Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Death metal brilliance, near perfection

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 11/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In some ways Nile are much like the typical death metal band. "Black Seeds of Vengeance" contains more than enough searing guitar work, guttural vocals, and blastbeat drumming to please any Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel fan. However, Nile have a unique idea that sets them apart from the pack. They combine their prototypical death metal with Egyptian/Middle Eastern elements that make this album a truly dark and eerie piece of music. It's obvious pretty early that this is more than just a death-metal album. The title track blasts forward with unbridled speed and intensity, driven by Pete Hammoura's amazing precision and variety on the drum kit. The following song, "Defiling the Gates of Ishtar," starts off similarly, but then suddenly breaks into some eerie and frightening choral chanting before getting heavy again. Another highlight is "Masturbating the War God," a slow, grinding basher that also includes some choral vocals towards the end. Probably the best song here, though, is the epic "To Dream of Ur." The song starts out with some creepy music and slow, tortured whisphering, then switches to brusing death metal, then switches back, and then back again. I know that's not much of a description, but suffice to say the song rules. And if that's not enough, "Libation Unto the Shades Who Lurk in the Shadows of the Temple of Anhur" and "The Nameless City of the Accursed" are excellent Egyptian-sounding interludes that add to the haunting atmosphere of the album without being self-indulgent. The musicianship is excellent throughout, and the lyrics are far smarter and more meaningful than the typical death metal fare, so be sure to read them (every song is explained in the liner notes too, which is cool). Now to get their other albums!"

Perfect soundtrack to nightmares

theeighthgate | Denmark | 01/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I like to play excerpts from this album to music ignorants to let them know what they are missing in their soundscape. I like the look of genuine fear in their faces when the death chants transform into death metal. I like to tell them that the song is about impaling women on the massive stone member of father Anhur, the war god.
Many find this very scary and upsetting. I like that."

Stunning and intelligent

Flunk | Longmont, CO United States | 07/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, I admit. I Napster'd this album way back when, and put off actually buying it. Once I finally got the CD, I was very glad I did. Reading the liner notes and the explanation of the meaning of each song was worth more than the cost of the CD. My respect for Nile has doubled having read about their lyrical content.They put such an intelligent and unique spin on the "evil" death metal routine. Once you know what the songs are about, you will never hear their music in quite the same way. The blast beats sound more punishing, the guitars more desperate for revenge, the vocals more brutal.Their songs are each pieces of a narrative. They seem to be using the Egyptian motif to explore their own interests in history, but there also seems to be an underlying message of the futility and destructive nature of religion, humanity's endless quest for immortality, sexuality as a weapon, and the costly price paid for one's own arrogance, hatred for others, revenge, etc.The standout piece is by far Masturbating the War God. Several of the songs have lyrics that were translated more or less directly from Egyptian manuscripts, this is one of them. The lyrics are utterly haunting, you just have to read about it to believe it.Enjoy!"

Not as Powerful as their first album, but Great...

Arachnotron | I don't know... | 10/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album isn't as powerful or brutal as their first album the catacombs of nephren-ka, but I still admit that this album is great. This album has more technical and emotional sounds to it, and some songs are very epic. The title song(Which is a killer) starts really heavy but has a nice, mellow ending. Most of the songs in this album has the similar pattern. If you're a big nile fan, you'll love this album, and mostly the death metal fans(Especially people who likes bands such as amorphis) will surely love this album..."

Never has a cd come closer to being pure art..

nile577 | Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom | 10/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is so utterly amazing that it's hard to put into words just how much of a masterpiece this is. At first listen, to the inexperienced metal fan, "Black Seeds..." may sound overwhemling in its ferocious complexity and inhuman technicality. However, after repeated listen the true genius of the cd will emerge.
The time and effort which went into the making of this album was phenomenol; the lyrics took two years to research whilst Dallas Wade's masterpiece "Multitude Of Foes" took an entire year to compose by itself.
This album however, despite the excellent drum work of Derrik Rhoddy (who actually did the huge majority of the drum work on this album), the comanding bass playing of Chief Spires and the technical playing of Dallas Toller Wade is mostly an exhibition for the absolutely godly song writing talents of Karl Sanders. Songs such as "Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar" and the title are simply breathtakingly well written. Indeed each song on the album
stands as a huge muscial achievement and a masterpiece in its own right.
The albums crowning moment (and possibly the crowning moment in the entire death metal movement) comes with "Masturbating The War God". Not a song for people who "like that keyboard dimmu borgir stuff because its SOO meaningful" or other such trendy releases and false musicianship contrived from multiple drum tracks and layered simple harmonies, Masturbating the war god builds to an epic creshendo which almost defies the boundaries of how music can effect conscience.
Using this great song as a fulcrum the album is divided into the insanely technical opening of the first works, following into some slightly slower more atmospheric pieces.
I honestly can't understand how anyone could fail to apreciate the unbelievable quality of this cd...possibly not recommended for novices of the death metal movement or those who think that a song is awful if there are not very very simple riffs played throughout or excessive keyboards to carry the song.
This stuff is awesome.."

Search - Nile :: Black Seeds of Vengeance

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