Well this is certainly something special. This band has for a long time held a special place in the cavity where my heart should be. Nocturnus The Key was released in 1989 and while the album never really got the recognition it deserved, it has long been held as a cult favourite for those in the know.
Nocturnus combine occult lyrics into the Science Fiction theme which really separated them from the hordes of bands around Florida at the same time. The guitars in this are impossibly fast and technical, combining warp speed alternate picking and lightning-fast scale runs, the like had never been seen in Death Metal at the time. Sure, Possessed and Morbid Angel were fast, but this took it to new level of guitar gymnastics. The album as far as I could tell was the first to feature keyboards as an instrument in the actual song structures. There’d been people that had used them as song intro’s or whatever but as an actual member of the band performing throughout the songs this was definitely something unique. Even to this day we’re only in the last few years seeing music of this technicality being combined successfully with keyboards. Musically you can’t fault much about this album the sounds are as perfect for the music as could be attained at the time, drummer Mike Browning has some absolutely wicked double kick work on display and added to this he provides the vocals for the band too! That would have been a sight to behold live!
The other thing that makes this album unique, is the first Death metal concept album. I’m assuming the concept was conceived by Nocturnus drummer Mike Browning (who’d previously drummed for the Morbid Angel recording Abominations of Desolation). The story revolving around a robot that is built to travel back in time to assassinate the baby Jesus whilst still in the manger, thus eliminating the Christian religion before it starts. Damn! The music perfectly fits this concept with spaced out keyboards and song structures that are out of this world.
The album listens as a journey going backwards in time when death metal was in its infancy while going forward in time to a point in time when mankind could build a robot to go even further back in time to prevent the birth of Christianity. If that makes any sense. The only thing I can say about this release is listen to it for yourself. It will take you on a journey that’s for sure!
Overall I really like this release. For it’s visionary concept, for its advanced playing and the way the concept is executed. The best part about this is it’s not even my favourite Nocturnus release!
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