Album Review: Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All (Napalm Records)

World-renowned American death metal icons Nile return with their highly-anticipated 10th onslaught, ‘The Underworld Awaits Us All’, out August 23rd via Napalm Records.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nile are back and bringing forth a familiar sound of death metal centred around their trademark Egyptology style. What this album lacks in originality, it makes up for with mayhem-induced heaviness, progressive taints, and scathing levels of extreme. It’s Nile after all, and ten albums in, they continue to delight.

It’s heavy, it’s frenzied, it’s intense, it’s f**king Nile and they drop a trio of beastly bruisers to kick this album off in style. Stelae of Vultures, Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes, and To Strike with Secret Fang. It’s already apparent that this album is going to be up there as one of the strongest extreme releases of the year based off these three energised efforts. Featuring plenty of progressive momentum and furious power, the impact is immense regardless of the notable disparity in style between certain tracks.

It’s these differences; sometimes making the death sound blacker, sometimes making it sound thrashier, and sometimes making it sound very experimental, which helps make this another Nile album to remember. You might expect all of this from Nile at this stage, but it doesn’t stop the likes of Naqada II Enter the Golden Age, Overlords of the Black Earth, and Under the Curse of the One God having a ton of impact.

It’s simple really, Nile keep on delivering bangers that utilise every inch of every member’s talent to the highest. It’s why we get such a cacophony of brutality through the medium of animated riffs, pummelling drums, razor-sharp soloing, and scornful vocal roars. The added layers of melody, atmosphere, technical twists, experimentation, and even choirs, just help enhance the overall quality of a release that stays strong right to the very end.

An end that sees the likes of Doctrine of Last Things, True Gods of the Desert, the title track, and Lament for the Destruction of Time crush minds, bodies, and souls. Few would have doubted Nile’s ability to sound as demonically charged and punishingly heavy as ever, but even still, this one hits really hard. The Egyptology aspects of the band are still present, of course they are, but Nile make it less of studious effort. All while rewarding those who do like to dig deeper and understand the band and the music that little more. The Underworld Awaits Us All has layers, but it’s also more than enjoyable enough if head-banging until it hurts is all you’re interested in.

That’s Nile for you. Making extreme music that every kind of sicko can enjoy.

Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All Track Listing:

1. Stelae of Vultures
2. Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes
3. To Strike with Secret Fang
4. Naqada II Enter the Golden Age
5. The Pentagrammathion of Nephren-Ka
6. Overlords of the Black Earth
7. Under the Curse of the One God
8. Doctrine of Last Things
9. True Gods of the Desert
10. The Underworld Awaits Us All
11. Lament for the Destruction of Time

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