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Rating: This album is one of the best death metal releases in recent years: the author has always had a preference for:
a) American death metal in the style of Morbid Angel
b) European black metal like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir.
It is necessary to specify this because I realize that this CD, which might become a mere milestone in a few years (if not now), contains the most ferocious, violent, and, I dare say, unprecedented sounds ever heard. Of course, we are light-years away from "Blessed Are The Sick", but here they have gone further, blending brutality and technique (often hidden by reviews) worthy of Cannibal Corpse with the tradition (musical and otherwise) of ancient Egypt. Time changes, heart attack-inducing double bass drumming, parts played with traditional instruments, very unique riffs, a voice coming directly from the (Egyptian) underworld: and, something I appreciated, the absence (and it was about time) of the "kill the Christians" attitude at all costs typical of so many (too many) bands like Deicide (of which I would save only a couple of albums...), that allowed many to freely spoil a genre I love dearly.
Among other things, one of the best tracks, "Unas Slayer Of The Gods" contains an instrumental part worthy of the best progressive bands: if it weren't for this track, the album would have "only" a 4... I hope I managed to convey something of what Nile plays...
So instead of the usual (?) reports of raw and bloody atrocities (nothing wrong, mind you!), you will read cryptic, obscure lyrics, difficult to describe for someone like me who does not know the Egyptian tradition context too well (and currently does not have much time available!).
In short, a real gem, which takes the highest rating, despite some thinking of (death) metal as a genre for depressed youngsters (the author is 26 years old), despite purists not approving ( ...but Nile has even won over the most "harsh" critics), despite the ultra-gore voice (between Cannibal Corpse and Deicide, to be clear) that will be indigestible even to the most hardcore fan. An album to have in your collection, and to listen to at least 3 times, always if you love this type of sound—and listen to Cannibal Corpse just after waking up like me!!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Blessed Dead (04:53)
Looked down upon with scorn
We work the fields of the masters
And share not the bounty of the Black Earth
Destitute servile cast out
Affording no tomb
We shall be buried
Unprepared in the Sand
We shall never be the Blessed Dead
Scorned by Asar
Condemned at the weighing of the Heart
We are exiled from the Netherworld
Serpents fall upon us dragging us away
Ammitt who teareth the wicked to pieces
Pale shades of the Unblessed Dead
None shall enter without the knowledge
Of the Magickal Formulas
Which is given to few to possess
Not for us to Sekhet Aaru
Our Souls will be cut to pieces with sharp knives
Tortured Devoured
Consumed in Everlasting Flames
We shall never be the Blessed Dead
02 Execration Text (02:46)
Mut the dangerous dead
Trouble me no longer
I inscribe thy name
I threaten thee with the second death
I kill thy name
And thus I kill thee again
In the afterlife
Bau terror of the living
Angry spirits of the condemned dead
I write thy name
I burn thy name in flames
I kill thy name
And thus thee are accursed
Even into the underworld
Mut the troublesome dead
Plague me no longer
Thou art cursed
Thy name is crushed
Thine clay is smashed and broken
Thy vegeance against the living
Shall come to naught
03 Sarcophagus (05:09)
Who dares disturb
My blissful sleep
Again in anger
Must I rise
How long unknown
I lay emtombed
My world
So long forgotton
Did disown me
Unsurper
I was scorned
Ah
The suffering they did inflict
Stained with cosmic black sins
The sun no longer sets me free
04 Kheftiu Asar Butchiu (03:52)
Kheftiu Asar Butchiu
Enemies of Osiris who are to be burned
Let there be fetters on your arms
Let there be shackles on your necks
Let there be chains upon you
Ye shall be hacked to pieces for what ye have done to Osiris
You have put his mysteries behind your backs
You hath dragged the statue of the god
From the secret place
You hath desecrated the hidden things of the great one
You are doomed to stand and receive in your faces
The fire which the serpent Khetti is about to spit at you
Khetti
Great serpent who lieth in undulations
Before the damned
Khetti
Open thy mouth distend thy jaws
Belch forth thy flames against my fathers enemies
Burn up their bodies
Consume their souls
By the fire which issueth from thy mouth
And by the flames which art in thy body
The fire which is in the serpent Khetti
Shall come forth
And blaze against the enemies of Osiris
Whosoever knoweth how to use these words of power
Against the serpent shall be as one
Who doth not enter upon his fiery path
06 Churning the Maelstrom (03:07)
Am the Uncreated God
Before Me The Dwellers in Chaos are Dogs
Their Masters Merely Wolves
I Gather The Power
From Every Place
From Every Person
Faster Than Light Itself
Hail To He Who Is In The Duat
Who Is Strong
Even Before The Servants of Serpents
He Gathers The Power
From Every Pit of Torment
From They Who Hath Burnt in Flames
From Words of Power Uttered By the
Darkness Itself
Hail To He in The Pit
Who Is Strong
Even Before the Terrors of The Abyss
Who Gathers The Power
From The Wailing And Lamentations
Of The Shades Chained Therein
From He Who Createth Gods From
The Silence Alone
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