In the history of death metal there have been many offshoots of classic bands that have sought to continue and even add to the immense legacy of some of the genre’s most celebrated acts, but very few manage to get even slightly close to the lofty heights of their creative heyday. NOCTURNUS AD are one of the rare exceptions, and although the band have only produced two records since they reassumed the NOCTURNUS moniker in 2013, the core style on display on their first album, 2019’s Paradox, more than stands up to the proggy tech death brilliance that albums like The Key and Thresholds possessed in spades, with the music often feeling like long lost cuts from the band’s early days in their style and production. Their latest album, Unicursal, follows in much the same vein, amplifying the more chaotic and virtuosic sides of the band’s sound and creating something a little more visceral in the process.
After the muscular yet spacey Intro sets an imposing tone, the record’s first proper track, The Ascension Throne Of Osiris, bursts into life. It’s an impressive chaotic blend of technical death metal with epic keyboard flourishes which make this frenetic offering sound extremely grandiose. In amongst the demented guitar work and precise drumming, the acidic bark of the vocals cuts through, adding a murky, primal edge to the music, sounding, perhaps more than other elements within this song, as if they are firmly rooted within old school death metal, and serving as an abrasive anchor around which everything else is interwoven. CephaloGod takes the futuristic, industrial components of the previous track and brings them prominently to the forefront, with minimal ambience quickly giving way to a dense, rhythmic slab of death metal with shimmering keys and harsh vocals countering the weighty core and energetic bursts of brutality, once again creating an imaginative sound that veers between focused ferocity and unhinged cacophony with relative ease.
Where the first two efforts on this album are fairly short, fast and punchy affairs, Mesolithic draws things out and allows the progressive side of the band’s style to dominate, with thundering percussion developing a hypnotic feel immediately, before diving into a sound that is driven by sudden tempo changes, disjointed melodies and cleaner guitars and vocals, straddling the fine line between death-thrash and experimentation well and using the ponderous pace to expand upon some interesting ideas. Organism 46B reverts to the sharper approach and polished leads that defined earlier songs, with incredibly tight musicianship punctuated by a more visceral vocal delivery and overblown keyboards, which play a significant role when it comes to carrying the music, peppering the chunkier passages with bombastic touches that sound fantastic and do a lot to broaden the already powerful sound.
Mission Malkuth continues in the symphonic vein of the preceding track, but in a longer form. Angular guitars vie with delicate drum fills to craft a denser backbone for the vocals and keyboards, which duel for supremacy and make for a more engrossing and catchy sound than the album’s first half, although it’s not without its left field moments and sudden rabid twists. Yesod, The Darkside Of The Moon pushes towards a classic death metal feel, with discordant riffs, galloping rhythms and slick, virtuosic sections pushing the guitars firmly to the musical front, with the keyboards providing sinister hisses rather than the gargantuan orchestration. It edges gradually into tech death territory without getting too self-indulgent, managing to be memorable without sacrificing many of that style’s core tropes.
Hod, The Stellar Light, with its driving drums, dramatic vocals and huge keyboard swirls, pushes this album staunchly back into prog territory, with the sort of industrial keys that have been hinted at throughout this record looming large in the sound, injecting a cinematic quality into a song that is ultimately driven by its compelling lyrical storytelling. Netzach, The Fire Of Victory does an excellent job of blending together the frenzied musicality of this album’s fiercer tracks with the expansive, avant-garde elements, shifting from blistering whirlwinds of aggression to funereal crawls with ease, making this one of the most adventurous and enduring songs on the album. The Outro is a keyboard-driven instrumental piece that captures the sound of the atmospheric preambles for each of the main songs on this record and explores it in greater length, creating an immersive, heady sound that strips away the death metal from the album’s sound and brings proceedings to a close in magnificent, ethereal fashion.
Unicursal is probably the best record that this incarnation of NOCTURNUS has produced so far, and is undoubtedly its most adventurous. One of the album’s few downsides is the drawn out intros for each of the main eight songs, which unnecessarily make what could be extremely effective and ferociously lean tracks in their own right feel a little formulaic, at least in their opening moments, which lessens the impact that some of these songs possess. But this is an album that sees NOCTURNUS AD push their underlying progressive elements and skilful, technical ability to greater heights, without betraying the magnificent sound that the band have established for themselves, remaining true to the stylistic vision of their 90s output whilst being careful to develop their music rather than stew in nostalgia, with the end result being perhaps one of the most eclectic and ferocious cohesive works that any version of this band has produced.
Rating: 9/10
Unicursal is out now via Profound Lore Records.
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