Nile – What Should Not Be Unearthed

Nile :
Nile
Version:
MP3
Price:
£10.99

Reviewed by:
Rating:
3
On 25 August 2015
Last modified:25 August 2015

Summary:

he tracks on the album go from being a tough list to having simply excellent bits within them. I wish there was more melodic hooks or interesting riffs to keep me engaged. Sadly, these are few. I feel more soul is needed in my metal but I can’t take anything away from this work. For what it is, it’s great.

Nile – What Should Not Be Unearthed

Now, while I am not a Nile fanboy I do enjoy the technical death metal fused with near Eastern topics. It’s a mix of things that shouldn’t work but does. And if nothing else; the drummer on the record is superb. It is scarily good, inhuman, at points; kudos, George Kollias.

‘What Should Not Be Unearthed’ is good; if you’re a fan of the grindcore side of death metal then you will really enjoy what the lads what put together. For me, it is too grindcore and nothing pulled me like a Carcass record would for example.  It is just there and I have enjoyed it but I didn’t love it. “To Walk Forth from Flames Unscathed” is a good tester of what is on offer but if you’re not a fan then you may not like it.

That said; it is not a bad album. It is a very good album; it is one that jumps the line between brutal death metal and grindcore extremely way. With delicious technical guitar breaks and solos.  Karl Sanders kills his parts throughout the album.

“Rape of the Black Earth” has some awesome melodic guitar parts and does “Age of Famine” however as songs all I can think of are that these sound like bad Dethklok songs. Not knocking the lads or Dethklok but after eight albums. I am finding it hard to hear anything new from Nile.

“Evil to Cast Out Evil” is my song on the release. It is more melodic; and honestly, it is more like a Carcass track and thus more attuned to my personal tastes. The guitar riff to open the track is great and unpins a neat display technical guitar skill based around that riff without being boring.

There is a lot of grindcore within this track but having a firm base around something like a riff makes the song at lot more accessible. I loved this track as I did “Liber Stellae Rubeae”, to an extent that is. There is an overuse of the blast beats and the tropes of this genre of death metal take a lot a way from how talented these guys are. It feels like a “paint-by-the-numbers” release in some ways. I feel the songs suffer.

“In the Name of Amun” is a lot more focused and is one of the stronger weak songs. With a great vocal part, crunchy guitars and a blistering solo midway through. It is stellar! Now, add in some Egyptian cult ritual ambience in the breakdown and you have a winner.

“Negating the Abominable Coils of Apep” being more of the same. The tracks on the album go from being a tough list to having simply excellent bits within them. I wish there was more melodic hooks or interesting riffs to keep me engaged. Sadly, these are few. I feel more soul is needed in my metal but I can’t take anything away from this work. For what it is, it’s great.

Again, though, there is more hit than miss here but I think it is one for fans. And, guys, if this is your bag than buy it. You’ll love it. Good effort, lads. And wow, George Kollias can drum!

The album will be released on August 28th 2015, in North America through Nuclear Blast.

Nile are:

Karl Sanders − guitar, vocals, bass, glissentar, baglama saz, keyboards

Dallas Toler-Wade − guitar, vocals, bass

George Kollias − drums

Tracklist:

 

  1. “Call to Destruction”
  2. “Negating the Abominable Coils of Apep”
  3. “Liber Stellae Rubeae”
  4. “In the Name of Amun”
  5. “What Should Not Be Unearthed”
  6. “Evil to Cast Out Evil”
  7. “Age of Famine”
  8. “Ushabti Reanimator”
  9. “Rape of the Black Earth”
  10. “To Walk Forth from Flames Unscathed”
he tracks on the album go from being a tough list to having simply excellent bits within them. I wish there was more melodic hooks or interesting riffs to keep me engaged. Sadly, these are few. I feel more soul is needed in my metal but I can’t take anything away from this work. For what it is, it’s great.

About Darragh O'Connor

Writer/Reviewer @SunWrestling and freelance journalist.Bassist for hire. Check out my passion black metal project Horrenda: https://horrenda.bandcamp.com/