Nile - Ithyphallic

South Carolina's Nile have once more emerged from the catacombs beneath their pyramidial burial chambers to let loose another assault upon the ears of those initiated into their cult of brutal technical death metal worshippers. Once again, listeners are treated to a barrage of explosive blast beat-driven riffs, triple deathgrunts belting out tales of death, war, and horror, insane guitar leads, and of course plenty of Egyptian horns for atmospheric effect. 2007's ITHYPHALLIC continues to walk the same blood-and-sand-stained path of 2005's ANNIHILIATION OF THE WICKED, effectively playing it safe with little in the way of experimentation - but playing it 'safe' for Nile is still treading where few, if any, others dare to tread.



Neil Kernon is in the production booth once again, and once again has done an fine job at condensing the band's sound onto disc, though he seems to have brought the drums and vocals more to the forefront and cut down on the heavy layering of guitars. Wonder of wonders, Nile has now actually had the same drummer for two albums in a row, and on ITHYPHALLIC, George Kollias further cements his right to maintain his position on the drumstool, delivering a punishing, confident performance from beginning to end. Sanders and Toler-Wade are terrifying on lead breaks and technical riffs as always, and the death vocals, while every bit as vicious as on prior releases, seem to be just a bit more comprehensible to the unaided ear. While for the most part Nile sticks to its full throttle assault on the senses, there are some moments of interesting experimentation like the string arrangements on "The Infinity Of Stone" or the great warchant at the end of the album's best track, "Eat Of The Dead." Other highlights are many, from the brutal Lovecraft-inspired tale told in "As He Creates So He Destroys" to the furious, all-out assault of "Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water" (continuing Nile's tradition of presenting a song with a title which takes longer to say than the song does to play) to the ten-minute epic closer "Even The Gods Must Die." While the remaining tracks are not weak by any stretch of the imagination, there seems to be a general sense of deja vu about many of them, with a goodly number of the riffs and by-now-all-too-familiar Egyptian overtones sounding somewhat recycled from previous albums.



In the end, ITHYPHALLIC is an excellent release which suffers only from the 'more of the same' syndrome and perhaps a feeling they were holding back a bit for some reason - perhaps due to their label jump to Nuclear Blast? There is no monstrous standout cut like "Unas, Slayer Of The Gods," nor is there much in the way of real innovation or new territory ventured into. The bottom line is this is a Nile album, which means it's amazing...but unfortunately, it's also "just another Nile album," not the world-destroying monster some might have hoped for. Highly recommended for existing fans and death metal afficianados, but unlikely to win over any other new converts.