Nile has always struck me as the Egyptian take on Morbid Angel. This album finds them lashing violently away from such comparisons with an almost grind core-like attack. There are still the acrobatic guitar solos, which have embraced chaos in the past, here it just consumes their identity as songwriters making for something with a renewed feral intensity. This is ten albums into their career so I did not expect them to explode out of the pyramids like this. They blast into the second song with a relentless and mean-spirited momentum. This did not catch me by surprise since after the first song I was expecting anything. The blasting works here but it could get old if they go to that well too many times.
"To Strike With Secret Fang" strikes with the thrashing speed of a cobra, but the more deliberate moments of "Naqada" are more effective and make the faster moments make more sense. Otherwise, it becomes a blinding blur of riffs racing past. This leaves you a little torn as it's impressive they are bringing it with more youthful speed than it seemed they still had ten years ago much less reaching back to their earlier 90s work, but this is met with the expectations that since they are one of the more revered death metal legends they should write more memorable songs. They have not forgotten the acoustic interludes to set the mood.
"Overlords of the Black Earth" is supported by riffs that have more purpose though the rapid-fire double bass of the drummer is still trying to rush things. A few sung vocals are whisked in, to help things with a hook. "Under the Curse of the One God" largely speeds by me with a few riffs making me take notice, and the vocals snarling something that made sense for a second. "Doctrine of Last Things' has all the energy but none of the riffs really hook me in. Though they do slow the crunch of the guitar down in the song's last minutes. "True Gods of the Desert" is more melancholy in its stomp which works for me, since this brings them closer to a "Where the Slime Live" like groove. It might even be the album's song.
The title track takes some dynamic shifts, with the thump of the bass anchoring the drums as it should. At eight and a half minutes it's the album's longest song. There is a lot to unpack with it. One thing is sure the drummer is going all out and solidifying his place as one of death metal's best, and that is being the best in a genre that is already full of metal monsters. The last song carries more melancholy in the gloom and doom they cast here. I will give this album a 9, they prove they are still good at what they do, and their fans will love it. It drops August 23rd on Napalm Records.
pst397
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