+ + + Mike Browning of Morbid Angel/Nocturnus + + +

A foggy mist materializes before me, soon to engulf me within its clammy embrace. The air around me shimmers and swirls. My vision blurs, and so I close my eyes. When I re-open them, I realize that I have somehow been transported to the Fall of October 1988. Unearthly electronic ambiant sounds ride upon the subtle wind as I approach the 'lake of fire', the orange glow reflecting off its rippling surface. The tortured souls are awaiting the arrival of their satanic majesty, at 'His' request. Each step I take upon the path that lay before me draws me closer to the crowd, in which I see many familiar faces. My heart is beating faster and faster, a bead of perspiration breaks upon my brow. I look from one face to another, and know that I must be in Hell..

NO!.. WAIT!..Something is wrong here .. as I recognize more and more of those gathered around me, it soon becomes clear that it is my wedding day. I am not in Hell, but rather my 'soon to be' Mother-In-Law's house, set on a small lake just North of Tampa. Among the friends and family in attendance are members of FATAL BLESSING, SILENT SCREAM, ICED EARTH, SAVATAGE, NASTY SAVAGE, POWERSURGE, and NOCTURNUS. Louis Panzer and Mike Browning are the ones responsible for the eerie electronic soundscape that emanates from the keyboards (a strange mixture of NOCTURNUS song intros that evolve into the most original and creepy version of the traditional 'wedding march' theme that I have ever heard). A 'white witch' performs the ceremony between myself and Paula Burns (as I write this.. today is her birthday.. 6-6-66). A reception soon follows, at which FATAL BLESSING play, but eventually turns into an 'all-star' jam session as different members of the afore-mentioned bands take turns sitting in with each other, and play into the night.

The wedding party re-convenes the next night (Halloween) at the infamous SUNSET CLUB, where FATAL BLESSING, OBITUARY, and NOCTURNUS put on one helluva show ('yours truly' eMCeed the evening's festivities). This is just one of many shows that NOCTURNUS played in the Tampa Bay area, as they perfected the songs that would eventually make up the track list for their 1989 debut release 'THE KEY' (as well as some of the songs that appear on their follow up 'THRESHOLDS').

NOCTURNUS had shopped around a 4-song demo entitled 'The Science Of Horror' (featuring a killer version of 'Undead Journey' with GINO MARINO on guitar). With plenty of self-promotion, mail order requests for demo tapes, and sales of hand-printed logo t-shirts, NOCTURNUS gained a world-wide 'cult' of devoted fans. The hard work finally paid off when the band signed with EARACHE RECORDS. Armed with an arsenal of precisionly perfected songs (and an airbrush logo done by 'yours truly'), the band entered the studio. With Mike Browning (MORBID ANGEL, INCUBUS, ACHERON) on drums and vocals, Louis Panzer on keyboards, Jeff Estes on bass, Mike Davis on guitar, and Sean McNennery (FATAL BLESSING) on guitar, the band recorded what soon became known as a landmark album, 'The Key'.

What set 'The Key' apart from all the other Death Metal releases of the time, were three things. First, it was one of the earliest albums to be released on vinyl LP, cassette tape, and CD format (as CD's were just coming out at the time). Second, NOCTURNUS was the first Death Metal band to incorporate a full-time keyboard player, whose eerily mechanical sci-fi soundscapes became inter-woven throughout every single song. Last, but not least, 'The Key' was a concept album, in which a cyborg from the future time travels to the year "0" B.C. in order to assassinate the baby Jesus, in hopes of forever changing the course of organized religion. Soon after its release to the masses, the album sold over 50,000 copies in a short span of time.

Ten years later, EARACHE RECORDS re-released 'The Key', where-upon I purchased it (seeing as when it originally came out I did not yet have a CD player, and gave my copy away, keeping the LP and cassette versions for myself). Funny thing, my old PO Box address printed in the original credits for doing the logo design, was re-printed on the re-release (I wonder what kind of mail the new box-holder has received since). This CD is a definite 'must have' for any fan of Death Metal, and I highly recommend that if it is not in your collection, that you beg, borrow, or even sell your soul to 'possess' your very own copy.

After I wrote the above 'Blast From The Past' piece on 'The Key', I sent the link off to Mike Browning. Once he read it, I got a message from him telling me how much he liked what I wrote, and suggested doing an interview. How appropriate this all happened on June 6th, being that Mike's nick-name is 'EVIL-1' and it just so happens to be my ex-wife Paula Burns' birthday (yup.. the very same person I married from the above article).

'A-C-Z': - Well Mike, it's been twenty years since the release of 'The Key'. What major impact do you feel that album made on the Death Metal scene in general?

MIKE: - I never would have thought about it at the time that 'The Key' would have made the big impact that it did on Death Metal type bands using keyboards, but most people think that Nocturnus was the band that started it all with 'The Key'.



'A-C-Z': - Well, considering I was there when it was all happening, I can vouch for that completely!
Do you find that your fans still want to hear those 'classic' songs whenever you play out with your current band?

MIKE: - Well actually, last October my band AFTER DEATH toured Europe as NOCTURNUS, so we played almost all the songs off of 'The Key', but usually we play at least one or two NOCTURNUS or old MORBID ANGEL songs in our set.



'A-C-Z': - Wish I could have seen that, we had some good times at all the old NOCTURNUS shows you played around the Tampa Bay area.
Did you ever expect bands like MORBID ANGEL (a band that you were a founding member of) or OBITUARY to still be touring and selling records (yea, I know.. CD's) some twenty/twenty-five years later, and how does that make you feel?

MIKE: - I think it's a great thing actually that MORBID ANGEL has become, and stayed, such a big and innovative band, and the guys in OBITUARY are all really cool, so I am glad that they have kept that same style and sound all these years, and that's why they have kept their audience as well!



'A-C-Z': - My friend Nadine Menezes (RAW MACHINE) just saw MORBID ANGEL in Australia, and thought they were incredible.
Does it make you feel proud to be known as one of the major players who had a big part in forging Death Metal's early 'foundations'?

MIKE: - It still blows my mind actually! I never would have thought when Trey (MORBID ANGEL) and I were jamming in my mom's back room in High School, that it would turn into the biggest band in Death Metal!



'A-C-Z': - That's pretty amazing, and I see David Vincent even returned recently, now pulling double duties between MORBID ANGEL and GENITORTURERS.
After NOCTURNUS, I know that you played with ACHERON for awhile, what else have you done since leaving the band?

MIKE: - After ACHERON, I played in a few bands with friends of mine that needed drummers. One was a metal band called HEADSHOCK, another was an industrial band called DEACON SCREECH, then I formed AFTER DEATH, but also I have done some other projects and bands like WELCOME, ARGUS, and INNER WORKINGS, which are all in my top friends list on Myspace.



'A-C-Z': - WOW! You're like the Phil Collins of Metal.. busy.. busy.. busy! It certainly must be for the love of playing with that kind of dedication.
Are there any new projects on the horizon for Mike Browning, other than what you may have mentioned in the last question?

MIKE: - I am always helping people with stuff, but a lot of times it's just like a small keyboard or vocal part on a song or two, or an intro. I have done this for a bunch of bands, and I am sure I will do more in the future.



'A-C-Z': - I'm not surprised that you took an interest in keyboards as well. If I recall, it was you who insisted on adding Louis Panzer to the NOCTURNUS line-up as a full member.
If you could do it all over again, what would you do different, as far as NOCTURNUS is concerned?

MIKE: - I would have trademarked the name!



'A-C-Z': - I hear you there, and I will refrain from asking you anything more about that particular subject. I will say however, that I picked up their last release, and thought there was one major 'key' element missing.. YOU!
Okay! Let's say you came across the plans to build a working 'time machine'.. would you build it? and if so.. where would you go and what would you do?

MIKE: - I think I already explained that one on The Key!!!



'A-C-Z': - Hehe... nice answer! I thought you might have gone in other directions with that answer after twenty years, but it's good to see you are still very much the Mike Browning I once knew, except for one little thing...
I never dreamed I would see the day when the 'EVIL-1' would become a daddy, how does it make you feel to have a daughter, and does she take after you (the proud 'daddy' may feel free to elaborate as much as he would like to here)?

MIKE: - I never thought I would become a dad either, but she is really smart for only being 2 years old, and she already has an interest in music, so maybe she will become an awesome girl Death Metal drummer one day. ).

'A-C-Z': - I can picture it in my head now.. 'daddy' Mike teaching his little girl how to hold the sticks and where to place her feet on the double-bass pedals... hehe!
There are more and more females fronting or playing in Death and Black Metal bands these days, especially in other parts of the world where the 'scenes 'have always been more popular than here in the US. What do you think about that?

MIKE: - I don't see any problem with that at all. Females in music actually expands the possibilities of what a band can do, especially vocally.



'A-C-Z': - Right on! I totally agree with you there, and have always been into female performers like Wendy O. Williams and Gen of GENITORTURERS.
Since those early days when we used to handle mail orders by the 'old-fashioned' postal service (better known these days as 'snail-mail'), alot has change, especially with the introduction of the Internet. Do you think that if we had the use of the 'net' back then, that things would have grown on a much larger scale and at a much faster rate?

MIKE: - Yes, most definitely!The Internet is a good and a bad thing, but it definitely has taken a lot of the money and number of record sales away from the bands. 'The Key' sold over 70,000 copies and even the biggest Death Metal bands don't barely sell that today.

'A-C-Z': - I certainly agree! The bands need to receive their just rewards for all the hard work they do to bring their music to the people. It's not always fun and games with a band. Alot of expenses go into keeping a band sustained.
Over the last several years of 'surfing' the 'net', I have met some of the greatest people who live in other counties, and consider some to be among my closest friends. You yourself have toured many places, so what is your view on how Metal and the Internet has brought the people from all parts of the globe closer together?

MIKE: - It's exactly as you said! I too have met a ton of people all over the world and also got to meet some of them in person when we toured Europe last October.



'A-C-Z': - Now for my final question, do you think we are headed for a future where the 'thinking machines' completely take over our lives, making the human race 'obsolete', and if so, what do you plan on doing to stop it?

MIKE: - Well, as many people like Timothy Leary and Stephen Hawkins have said, that one day machines will take over, as technology has already "separated" us from each other and made us more individual in our thinking.



'A-C-Z': - That is something we should definitely all be thinking about, so if you will excuse me.. I am going to feed this data into my computer and see what 'She' has to say about all of this! Good tidings to you and yours, Mike.. and thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!

MIKE: - Cool!



'A-C-Z': - Excellant.. and I almost forgot.. anything you would like to say to the fans.. some last parting words of wisdom?

MIKE: - Yeah, just thanks to everyone who has supported me and my musick for all these years and watch for some new After Death Musick real soon on our MySpace page! ~ Mike666