-thrash bands, especially in the abrupt sound changes. This is nice and thrashy, the way DM should be done. Lots of great atmosphere is accomplished, to make this possibly THE worthy successor to Seven Churches.