HARDWARES

Seven albums in, and South Carolina’s second-biggest Egypt lovers (just kidding) NILE are still crafting some of the best death metal around. There’s been a line-up change (Todd Ellis has replaced Chris Lollis on bass) and it means there are some new vocal sounds care of Ellis (see ‘The Fiends Who Come To Steal The Magick Of The Deceased’ and ‘Tribunal Of The Dead’ for new vox styles we can only assume are Ellis), but for the most part this is tried and true Nile: insane riffs, totally brutal blasting death metal, far-reaching progressive tendencies. They hit those great sludge spots too, which they do better than any other death metal band (see ‘When My Wrath Is Done’) except maybe MORBID ANGEL at their prime. The production is really in a sweet spot this time, avoiding the over-processed clickiness that plagued some of the band’s earlier releases, but not overcompensating into the realm of too raw, as they threatened to with some of their more recent output. So what, is this the best Nile album, then? It’ll always be hard to top Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-ka, just because that album was such a suckerpunch right when death metal needed it (also, the band’s interest in keeping things more concise back then helped make that album more palatable as a whole; this one, even at a relatively brief 47 minutes, is still pretty exhausting). But this is almost as flawless as Nile albums come, and is a real death metal treat for any fan of the genre. Of course, as always with this band, highly recommended.