ALBUM REVIEW: The Underworld Awaits Us All – Nile

If ever there were to be monuments, perhaps in some kind of triangular or cone shape, constructed to memorialize the most legendary death metal bands of all time, then alongside DEATH, CANNIBAL CORPSE and MORBID ANGEL, NILE would certainly have their position in the ranks. Eschewing traditional death metal lyrical tropes (though the band does lean into graphic imagery a lot) in favour of an unholy worship of ancient Egyptian culture, Karl Sanders has helmed some of the best extreme metal albums of all time.

So, as you sit down and get ready to press play on The Underworld Awaits Us All, the band’s tenth studio album, you might begin to think is it not a bit stale? How much mileage (and entertaining mileage at that) can be obtained from one admittedly long period of history? Well, in the hands of lesser men the well would have undoubtedly ran dry and the band would be chugging along like a withered husk, reduced to only gaining fleeting glimpses of notoriety through blocking sprees on social media or having a voice that sounds like a dying Henry hoover. Sanders is not a lesser man however. His rich, perhaps untouchable, devotion to and knowledge of his source material makes for some genuinely fascinating lyrics, and with a cast of incredibly talented musicians behind him, he has created a record fit to mark the band’s tenth release.

Musically, NILE have always dealt in sheer brutality first and foremost and to that effect they’ve retained the production of Mark Lewis (CANNIBAL CORPSE, DYING FETUS) who gave previous record Vile Necrotic Rites such a sinister yet modern edge. As opener Stelae Of Vultures bursts into focus, with an effortless atmosphere of flame and sheer cacophonous terror overwhelming you, you struggle to focus on one element. The drumming is frantic in a way that few bands can even manage, while the guitars are tuned to make each note strike you across the chest like WWE superstar Gunther, echoing bands like HATE ETERNAL at their most technically frantic.

It wouldn’t be a NILE record without some fantastic track names and Chapter For Not Being Hung Upside Down On A Stake In The Underworld And Made To Eat Feces By The Four Apes has to be one of the most ridiculous yet evocative song titles in any genre of all time. It’s probably the closest thing the album has to a typical single, though when thinking back, it doesn’t match the previous record’s title track for immediate impact.

Amongst the whirlwind of brutality, there are moments of almost odd, haunting beauty. Overlords Of The Black Earth manages to be the album’s standout track by virtue of the bewitching choral section, which brings to mind chanting priestesses invoking prayers to unspeakable gods as they watch your body being vivisected. It’s a new string to the band’s bow and you wonder why it’s taken them this long, given how it meshes so well, never once feeling cheesy or straying into symphonic territory.

The record ends on two sprawling, tumultuous epics, though perhaps one of them would have been served better positioned earlier in the record to mix things up and to help the album maintain your attention. Much like any death metal album it has the potential to become a little too one-note, but you won’t be checking this album out unless you’re a dyed in the wood fan of gutturals and a form of music that revels in its own acerbic beauty anyway.

This won’t be the record that wins over a new generation of NILE fans, nor does it tread much new ground (the choir sections aside, which would be fantastic to see explored more in the future) but you sense that NILE were never going to rip up the rulebook this far into their career. Indeed, the fact that they’re still going this hard at an age when half of their peers are struggling to write anything cohesive is a testament to the sheer skill of all their members.

Rating: 8/10

The Underworld Awaits Us All is out now via Napalm Records.

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