NILE: Vile Nilotic Rites: Review/Opinion

Nile graduated with a doctorate in violence, as the dark and sometimes difficult to identify "What Should Not Be Unearthed" had shown. After the departure of bassist Dallas Toler-Wade (replaced by Brad Parris) and the arrival of Brian Kingsland (Enthean and Rites to Sedition) on the second guitar, the band tells a fatal new tale: "Vile Nilotic Rites" where the intensity is counterbalanced by sparkling colors.

The group writes its book of the dead between brutality and gentleness; it sings hymns that make the underground world of Osiris tremble. So even if "Long Shadows of Dread" starts off gently, it is quickly caught up in the fury: sharp guitars, harsh vocals, snoring drums and unstructured solitary six-strings from Morbid Angel or Mortification. A freshness bathes the track but the rage is now free whereas on the previous disc it seemed contained and calculated.

'Oxford Handbook of Savage Genocidal Warfare' returns to the brutal death metal worthy of Abnormality: fast riffs, drums stuck in a sea of vibrations where intensity dominates even with "progressive" moments reminiscent of Death or Fractal Universe; "Vile Nilotic Rites' relies on an unstable rhythm to trace the contours of obscure harmonies and give birth to a particular melodic clarity. The guitar of 'That Which is Forbidden' is close to a stifling oldschool version of Obituary or Benediction. Finally 'Thus Sayeth the Parasites of the Mind' integrates traditional instruments and a voice singing of despair born on dunes crushed by the sun.

'Seven Horns of War' begins with a Hollywood-style introduction - slamming brass, grandiloquent choirs and martial rhythm - and then shows varied faces, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes vicious, sometimes sweet. Its harmonies are not enough to heal bruised ears, but the late angelic piano with fine notes soothes the senses.'The Imperishable Stars are Sickened' is an anthological piece that begins as Orphaned Land, then continues a journey of a thousand facets: challenging and attractive, merciless and tender, clear and opaque. The choirs are charming and the melodies dissonant, but a sweetness awakens with the traditional instruments.

"Vile Nilotic Rites" is a beautiful album where the Americans seem to be getting a second wind. After albums that seemed to be going in circles, they overwhelm the listener with molten lead and moments of grace. Like Orphaned Land, Amaseffer or Kartikeya, the band produces a powerful work on the edge of genres, whose violence, intensity and strangeness cannot leave anyone indifferent.