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Nocturnus
Thresholds
(Earache - 1992)
Technical death metal with a science fiction theme and atmospheric keyboards. They have been called way ahead of their time and unrecognized talents but I personally don't see the miracle. The vocals are a Sepultura style growl, the drumming ok and changing with the riffs, but nothing special. The guitar riffs are technical, precise and often damn good and the atmospheric and simple keyboards remain in the background, enhancing the power of the music. So where is the problem you ask? In the composition. This is a sample song: Heavy riffing pattern, different riffing pattern, another pattern with vocals, chaotic guitar solo, another riffing pattern with great keyboards, etc. They don't know the meaning of bridges and they lack the vision to see the song as a whole. You may enjoy the arrangements and great riffs often but the whole song is one big sandwich of them, not building up to anything and going nowhere. This is a case where they got lost in the technicality and forgot that they are writing a song. This album loses me every time. Shame really, because they do have a winning sound only its too chaotic and extremely flat.
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