THE SCIENCE OF HORROR

"The Science of Horror" is the second demo cassette tape released in 1988 by American, Florida based death metal act Nocturnus. Only drummer/lead vocalist Mike Browning and guitarist Gino Marino are left from the lineup who recorded the first demo tape. New in the lineup on "The Science of Horror" are Mike Davis on guitars, Jeff Estes on bass and Louis Panzer on keyboards. The latter would have a great effect on the future sound of Nocturnus.

While the music on the "Nocturnus (1987)" demo was raw and rather primitive 80s US death metal, the style has changed a bit on "The Science of Horror". The basis is still old school US death metal but the level of sophistication in the music and the addition of keyboards have really given Nocturnus quite an original sound compared to their contemporaries. The lyrics were at this point still predominantly about the occult. The sci-fi lyrics would appear more prominently on the debut full-length studio album "The Key (1990)". All four tracks from this demo would be featured on the debut album. "Undead Journey" only as a bonus track on the CD version of the debut though (it was not unusual in the late 80s/early 90s to include bonus tracks on CD versions of albums, to try and make people buy CDs instead of vinyl).

While the level of sophistication is much higher than on the first demo, the music is still rather primitive and the production is just a notch better than on the first demo. This means that "The Science of Horror" is a marginally better release than the "Nocturnus (1987)" demo, but still mostly a fan release. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.