A death metal band founded in 1993 and from Greenville, South Carolina. Nile was founded by:
After much chopping and changing, the current line-up (along with the occasional guest appearance) is:
About Nile
Nile are themed around the dark ways of
Ancient Egypt. This makes them play death metal with a twist, ranging from genre-typical speed and brutality, all the way through to ritualistic Egyptian chanting, always with these Egyptian undertones.
Lyrically, the band seems to centre around visions of the Egyptian
afterlife, curses and
pestilence, which are grunted in the most menacing manner by Sanders.
The guitars, while perhaps not down-tuned as much as in other death metal bands, are played in such a fast and furious while very accurate and intricate way that they make up for this and have no trouble at all keeping up with the furious abuse of the drums.
Nile really do distinguish themselves by bringing in instruments such as
gongs,
chimes and Middle-Eastern guitars to add that
catacomb-like feeling to their albums. This is a technique that could easily go wrong but Nile pull this off amazingly and add real atmosphere to their music.
All albums were recorded with
Relapse Records and in general, each new release is far heavier and has less 'chanting' or 'ritualistic' tracks than previous releases.
- Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka (1998) (a must-listen!)
- Smashing The Antiu
- Barra Edinazzu
- Kudurr Maglu
- Serpent Headed Mask
- Ramses Bringer Of War (Sounds suspicously like Gustav Holtz's Mars to begin with.)
- Stones Of Sorrow
- Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche (An excellent example of a 'ritualistic' track)
- The Howling Of The Jinn
- Pestilence And Inquity
- Opening Of The Mouth
- Beneath Eternal Oceans Of Sand
Black Seeds Of Vengeance (2000)
- Invocation Of The Gate Of Aat-Ankh-Es-En-Amenti
- Black Seeds Of Vengeance
- Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar
- The Black Flame
- Libation Unto The Shades Who Lurk In The Shadows Of The Temple Of Anhur
- Masturbating The War God
- Multitude Of Foes
- Chapter For Tansforming Into A Snake
- Nas Akhu Khan Shen En Asbiu
- To Dream Of Ur
- The Nameless City Of The Accursed
- Khetti Satha Shemsu
In The Beginning (2000) (A compilation of old trakcs, some of which were previously unreleased.)
- Divine Intent
- The Black Hand Of Set
- Wrought
- Immortality Through Art
- Godless
- Extinct
- The Howling Of The Jinn
- Ramses Bringer Of War
- Der Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche
In Their Darkened Shrines (2003) (Another must-listen.)
- The Blessed Dead
- Execration Text
- Sarcophagus
- Kheftiu Asar Butchiu
- Unas Slayer Of The Gods
- Churning The Maelstrom
- I Whisper In The Ear Of The Dead
- Wind Of Horus
- Hall Of Saurian Entombment
- Invocation To Seditious Heresy
- Destruction Of The People Of The Enemies Of Ra
- Ruins
In my opinion Nile have yet to produce a bad or uninteresting album. However, Amongst The Tombs Of Nephren-Ka and In Their Darkened Shines are clearly the two strongest releases and the two albums I would reccomend newcomers to Nile to peruse first.
Nile's official website: http://www.nile-catacombs.net