Nile

Amonst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka

(c)(p)1998 Relapse Records

Review by Neil St.Laurent

Thanks to Relapse for the CD

We reviewed Nile's short demo last year, and since then they've managed to get an album released on Relapse records. It has unfortunately not taken as much of the direction we had hoped for and ventures more into the realm of standard death metal than the tribal / ritual sound that was anticipated.

On a positive note Nile has managed to produce some very exciting death metal that, however infrequent, still maintains some of the elements that made the demo appealing. "Serpent Headed Mask" is the first to make any real use of the folk sound of the area (primarily of Egyptian origin as with the lyrical content), it is however only used as an introduction (actually it's a separate song called "Kudurru Maqlu"). From there, and about, the music is a fast paced, sometimes excessive, metal, often with a predominant guitar lead layered against the backing sound. "Ramses Bringer Of War" is the stand-out track on this album. In this song they take an overpowering war marching anthem of ancient times and slowly convert it into the death metal attack. The remainder of the song actually manages to retain some of the feel of the leader and is what really provides a unique essence to the sound of Nile. Although this mixing of distinctive styles is tried at numerous points in the album, only in "Ramses..." does it achieve a level of sounding like a single song. Other parts of the album do layer a bit of keyboard on top to provide a sort of temple sound, but that's about it; the non-metal components serve almost only to break up the death metal fare, and despite how good they sound, should have been integrated a little better. "Ramses...", "Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche", and "Opening of the Mouth" could be separated out to provide an excellent MCD or demo...

While the production of "Amongst..." is fine unto itself, it just seems that the band didn't really achieve what they were hoping for. The music is an interesting mixture of varying death metal styles that will surely appeal to any fan of the genre, but doesn't do much to make itself stand out from the crowd. The great tracks (those noted earlier that could be put on an MCD all their own) seem carelessly laid into a set of mediocre tracks and packaged as a single CD.

Nile is:
Karl Sanders - Guitars, Vocals
Chief Spires - Bass, Vocals
Pete Hammoura - Drums, Vocals

Contact:
Nile
POBox 6062
Greenville SC 29606-6062
USA

Email: phammoura@juno.com
RSanders@sprintmail.com
Web: http://members.aol.com/nile666/

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