Nile - Ithyphallic Review
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 07.20.2007
Nile returns with their fifth release, Ithyphallic, and the album shows a band that is keeping their core sound, while expanding their death metal mixed with Egyptian sound. Can Nile show maturity and release their best album to date?
The Band:
Karl Sanders-Guitar, Vocals
Dallas Toler Wade-Guitar, Bass, Vocals
George Kollias-Drums, Percussion
Chris Lollis-Additional Vocals
The Track Listing:
1.What Can Be Safely Written
2.As He Creates, So He Destroy
3.Ithyphallic
4.Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water
5.Eat of the Dead
6.Laying Fire Upon Apep
7.The Essential Salts
8.The Infinity of Stone
9.The Language of the Shadows
10.Even The Gods Must Die
The Review:
Nile, a death metal band hailing from South Carolina, has made a career out of amazing metal fans with their brand of brutal death metal. When I say brutal death metal, I am not kidding. The blastbeats fly fast, the instruments seem to blend into each other, and the throaty growls sound like they come from the seventh layer of hell. So, what makes Nile different from most other death metal bands on the scene today?
Nile is a band that uses Egyptian history, art, and religion as the main inspiration for their lyrics. A good portion of their songs have Egyptian tones and even instruments used to reinforce the lyrical content. There is no doubt that Nile is all about the brutal death metal, but Nile makes sure to keep the music technical and full of unique guitar melodies and crazy drum fills.
Ithyphallic, Nile’s fifth album, tries to streamline their music somewhat. Unlike their last release, Annihilation of the Wicked, the songs are much shorter, with most tracks being three to four minutes long. However, Ithyphallic still has two epic tracks, one at the beginning and one at the end, to satisfy the fans that love their longer tracks. Does this new style equal another quality release for Nile?
“What Can Be Safely Written” is the first epic track on the album, clocking in at over eight minutes. Middle Eastern-sounding horns build up the song perfectly before all hell breaks loose. The first thing noticeable is that George Kollias is an absolute madman on the drums. His double bass work is phenomenal and also blazing fast. The tempo of the song changes many times between a doom metal and a death metal pace, leading a technical aspect to the music. Dallas gets a death metal solo in, complete with random notes that go everywhere. The last two minutes are epic in sound and scope, with Sanders getting in two melodic solos that are technically sound. As the song ends, the listener can only be amazed at the awesomeness of “What Can Be Safely Written.”
“As He Creates, So He Destroy” is a monster of a track. The song stays at a constant break-neck speed. There is only one solo, done by Wade, which is reminiscent of Jeff Hanneman, of Slayer fame. The song only slows down near the end, and even then, the song is still brutal sounding. The ending has Sanders repeating the title of the track over and over again, which definitely would sound amazing live in concert as the crowd screams it along with Sanders.
The title track is up next and the guitar duo of Sanders and Wade put in a fine effort in the intro of the song. Slow and prodding riffs turn into controlled chaos, with Kollias making drum beats that shouldn’t be possible by a normal human. The song slows down considerable for the end section, where the riffs keep getting slower and slower, until the band can’t go any slower and “Ithyphallic” ends in a dark fashion.
If anybody has ever heard a Nile record, they know that at least one track has a long ass title that has nothing to do with the rest of the song. Ithyphallic is no different. “Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water” is a long title to a short song. Clocking in at a brief three minutes, “Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water” is a quick number that is basically a standard brutal Nile song.
“Eat of the Dead” is one of the slower tracks on the album. The pace of most of the song is doom metal influenced, with a few sections where the band lets loose and goes insane. “Eat of the Dead” is an evil sounding track, not only in sound either. The lyrics are pretty graphic as well. “I gnaw upon my own decaying flesh…the crawling things that burrow and slither in human flesh” is just a sample of the lyrical content Nile is going for in “Eat of the Dead.” The song is a nice change of pace from the speedy pace of the past couple of tracks.
The speed and brutality returns in “Laying Fire Upon Apep.” The song is a definite head banger, with blast beats plentiful and fast riffs flying out of nowhere. The solos return after a three song absence and are as evil sounding as ever. The track slows down at the end to finish up similarly to “Ithyphallic.”
“The Essential Salts” is one of the fastest tracks on the album, behind “Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water.” However, “The Essential Salts” also contains one of the most surprising musical sections on the entire album. For the last minute and a half, the guitars take over the track and throw one melodic solo out after another. Sanders and Wade even do a duel guitar solo, which brings some melody to the music.
“The Infinity of Stone” is an instrumental track driven by acoustic guitars and having a Middle-Eastern sound to it. The bass work is also good too, considering the fact that the bass is hard to hear in a good portion of the album. “The Language of the Shadows” is one of the best short tracks on the album. Even though it only clocks in at about three and a half minutes, the song is epic in nature. While it does sound like the standard Nile track, the vocals are very well done and the solo work by Wade and Sanders is phenomenal, bringing along some melody again to the music.
“Even The Gods Must Die” is the last track, and longest as well, clocking in a hair over ten minutes. The song builds up similarly to the first track, with a strong horn section. Once the riffs come in, they pound through your skull with their heaviness. Kollias gets some nice fills in throughout the track. The track splits between the pace of doom metal and the pace of death metal ala “What Can Be Safely Written”. Once the song reaches the seven minute mark, all bets are off. The track takes a 180 turn, as the band plays a full out jam for the last three minutes. Tribal drums and acoustic guitars play right up front as Sanders plays a bluesy and melodic solo for the entire jam session. The ending of the song is so radically different from what Nile has done in the past that it is impressive to hear, especially when listening to the track for the first time. “Even The Gods Must Die” is the perfect technical death metal track and one of Nile’s best songs ever.
The vocals are the standard death metal growls and grunts. However, unlike past records, they are more enjoyable because you can actually understand a good portion of them. Not all of them, however, as some of the songs move so fast that Sanders has to basically fly through the lyrics. Wade gets some nice growls in that are definitely death metal 101.
Sanders and Wade’s guitar work is fast, heavy, and sometimes even catchy and melodic. In other words, it is exactly how death metal should sound. The Middle Eastern sound also has a play in the two epic tracks and the instrumental track, with some noticeably stellar acoustic guitar work in “Even The Gods Must Die.” The bass work, however, is pretty unspectacular, as it is low in the mix and can’t be heard too well. For any death metal fan, that should not be too surprising, as the bass guitar is usually deep in most mixes in death metal.
George Kollias is an absolute beast on the drums. His fills are technical and sharp, his double bass work is out of this world in its quickness and timeliness, and Kollias always sounds like he is in control, even when the songs get insane. Yes, the drums can get repetitive at times, but that does not take away from the fact that George Kollias is a drumming machine.
Ithyphallic is not as fast or brutal as Annihilation of the Wicked, but it is a better overall album. Ithyphallic shows a band that is expanding their sound a little bit, letting some melody slip through the cracks. The speed is still there and the brutality is also around, but the solo work is more melodic and songs are slowed down considerably in a few sections to show off the band’s more evil side. The two epic tracks (“What Can Be Safely Written” and “Even The Gods Must Die”) show the band continuing their stellar track record when it comes to composing long songs. The shorter songs are also solid (“The Essential Salts” and “The Language of the Shadows”) with only a few repetitive sections throughout Ithyphallic.
The 411: Ithyphallic is a great death metal album, quite possibly one of the best this year. If you were never a fan of death metal, this album will not change your mind. However, if you are a death metal fan, you should welcome Ithyphallic with open arms. The Egyptian influences are well done and not too distracting, the slower pace leads to a more evil sound, and the melodic soloing throughout Ithyphallic shows the band branching out a little bit from their core sound, while maintaining what brought them to the table in the first place; brutal technical death metal.
