Nile
The Underworld Awaits Us All
Napalm Records
Nile are back for their highly anticipated tenth album, and if you’re a fan of the Lords of Egypt-related hyper-technical death metal (I’m not sure there’s anyone else in this niche?), then the good news is, this is for you!
Nile’s tried-and-tested, mind-bogglingly fast, and intricate take on death metal is here, resplendent in all of the Egyptian scales and modes you’ve come to expect from their very individual sound.
It’s worth noting that drummer George Kollias definitely deserves a tin foil cape and a bottle of Lucozade by the end of the album. The drumming on this offering is Olympian, to say the least—inhuman even!
Especially in the first half of this album on tracks with names so long they’d use up my allotted wordcount (Let’s just call it, The Feces Song), then on True Gods Of The Desert, something happens that ultimately evokes an immediate screw face, Nile fall back into an epic groove that just destroys and at a slower pace this has to be heard!
There was a groovy Nile under there all along! This is an awesome way to end the album, as after this, we are in headbanging territory without the need for an abacus. Not that the hyper-technical tracks aren’t impressive as hell, and many, if not all, Nile fans are looking for that technicality, I’m sure.
Whether this album will attract new fans remains to be seen, but existing fans will be in heaven…or the Underworld, of course.
Review By George Miller