Ethereal Tomb

After the release of their second album "Thresholds", it'd seem like Nocturnus was gonna go nowhere but up. Except for one problem: They ended up disbanding a year later. And besides a single, it seemed like the band was done for good. However, in 1999, Sean McNenney and Louis Panzer both reformed the band and release an album with new material titled "Ethereal Tomb", which was to showcase the band taking on a more ambient approach. While this sounds good on paper, in practice, I don't think it turned out the way they'd hoped for.

But to see where I'm coming from, let's look at the instruments. Unlike the other albums, the opening tracks "Orbital Decay" starts the album with the guitars and drums instead of the keyboards. The guitar riffs are more technical and comes less with the old-school death metal sound, so its composition feels more rigid and industrial-like. The drumming also takes a bit of a step back, as it's less powerful with its blastbeats, but still gets the job done in maintaining a consistent tempo. The bass, however, is average in its play and doesn't do anything special, though it isn't as sloppy as in The Key. The overall atmosphere is more technical than the previous two albums and is definitely more ambient-driven, but it does feel kind of off. This is mainly stemmed from the production, which does have that modern feel, but it feels less genuine and more robotic, making the whole structure of the song sound artificial, and the uncanny one at that. Not to mention that sometimes, the technical riffing comes off as more of Mike and Sean showing off their guitar skills for the sake of it, which has never been a problem for any other Nocturnus album. There are some good songs like "Apostle of Evil" and "The Killing", but otherwise, the overall execution of the instrumentals is noticeably weaker than in the previous two records.

As for the vocals, they are actually worst than the ones in The Key! To be fair, Emo Mowery's vocals in Tiwanaku were actually really good, but that might've been because that band came after Ethereal Tomb, because in 1999, his vocals were lacking. Take the track "Edge of Darkness" for example, which has that emphasis for modern tech-death like many of the tracks here. Emo's vocals consist of deep growls, which might give the instruments more of an edge on paper. However, the problem is that the delivery is off, and it makes Emo's voice sound more gurgled and weak. Not only that, but his speaking voice in the middle of the track felt out of place and didn't improve the vocals any further. While one could reasonably excuse Mike's vocals in The Key since he was really young, there really isn't any defense for Emo's lousy vocal performance, as it doesn't match the modern technical style here.

On the plus side, though, the songwriting is still strong. I mean, this is Nocturnus. A.k.a., the kings of science fiction horror in death metal, so their stories are still gonna be really good. Take the track "Search for the Trident" for example, where this verse quotes:

Ages ago, Sands of ancient time
Intrigue our minds, on this endless quest
Superior life forms from above
Carved the site beyond the outer islands
To know the truth. The origin of this wonder
Look through this window. See into the past
And you will find. A land of the unknown

This opening verse is really strong, as it sets up the mystery of the land of the unknown with enough details to paint a picture on what it looked like back then. Later on, where they're going to find the lost land, the descriptions are more simple, but still effective enough to accurately portray the journey. And as for the execution of the lyrics, they're actually pretty decent. The more ambient-driven style of the riffs do enhance the atmosphere of the lost land well, and Emo's vocals are a bit better on the track, so his growls enhance the strength of the mysterious land. Other tracks don't execute the stories as well, especially in "Paranormal States", but regardless, the songwriting quality is still as strong as ever.

But sadly, not even the lyrics are enough to stop this album from feeling below average overall. With a weak execution of the ambient style and Emo's poor vocal performance, this feels more like a bad clone of Nocturnus. Even the album cover doesn't feel right, as it doesn't have the iconic Nocturnus logo nor the technical complexities of the artwork itself. Then again, you can't judge a book by its cover, and I really wanted to like this album, but it just didn't work for me overall. I'd still suggest you give it a listen, but be cautious that this isn't gonna sound anything like the previous two records.

The first sign of the almost original line-up from "The Key" and "Thresholds" turned out to be something a bit cheated. It was created mostly in order to abandon the idea of Nocturnus AD that was just beginning...or so it seems! Normally, it would be a great excuse to criticize the group by Panzer, Davis and McNenney before the album is launched (including the "new" Browning band), but I will give it up because they did it better than I expected. The rebirth of the first Nocturnus ended with a surprisingly solid, coherent and distant from embarrassment release - something that was not so obvious considering the magnitude of the conflict and the short activity of this reunion.

Interestingly, the rest of the line-up that were on "Ethereal Tomb" does not differ significantly from that of the ep "Nocturnus". So the previous bassist, Emo Mowery, appeared, who additionally added vocal duties, and the only completely new member here was the drummer Rick Bizzaro. Besides, even details such as a changed logo or cover in the type of RPG games from the beginning of the 21st century did not come into a drastically different style of the group (which was often the case with others)! Well, at the first moment of listening, you can even say that "Ethereal Tomb" is simply a logical extension of the themes from "Thresholds". Well, yes...but not quite - let me paraphrase myself in this way.

Even though "Ethereal Tomb" is generally a very good release, it could have been done better in some aspects. First of all, its sound is not powerful, the keyboards have been pushed too much in background (in verses of such "Edge Of Darkness" they are barely audible at all), and on homogeneous slow paces - which is even more surprising, because - as I hear - Bizzaro could play more interesting. Fortunately, that's all of (my) complaints. The rest of the components of "Ethereal..." must be liked, and you can immediately convince yourself of the above disadvantages. As standard, the Davis-McNenney duo works great (as exemplified by, for example, "Search For The Trident", "Orbital Decay", "The Killing" or the aforementioned "Edge Of Darkness"), mysterious atmosphere (despite, as I said, more modest keyboards) , still above-average creativity of the musicians and Mowery's vocals (even with the clean ones in "Paranormal State"!). Admittedly, it does not go beyond the already well-known formula from previous albums, although it's quite listening to it and, as for an allegedly farewell release, it does not evoke absurdity. It turned out better than expected.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/07/nocturnus-ethereal-tomb-1999.html

Six years after the release of the self-titled EP which also split the band until now, the Ethereal Tomb has been found and the Nocturnus ship has finally landed, in this abandoned graveyard of a planet. I like to look at the band's discography in a conceptual matter, as in this third attempt it's based more inside a habitable planet rather than the space themes we all know and love, it quite tells a story here: The Key was the beginning, Thresholds was the sequel, and Ethereal Tomb ends the trilogy (the EP is just a spin-off and not canon).

Emo Mowery, who plays bass and joined the band to release said EP assumed command of the vocals on this record. Surprisingly, he didn't do bad. He sounds way different by using more growls and even cleanly sings in some parts in the album, and his voice captures the atmosphere of this album very well. That being said, this album is also VERY different, judging by the sound; the keyboards, the guitars - and the overall music is unfamiliar, that if this album was released under a different band name it would've been a lot more different. Then again, as progressive as the band is, I didn't see this as a problem, although it could've used more work.

I don't think you could ask for a better atmospheric track than Orbital Decay. It already glimpses to us the different sound, the keyboards are on fucking point, and the tone is great! My favorite part is the bridge, which sounds like a good retro video game. The Killing sounds like something that'd fit in The Key. It's heavy, interesting and experimentally done right. Paranormal States is haunting and slowly crushing your soul, with the operatic vocals, eclectic guitar solos, and the background keyboards are nailing it as well.

Apostle of Evil didn't really offer anything, as it sounded as standard as other death metal songs can sound, which doesn't fit Nocturnus. The chorus sounded good but otherwise repetitive. Edge of Darkness, while also sounds like a retro video game music, perfectly fits into a main menu. But jokes aside, its feel makes you walk through that graveyard of a planet. It's slow, yet experimental and also has clean vocals. It's not a bad track by any means, thought atmospherically it's lacking. Search for the Trident, being the longest track on the album, starts with a gloomy synthesizer, shifting into a Rush-like guitar riffs; smooth, easy, and beautiful. However, as the actual song started... it was all forgotten. The Science of Horror was just too damn repetitive and standard...

This album is a hit or miss to some listeners, like myself. It had good vibes and it hit the wall here and there, but more than half of its offering didn't. This comes down to bold experimentation which I don't think was considered as a reformation, and only a handful of songs actually nailed it, like Orbital Decay, The Killing, and Paranormal States. These three were done right in terms of the sound the band had originally developed but upgraded it as well.

To objectively asses this album one has to partially distance him/herself from the band’s previous instalments. Cause with the memories of these two masterpieces, particularly those of the monumental debut, flooding the fan’s mind it would be really hard for him/her to accurately evaluate the goings-on featured here… on the other hand, one also has to bear in mind the turbulent history behind it, the incendiary acrimonious circumstances under which the band members parted shortly after the sophomore’s release, the final result of this internal tussle leaving none other than the band founder Mike Browning out in the cold…

a sad story that couldn’t have possibly had a worthy follow-up music-wise although the remaining musicians pulled themselves together, and after a lengthy break voted to give the Nocturnus saga another go with the album reviewed here. With the guitar duo of Mike Davis and Sean McNenney firmly in place this should have been another thrilling ride all around, if not of the “The Key”’s gargantuan proportions, at least along the lines of the less exuberant, but still captivating enough soundscapes of “Thresholds”.

Well, “Thresholds” this isn’t as seven years down the line the band were simply not interested in pursuing the technical death meal idea either due to a lack of vigour and passion, or because of altered musical perceptions. Having written that, expect no timid surrender to the already fading at the time numetal trends as this is still a decent record, only that it shows the musicians in a different, much more restrained light. The keyboards are still here, if that could be some kind of consolation, and the new singer Emo Mowery does a good job with his intense throaty growl, coming close to the subdued, but effective performance of Browning on “The Key”. It almost sounds like a deal, and “Orbital Decay” doesn’t really disappoint its atmospheric mid-paced stride frequently carved by blazing guitar pyrotechnics; nothing overtly flashy or eye-opening, but it’s been a while since the guys’ last stint so there are no expectations for instantaneous fireworks of grandiosity of any kind from the get-go.

Yes, true, but after “Apostle of Evil” switches to a nearly sleep-inducing, quasi-doomy mode, with the few sparkles of technicality from the opener nearly gone, the listener will have no choice but to either adapt (or die) to this minimalistic introspective delivery, or just plain move onto something else entirely, especially when “Edge of Darkness” doesn’t do much to change the instilling monotony with its lyrical semi-balladic sprawls. “The Killing” at least promises something killing with the title, but music-wise this is the next in line hypnotizer of the DDD (dark doom deathly) variety that refuses to brighten up even for a split second. The overlong ambient intro of “Search for the Trident” could be considered another pullback, but right after the band brace themselves for some really effective technical shredding which livens the situation big time, and with the added twists and turns plus brilliant fretwork all over makes up for a really entertaining listen. “Paranormal States” loses the energy, but retains the technicality and increases the lead guitar exploits to prepare the setting for “The Science of Horror”, a formidable progressive steam-roller which even provides a couple of wild headbanging moments at some stage to everyone’s surprise. All quiet on the nocturnal front, though, with “Outland”, a balladic all-instrumental combination of virtuoso leads and operatic piano/organ-induced dramatism.

“Ethereal” not exactly; rather down-to-earth, downbeat and monolithic in its brooding seriousness, a not very optimistic aftermath from the mentioned generation… sorry, separation clash the guys obviously lacking the enthusiasm and the drive to beat their previous exploits. Not that that was possible in the first place, but still, the passion is simply not there the band’s musical proficiency alone elevating this opus slightly above the average status cause there’s really not that much more to tell/write about it. Even the keyboards’ presence is not that prominent, compared to the first two instalments, which should have by all means been the case with the newly epitomized, more doom-laden template that would have benefitted from a few lusher keyboard sweeps, like the works of early Therion, for instance, or two other similarly-styled sagas, the Swiss Babylon’ Sad’s “Kyrie” and the Austrians Korova’s “A Kiss in the Charnel Fields”, did.

The band invariably leave their signature on this last showing, not a single track can possibly suck with musicians of this calibre involved, but it’s a bit more than just that, the provision of the obligatory, not necessarily very inspired, epitaph of a not very long, but distinguished enough, career the guys only too well aware that another chapter from the Nocturnus saga was not very likely to occur… not in this particular configuration anyway as Browning has been making waves on the side, first under the Nocturnus AD moniker, and more recently as After Death this new/old cohort performing old Nocturnus (mostly from “The Key”) tracks the new material, reflected in a lengthy string of demos, more on the ordinary, standard side of the death metal roster, not having much in common with the band’s earlier, much more visionary approach.

Yes, the Nocturnus spirit refuses to lie dormant… tombs, cemeteries and graveyards are simply not intimidating enough to placate it and put it to rest. And, with consummate keymasters of the kind, how can you possibly keep them under lock and key somewhere deep underground?

After a very lengthy absence (how long has it been - eight years?) Nocturnus return to grace the underground with another very well-planned, played, and otherwise executed slab of Florida death metal, done completely in their own original style. It is so refreshing, speaking personally, to hear this style of music again (albeit in an updated fashion): meaning the American version of prototypical death metal, circa '89-'92. It comes as an enormous relief from the virtual tidal wave of NWOSDM/Gothenburg At The Gates/Carcass worship that has been infecting the underground as of late, and plaguing all the magazine writers that I know. To all the small European labels out there, on the behalf of my fellow 'zine editors: enough is enough! If only the sound on 'Slaughter of the Soul' could have been patented, eh?

What the band bio I received with this CD emphasizes and the people that I have talked to over the years about this band always stressed were the keyboards - their place in the music, their original or innovative function, and the ability they had (in this band) to widen the sound and power of the music considerably. Nocturnus were innovative in that aspect - they were probably the first extreme metal band I ever saw play live with a keyboardist (a headbanging keyboardist, no less), and while that instrument was muted considerably in performance, on record it (and the man who played it - Louis Panzer) really had the opportunity to shine, creating new atmospheres or soundscapes to swallow the technical guitar riffing, and often offering themes or little intro segments that potently illustrated the lyrics. On this album, though, the keyboard music has been changed drastically - perhaps in response to all the synth styles in the scene now that Panzer supposedly influenced. Instead of flying ahead, over, and through the guitars, the synths (for the most part) march resolutely in the background, adding tints, tones, and shades to influence the path of the band's sound. It might just be the production on this album, but it sounds to me like the keyboard playing was given a much lower priority this time around - or maybe the new style they are playing doesn't call for strenuous synth workouts in the way their old material did.

However I was always attracted to the guitar playing in this band, both the bizarre and abstract nature of the frenetic, fast-paced, overtly technical rhythm riffing and the swarming leads that Mike Davis and Sean McKenney unleashed to devastating effect. On this new album, the technical virtuosity of the guitar playing (the shred factor, basically) has been toned down a few notches, for whatever reason. There are still the screaming leads (Mike Davis' spectral examples being the most impressive, seemingly sent over a COMSAT link from another planet) and the rhythm guitar work is never boring, but the pace has been slackened a great deal - they have seemingly lost (or got rid of) the insane level of energy that marked their earlier releases, and this album progresses through songs that are much more somber, darker, and emotional than what we have heard from them before. This could mark a new level of maturity in their song writing, or simply a change in style or intent. Good examples of this are to be found in the third track, the doom-laden 'Edge of Darkness', the fifth, the otherworldly 'Search for the Trident', and especially the summary piece 'Outland', the last track on the record. In any case, the guitar playing on this album is excellent in all respects, effectively weaving the chilling atmospheres that the themes of the songs call for, and adding all the little touches, trills, and musical comments on the main riffs that this band is known for. The lead melodies in 'Edge of Darkness' and the sixth song, 'Paranormal States', are especially beautiful. Instead of a manic competition between the guitarists, we have a very well orchestrated trading-off of lead and rhythm duties, and the measured cadence of a band that is secure in their material and concerned only with the gradual unfolding of its power or potential. This is not a strangling transport to alien worlds, suffocating in its density, the way their first two albums were; but rather like the time-tested tales of a voyager who has returned from the cold vacuum of space to relate what he found there.

I avidly recommend this album for those of you who were impressed by this band's earlier efforts, or the death metal enthusiasts out there who are eager to hear something new.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

As someone who had long given up on Nocturnus ever getting their shit together and giving us the followup to The Key that I've always desired, Ethereal Tomb was both a shock and a letdown. The shitty cover art and replacement 'logo' are among the most amateur crap I've ever seen, thus the aesthetic pleasure of their debut was not in the cards; and the music seems to lack the brutality of the formative Nocturnus. Yet, for all its flaws, this unexpected opus does one thing right: it sounds authentic, as if the band had never written the sophomore effort Thresholds and leaped straight into this. Not that the album is superior to that one, it comes up slightly short, but for at least a few songs, this was what I had long hoped to hear...

Louis Panzer remains within the band, as well as guitarists Mike Davis and Sean McNenney, so you can expect a lot of the same punchy, dark guitar tones and cheesy but moody atmospheric synthesizer pads strung out in the background. A lot of slower, grooving death/thrash rhythms comprise the better tracks like "Orbital Decay" and "Apostle of Evil", and the band is right to create breaks in the tension as with the intro to "Edge of Darkness". Much of the album does grow monotonous as it operates at a similar, sluggish tempo, but where the band experiments with their chugging backbone, in the warlike gait of "The Killing" or the proggy "Search for the Trident", the tracks seem tasteful if tame compared to the debut. The instrumental "Outland" is another strong point, though not without predecent ("Nocturne in Bm" from Thresholds), arches of vacuous guitar melodies curving against the synthetic landscape.

Conceptually, the band still wraps their imaginations about sci-fi, horror and archaeological subjects, and I'm rather glad they haven't abandoned this terrain, since its perhaps their most distinctive characteristic around the turn of the century. The lyrics are pretty good. The use of the keyboards was not quite so novel by this time as it was in death metal with The Key, yet it's also a positive that the band persist in using them atmospherically rather than noodling like Janne of Children of Bodom. The production here is functional, though not much better than Thresholds. All told, Ethereal Tomb is a substantial enough experience if you enjoyed the first two albums, but let it be said that more care could clearly have been placed in its packaging and details. The biggest drawback is that band so capable of progressing and expanding beyond their prior borders has done no such thing here: it's more of the same, a little less crushing, playing it timid. Playing it safe.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

“Ethereal Tomb” was Nocturnus’ comeback album after they first split-up in the early 90s. By that time, the band had delivered some amazing futuristic technical death metal and I was naturally looking forward to a new album with great anticipation. However, I was let down somewhat. The music on “Ethereal Tomb” is considerably less technical overall than on previous releases and basically lacks fast parts completely. Also the arrangements are simpler than before. In other words, do not expect a continuation of “The Key” and “Thresholds”!

Unless you count the first demo, technicality (especially in the guitar department) was always a trademark of Nocturnus but here it feels like guitarists Mike and Sean are holding back. Only the opener “Orbital Decay” comes close to the old days of glory concerning the guitar work. It boasts the kind of melodic technical riffing and intense feel one would expect from Nocturnus and is consequently one of the best tracks on here. The simplicity of the drumming combined with the technicality of the guitars creates a nice contrast and leads me to describe “Orbital Decay” as a display of simplistic complexity. The rest of the album is far more straightforward and simple when it comes to the riffing. There’s still the occasional nod at technicality here and there on almost all the other tracks though, showing that the band can still come up with the goods if they feel like it. Also the solos, while competent, never reach the level of the old days. As I said, it feels like the guitarists are holding back. You know that these guys can do a lot more than what they do here.

The vocals are handled by bassist Emo Mowery and I don’t have much to complain about them. They are death metal growls and Mowery is the most brutal vocalist Nocturnus has ever had. Fortunately he doesn’t try to be the most brutal growler in the world and that wouldn’t have suited this album either. He does also use clean vocals on a couple of occasions as a spice.

The keyboards don’t play that big a role on this album when compared to the old stuff. Mostly Lou just plays carpets with a pretty warm keyboard sound, the cold and spacey sounding keyboards of e.g. “The Key” cannot be found here. Previously Lou managed to create some nice sci-fi atmospheres with the keyboards and he also played along with the guitar melodies at times, but on “Ethereal Tomb” he just sort of is there in the background and doesn’t do anything extraordinary.

“Edge of Darkness” is the simplest track on the album and it’s also a standout in a way. It would have been way too straightforward for the Nocturnus of old but it doesn’t sound out of place on this album. “Edge of Darkness” starts in a deceptively peaceful manner but soon it builds up into a very simple and heavy main riff (akin to “Ceremony of Opposites” era Samael perhaps), which isn’t bad at all and this track also features some nice clean guitars and spoken vocals. If one were to pick a single from this album, it would definitely be “Edge of Darkness”, since it’s a catchy slow track without any hard-to-get-into technical parts. Even though it’s a very un-Nocturnus like track I still like it. “The Killing” is another track that makes good use of simple heavy riffing and pounding drumming.

“Outland” is the worst track: it’s just an instrumental with a pretty simple and repetitive structure and I often end up skipping it altogether when giving this album a spin. One would think that with the proficiency of the musicians, they would’ve written something much more interesting, technical and varied than this in order to display their musical abilities. “Outland” has the feel of a filler to it, it sounds like a case of “we need one more track, so let’s record that instrumental we’ve been jamming on even if it isn’t anything special”. The instrumental “Nocturne in Bm” on the “Thresholds” album was a lot better.

The less technical and stripped-down musical approach of “Ethereal Tomb” leaves me with the feeling that something’s missing. I know what Nocturnus are capable of and they do not use their full potential here. However, while I do think that their previous releases are better, I still consider this album to be enjoyable overall. In the end I found only "Outland" to be really boring. I just feel that the band should have gone full throttle with the technicality aspect like they used to do before, I don’t understand why they held back on that.

Nocturnus, where to began? This is the first album I've ever listened by them so obviously I cannot compare their sound on this album to the sounds on their other albums. Now the album Ethereal Tomb is a strange, sickening, if not excellent concoction. The band is classified as a technical atmospheric death metal band, and for this album that holds correct. Of course Nocturnus could never beat Tiamat when it comes to atmospheric metal, but this could be because Ethereal Tomb's atmosphere gives slight allusions to being in outerspace.

"Outerspace? Death metal? PGK are you on crack?" is most likely what very few of you will say.

I say the above because while Tiamat's "Wildhoney" atmosphere was brought by acoustic guitars, sounds of nature, and keyboards. Nocturnus over here bring about sounds of industrialism, machines, and the complete opposite of nature.

If this album had a birage of electronic riffs in it then I would be hard pressed not to call it industrial death metal. Thankfully this band doesn't really too heavily on sound effects, but instead focus on alot of technical death metal sounds.

It's not to say that this album isn't without it's flaws, because holy shit does this album have flaws. The album starts off decent with "Orbital Decay". The song has quite a few thrash and death metal riffs that are very catchy, but are nothing to complicated or very fancy. The chorus is catchy if not a bit stupid. Sing it with me! "Orbital decay! Orbital decay!"

The best intro on this album goes to the song "Apostle of Evil" in fact I dare say that this is the best song on the entire album. The guitar riffs are the most complicated on the entire album. The guitarist managed to take certain scales and use them to their own benefit. The drumming is excellent and is not brought to foward in this song, which is good. Fans of my reviews (what is it 2? Just kidding.) well understand full well what I'm talking about.

From there the album slowly declines in musical value. I'm not saying that the rest of the songs are crap because that is far from the truth. I'm just saying that the band started getting a bit lazy in their song writing. Soon the songs start sounding the same. Same basic guitar sounds played with the same zeal. same damn drum rthyms, and the same basic atmospheric of being in outerspace.

Unfortunately by the time Sciene of Horror comes on I feel that the album has gone on long enough. Think about being at movie or play where you were certain that one part was the ending, but it dragged on for another 30 minutes to an hour. This is the way I feel when the song Science of Horror comes on. I just want the damn album to be over with, and it doesn't help that the song has the same structure as the other songs. Thankfully the instrumental song "Outland" comes on which is the second best song of the album, if only for the fact that for 4:17 the band changes their tone and goes a bit slower and more melodic. The piano sounds are also a welcome touch.

For those of you curious about this album I would suggest buying it in Season of Mist's 'Metal Pack" which includes Nocturnus "Ethereal Tombs", Darkside "Cognitive Dissonance" and Anata "The Infernal Depths of Hatred" for only $15.