NILE "Vile Nilotic Rites"




NILE

“Vile Nilotic Rites”

After more than 20 years, I have to say that NILE’s Egyptian death metal shtick is starting to get just a bit stale. It doesn’t shake me up the way it did in the days of “Black Seeds of Vengeance” and the like. I think it’s because the brutal American death metal sound is just not as potent to me as it once was. And the once great novelty of Egyptian and Middle Eastern scales in the music has pretty much worn off.

That being said, I can’t say “Vile Nilotic Rites” is bad. It brings the brutal with no mercy and the Egyptian feel is as strong as ever. Chief growler Brian Kingsland still grinds out the nastiness as a more than adequate replacement for long-time singer Dallas Toler-Wade. George Kollias still blasts his drum kit with the fury of Sebek unleashed. If you’re looking for real ripping tunes, “Snake Pit Mating Frenzy” and the eruditely title “Oxford Handbook of Savage Genocidal Warfare” will get the job done, but I prefer the longer, slower and more ominous likes of “Seven Horns of War” (which samples music from “Godzilla” and “Lord of the Rings”} and “That Which Is Forbidden”. These latter two tracks are right next to each other and form the strongest part of the album, along with the title track, which is also full of Egyptian doom.

Later cuts integrate more classical and authentic instrumentation, but maybe I’ve just heard too much of NILE and the like.  “We Are Cursed” and “The Imperishable Stars Are Sickened” just kind of lay there. The thrill and novelty has drifted away like smoke from a sacrificial fire.

Your mileage may vary on this. It’s entirely possible you may find the mix of CANNIBAL CORPSE style sickness and ancient Egyptian atmosphere as thrilling as always. But I really don’t.

NUCLEAR BLAST

NILE

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