Author: Jan Jakobsen
Artist: Nile
Album: What Should not be Unearthed
Label: Nuclear Blast Recrods
Nile will forever hold a special place in my heart. As strange as it may sound, Nile was the first extreme metal band that really captured me. I still remember the first time I stumbled onto In Their Darkened Shrines on YouTube and an entire world of death metal opened up to me. After I got my hands on Annihilation of the Wicked my mind was set, death metal was the genre for me. I played those two albums to death, nearly every day for god knows how long, and I owe Nile and their Egyptian themed technical death metal a lot in terms of ‘finding’ myself when it comes to musical preference. I fell off the Nile bandwagon after the release of Ithyphallic though, not only because I had moved on musically, but also because Nile had abandoned some of that raw brutality in favor of a much more technical and atmospheric approach which I felt other bands simply outshone them in doing. The production on the last three albums has been weak as well, lacking that thick guitar tone that especially Annihilation of the Wicked had.
I read an interview with Karl Sanders prior to the release where he proclaimed that Nile wanted to return to a heavier more brutal sound compared to their last few albums and that really had my hopes up. He said that At the Gates of Sethu was made because of a drive to be more technical and progressive and focus more on the musicianship and in the same interview, he also admits that At the Gates of Sethu was a disappointing record, not only for the fans, but also for the band itself. I definitely feel that Nile has achieved their goal in making a much heavier album, with more focus on what their first few albums so great. Gone is the squeaky-clean production, that heavy guitar tone is back and the focus on writing good songs as opposed to writing technical proficient music is most certainly there.
Call to Destruction was the first of two singles that were released prior to the album and it is crushing. George Kollias and his famous double bass drumming is working in high gear throughout this track together with ridiculously fast blast beats. The use of hooks is prolific in the next track, Negating the Abominable Coils of Apep, which makes for a memorable listen.
Liber Stellae Rubeae is possibly the heaviest track on this album and starts with a 30-second crushing intro. This section returns later in the song, on the last part of this track the band slows down, and the resemblance to Annihilation of the Wicked is clear.
Evil to Cast out Evil was the second single released prior to the album release and I remember becoming even more excited about the album after listening to this track. It featured everything that I loved about Nile. Until the guitar solo starts it’s one of the stronger tracks on the album, but weirdly enough, the solo really let me down. It seems like it is played without any sort of enthusiasm and seems forced.
I think Nile has succeeded in what Karl Sanders wanted to do with this release. It signals a return a heavier sound with more focus on catchy hooks and blazing riffs, but at the end of the day, it comes off as a weaker Annihilation of the Wicked to be perfectly honest, but that does in no way mean it’s a weak release. It’s by far the best they’ve done since Annihilation of the Wicked actually and makes for a good listen and a perfectly fine addition to their discography and I’m sure it will feature in a lot of peoples best of 2015 lists.
7.5/10
- Jan Jakobsen
fetiddead.wordpress.com 