NOCTURNUS

"Nocturnus" is the debut demo cassette tape released in 1987 by American, Florida based death metal act Nocturnus. After leaving death metal legends Morbid Angel, drummer/lead vocalist Mike Browning formed Nocturnus with guitarist Vincent Crowley (Archeron), guitarist Gino Marino and bassist Richard Bateman. This constellation would only last on this demo though.

Nocturnus are known for their sci-fi lyrics and extensive use of keyboards/synths in their often progressive oriented death metal music, but on this demo there are no keyboards/synths and the lyrics revolve around occultism. The music is old school US death metal. If anyone have heard "Abominations of Desolation (1991)" by Morbid Angel (that album was recorded in 1986-1987, while Mike Browning was still a part of the band) or "Scream Bloody Gore (1987)" by Death, you´ll pretty much have an idea of how this demo sounds. Raw and rather primitive death metal.

The sound quality is rather awful to be honest and it´s not a demo which is easy to enjoy when it comes to the sound production part of the release. There´s historical value here of course as this is one of the earliest US death metal releases, but quality wise this is really not that great. A 1 - 1.5 star (25%) rating is warranted.