Ithyphallic - Nile

I have been a fan of Nile for many years, probably since Black seeds, I have since bought all of their albums and eagerly awaited each release and have not been dissapointed yet.

I really believe that since George Kollias joined the band, Nile have been able to acheive a level previously not able reach with previous drummers, and right from the get go in 'what may be safely written' the seamless machine gun perfect precision double ...
...listen to this album I get chills because what they produce is almost inhuman.

Karl and Dallas, as usual, pull of alltime beautiful melodies, crunching rhythms and that quintessential egyptian sound. The way their guitars intertwine with each other is just unbelievable!

1. What may be safely written: Hands down best song on the album, it has everything, awesome build up of authentic sounding instruments that a pharoah ... more

I have been a fan of Nile for many years, probably since Black seeds, I have since bought all of their albums and eagerly awaited each release and have not been dissapointed yet.

I really believe that since George Kollias joined the band, Nile have been able to acheive a level previously not able reach with previous drummers, and right from the get go in 'what may be safely written' the seamless machine gun perfect precision double bass blasts and single blasts are just unbelievable. Everytime I listen to this album I get chills because what they produce is almost inhuman.

Karl and Dallas, as usual, pull of alltime beautiful melodies, crunching rhythms and that quintessential egyptian sound. The way their guitars intertwine with each other is just unbelievable!

1. What may be safely written: Hands down best song on the album, it has everything, awesome build up of authentic sounding instruments that a pharoah would be pleased to listen to, followed by a pace rarely heard with such perfection, The drumming is just mental, the guitars weave, the time changes, tempo changes, brilliant vocals, lead breaks, it is like all of the best Nile songs rolled into this one song, i love it, I crank it up, my wife hates me for it, but I crank it hard, hopefully, so will you!
2. As he creates, so he destroys, awesome, very catchy, blasting, a myriad of sweeping low end riffing, time/tempo changes as we come to expect and love.

3. Ithyphallic: 'Annoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen', just for this line this song rocks! It is amazing how they manage to get crunching guitars to sound so melodic, not just a wall of noise. I also love the signature chords of Karl sanders in this song.

4. Papyrus: Fast, brilliant intro, the fingering in this is awesome, I have said it before and I will say it again, it is like Mozart on Speed! Love this song!

5. Eat of the dead: It starts with slow high end guitaring that sings, double bass over the top with snaring every second bar, typical Nile, done with all the brilliance they have to offer. the drumming and Vocals really shine in this song!

6 Laying fire on Apep: catchy, fast, awesome everything, probably second favourite song on the album for not only its musicality but the way all of the instruments compliment each other, technical death metal perfection!

7. The essential salts. If you read the album cover, which i didn't and never do on first listen, but is actually describing the way to mummify a body, pretty cool!

8. The infinity of Stone: Here they do their egypt thing, as usual it works a treat, and i think it works brilliantly as a lead up to the next song, which is my third favourite for the album.

9.The language of the shadows: Listen to the first 15 seconds, then start the song again, repeat if necessary, you cannot beat that for an intro, shear brilliance, I rekon Mozart would have bowed in their magnificence! then the song completely turns on its head into this wonderfully flowing melody and blasting, my tongue just hangs out in astonishment!

10. Even the gods must die: Probably the weakest song on the album, at least until the end where they are singing 'even the god's must die'.

11 and 12, bonus track of tracks 2 and 6 without lyrics, pretty cool as it gives you a real chance to listen to the intricacies of the drumming and guitaring without the vocals blocking anything, listening to this makes you wonder how do they manage to sing and play simultaneously, the answer.... simple..... they are gods! Move over Ra!

On a scale out of 10, I would rate this album an 11, fuck it 1,000, and for those of you that wonder, yes they are just as good live, almost flawless, they are true masters of their craft!

Buy the album, it is a must have!

thanks for reading

 

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