When I covered this US bands album ‘Paradox’ I explained that Mike Browning formed this band after firstly creating After Death subsequent to his firing/leaving of the original Nocturnus in the 90s. After that he changed the name to Nocturnus AD which makes sense considering the how ‘Paradox’ was a continuation of the theme and concept laid down on ‘The Key’ which acted as a long awaited sequel where we were introduced to the character Dr. Magus. The sequel ‘Paradox’ was a phenomenal slab of progressive death metal as Mike and his cohort continue the story of Dr. Magus though only on the second half of the album where he is sent on a mission through the Spheres of the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life albeit now kitted out in a bio suit according to the promotional info I have. The first half of the album deals with occult themes and mysteries and I should add that the band has a new bassist called Kyle Sokol though the bass on the album was played by the now ex-bassist Daniel Tucker.
Everything you listened to on ‘Paradox’ and to some degree ‘The Key’ has been amplified into stratospheric realms for ‘Unicursal’, as every song teems with progressive ingenuity all reinforced by the bands unique deathly explorative avenues. Indeed, the pioneers of sci-fi death metal have ramped everything up tenfold for this album which begins with ‘The Ascension Throne Of Osiris’ after a short intro piece, simply titled ‘Intro’. Initially I was noting that the riffing had similarities to Morbid Angel which is no surprise since Browning was an original member of that band decades ago. The guitar work owes plenty to the progressive leanings that has always been present on their albums but here the result is astoundingly accomplished. Adding deft atmospheric touches is expected and here they arrive via the keyboard work of the very talented Josh Holdren whose style adds depth and atmosphere to huge degrees to complement the exhilarating guitar work of Demian Heftel and Belial Koblak, the latter of whom also does some backing vocals.
With an eerie introduction ‘Cephalogod’ continues the atmospheric death metal by unveiling an intro sequence of rumbles and beast like noises before the eruption of blasted work from Browning on drums. The way the band continually morphs the song is extremely effective and whilst the opening salvo of songs are relatively short they are packed with ideas as the first of a handful of epics materialises with ‘Mesolithic’ clocking near the nine minute mark. The percussive almost tribal like opening phase builds the song up magnificently as I’d even say there is a ritualistic approach to the track before it abruptly shifts into the metal guitar work. Something this album has in reams is top quality lead breaks, in fact the album is saturated with them, each adding their own layer of texture to the songs as ‘Mesolithic’ so ably shows. In places the song is very similar to ‘The Key’ in style as we get another change in direction with ‘Organism 46B’ which I’m sure you know where that name comes from, being a tentacle squid like creature. The sci-fi elements rear up enormously, the keyboard work adding deft touches to the high energy impetus of the guitar work and drumming as I felt the band was adopting some Slayeresque like solo pieces.
Another epic, ‘Mission Malkuth’, sees the start of the continuation of Dr. Magus as his journey begins. With plenty of sound effects the song offers an abundance of dynamics displayed through the guitar work but also the ominous and enveloping keyboard work which at one point reminded me of synthwave and works extremely well. With a calm almost ambient toning ‘ Yesod, The Dark Side Of the Moon’ is trippy to a degree before the old school riffage bursts forth as again I felt there was some old Morbid Angel going on here. At near nine minutes ‘Hod, The Stellar Light’ is the albums penultimate metal track and sees the tune unfurl eerie effects before Browning’s drum fill intro section signals the guitar to come in. Vocally the album has many facets, traditional deathly growls married to the cleaner more decipherable tones of Browning throughout the album, something that has made the band unique over the years. The song is a hefty exploration, packed with tempo dynamics and those lavish keyboard elements as concluding metal song is ‘Netzach, The Fire Of Victory’, which uses a very eerie ambient keyboard introduction before the emboldened death metal appears. The sci-fi toning is massive here, the continually morphing riff work and saturating keyboards elevates the song into progressive realms with ease. Here the vocals are almost spoken, chanted to a degree like some sort of sermon. As ever the song is rife with riff changes and continually changing tempos ensuring the track is varied yet cohesive.
Concluding the album is a piece simply titled ‘Outro’ which at nearly four and half minutes is lengthy for an outro and sees the sci-fi elements magnified alongside some percussive work that makes the piece feel ritualistic, especially with the ghoulish keyboard work as once again Browning and his cohort set the bar for progressive death metal exceptionally high for others to try and match or better.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
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