''Thresholds'' is the second full-length studio album from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Nocturnus Nocturnus, currently Nocturnus AD, is a Florida death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida, in 1987 by the drummer and vocalist Mike Browning (ex–Morbid Angel). History Formation Nocturnus was formed in 1987 by drummer and vocalist Mike Brown ...

. It was released in 1992 by

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by r ...

Background and release

"Alter Reality" was released as a single and featured a music video that received substantial airplay on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consists of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obsc ...

''. "Arctic Crypt" and "Climate Controller" also became notable fan favorites. This was the last Nocturnus release to feature founding member Mike Browning, who was forcibly ejected shortly after its release. The remaining band members subsequently trademarked the Nocturnus name, preventing Browning from performing under the band's name or any of their music.

Composition

''Thresholds'' continued the experimental sound created on the first album and the line-up was expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Dan Izzo, allowing Mike Browning to concentrate solely on drums. Lyrical topics range from Earth's climate and global warming ("Climate Controller"), primitive religions ("Tribal Vodoun"), underwater species ("Aquatica") and

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...

("Gridzone"). The production of ''Thresholds'' is considerably more polished than that of ''The Key''. The music is also more complex and mature, with there being numerous breakdowns and tempo changes in every song. The band's musicianship has also advanced with each member exhibiting a new level of preciseness and technicality, with complex riffing and melodic solos. Dan Izzo's vocals are much deeper and clearer than Browning's and have been compared to the vocals of

Max Cavalera Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera (; born 4 August 1969) is a Brazilian musician. He co-founded the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Sepultura in 1984 with his brother Igor Cavalera, and was the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist unti ...

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. They were a major force in the groove metal, thrash met ...

Track listing

Credits

* Dan Izzo -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Mike Davis -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

* Sean McNenney -

* Chris Anderson -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Louis Panzer - keyboards * Mike Browning -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Recorded in December, 1991 at

Morrisound Recording Morrisound Recording (also Morrisound Studios) is an audio recording facility in Tampa, Florida, United States, owned and operated by brothers Jim and Tom Morris. Since its opening in 1981, Morrisound has been responsible for the popularizat ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, USA * Produced by Tom Morris and Nocturnus

References

External links

Earache Records album entryDiscogs album entryEncyclopaedia Metallum album entryNocturnus fan site
{{Authority control 1992 albums Nocturnus albums Earache Records albums Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording