Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Nocturnus - Nocturnus (1993)

At just two tracks and ten minutes in length, Nocturnus' self-titled EP from some two decades ago makes for a concise feature release.  Coming six years before what was to prove to be their final full length release (Ethereal Tomb), this single/EP captures the band at their technical best.  Pressing their urgent and interesting style of death metal on the listener, those signature synths are in fine form adding symphonic flourishes to the otherwise scathing tech-death on show here.

The rabid gallop of the riffs coupled with the bold pace changes and mesmirising leads are examples of a band in fine form.  Sad that they decided to split not long after this release as the potential over these two tracks is really promising, capturing the best bits of The Key and Thresholds.  With Mike Browning fired from the band and the band name trademarked by the remaining members this was the only release to feature James Marcinek on the drums.  A combination of some less than satisfactory production work and the fact that James was no Mike Browning ensured that the drum work sort of just sat in the background whilst everything else drove the music forward. 

There is a sense of disconnect with the instrumentation at certain points during Mummified for me with those snths sounding a tad wayward in places.  However, Possess the Priest is a fine slab of tech-death presented with a real sense of direction.  It is hard to score this at much more than a three however given the short runtime and the fact that one of the two tracks is clearly inferior to the other.