Nile - Those whom the gods detest

Nile has long been one of the few brutal death metal bands, in that sort of Hate Eternal vein that I’ve ever been a real big fan of. They have, probably due to the judicious use of their musical talent, been able to make a type of brutal death metal that is interesting and varied enough that it doesn’t feel like a waste of time to listen to. Actually, that’s the understatement of the year. These masters of grindy death metal have produced some of the most memorable death metal albums of the modern death metal era starting in earnest with their classic record Black Seeds of Vengeance in 2000, but continuing through to today. 2007’s masterpiece Ithyphallic made my top 10 list and I have been greatly anticipating my chance to listen to the new opus, entitled Those Whom the Gods Detest.

I’m going to assume while I’m writing right now that there aren’t many in the crowd who haven’t at least heard one Nile album, and at this point you probably know what to expect from these guys. Since Black Seeds of Vengeance, Nile has crafted their sound into a well-honed attack which combines modern brutal death metal, with it’s blasting, trem-picking and brutal growls, with Egyptian scales and modes. Then, you blend this sound, which is brutal as hell but still very melodic and fun to listen to, with lyrics about all things Egyptian and a lot of great instrumental and soundscape pieces using middle-eastern instruments and rhythms. This formula has served Nile very well since its inception and continues to serve them well today.

Those Whom the Gods Detest is actually a bit of a new thing for the band because it’s basically a discussion of who the Gods detest, and that is pretty much non-believers. Now, death metal guys have been attacking religion since the 1980s, and they were outdone by black metal a long time ago, right? But Nile has something new here, which is pretty much that they attack all religions and they do something that still feels edgy, and were it actually heard by an Islamic extremist would probably be Fatwa-inducing. The lyrics are excellent, and they denounce the existence of all gods and call all religions bullshit, basically. This was extremely well done and I personally enjoyed the lyrics from the opening track on the album very much: “There is no God but God / There is no God but the One True God / There is no God but the hidden God / There is no Go

There is no God! / There is no God!” They go through all of these commandments from a bunch of different religions and still end on that line: “There is no God!” And then they follow it up with a man singing “Allahu akbar.” I am not often moved or interested in death metal lyrics, but this was a lyrical triumph.

While Ithyphallic was a kick in the teeth, fast out of the gates with hardly any fat, Nile have added a lot of the Black Seeds of Vengeance/In Their Darkened Shrines-style interludes to this record, which is something I could probably do without. While I love this band, I think they’re at their best when they don’t drag things out too much. Instead, Those Whom the Gods Detest is almost the most progressive Nile record yet. Not tech in the traditional kind of death metal sense, but instead a lot more slow parts with acoustic parts and strange time signatures have started seeping in. Not that these things don’t have their place, but it feels like it drags down this record in a lot of places that Ithyphallic shone.

This record is, without a doubt, a great record, however. Nile continue to show that they are one of the most interesting and original death metal bands in the game today. Of course, over time a band falls into a rhythm and Nile is certainly in that rhythm, but this album doesn’t suffer from it. In fact, Karl Sanders is an excellent song-writer and this album shows that, but I miss the quick release and simplicity of the last record. Still, Those Whom the Gods Detest doesn’t fall very short of expectations. It is, indeed, an excellent album.

Hypocrisy - A Taste of Extreme Divinity

Sound: Once again, Hypocrisy returns strongly with a powerful new album to add on to the brilliance in their name. This album is no nonsense, with crushing death metal and pure melodic death metal riffs. Hypocrisy have great power in their music, and with this new release, they once again prove to the world that this is true. They have great heavy guitar sound accompanied by strong drumming by Horgh. Peter Tagtgren expresses his high screams and low growls extremely well through out the album, showing his great vocal range. With melodic songs such as "Alive" and "Solar Empire" they show one half of Hypocrisy, whereas with songs such as "Valley Of The Damned" and "Tamed (Filled With Fear)" they show the other, much heavier side. They mix these two sides perfectly to craft something unique and brilliant to their sound. // 10

Lyrics and Singing: I've already talked about Peters great vocals and his range, and now I must say that his lyrics are quite interesting, usually talking about gods, and other science fiction things. There isn't that much special with the lyrics, they are better than just about all other metal lyrics, and Peters vocal skills definitely make it so much better. // 9

Impression: This album is definitely my favorite album of the year and was just crafted to near perfection. The 4 years in between A Taste Of Extreme Divinity and their last release (not including Catch 22 because that's a re-release) was for sure worth the wait. What I really enjoy about this album is the fact that they can be heavy and melodic at the same time, and that they've really made great riffs. Usually when bands get older they tend to suck more, but not in Hypocrisy's case, they have come back stronger than ever.

Megadeth - The System Has Failed

Having suffered more setbacks in his lifetime than most would care to face in three, Megadeth (a.ka. Dave Mustaine) return to the metal arena. Mustaine's three year hiatus has been spent recovering from crippling nerve damage to his arm which threatened to end his career.

Starting as they mean to continue, the album opens with a newsflash (by the way boys, this was once cutting edge, about 10 years ago!) informing the listener: " Air Force One was shot down over the middle east...The president is presumed missing..Our nation stand at Defcon 3." Blackmail the Universe sees America's foreign policy cynically ripped limb from limb betwixt searing solos from Mustaine and recently reinstated original guitarist Chris Poland.

First single Die Dead Enough is very late '90s territory for the veterans, and is a sure fire radio number. It's all chorus and not a whole lot else but is about as sticky as toffee on a summer day. Not two but three solos adorn this slice of classic 'Deth.

Taking corruption back to its traceable source, Truth Be Told is a case study in mans greed from Cain and Abel to the present day: "Before al Qaeda and Bin Laden..the verdicts always been the same, Wrong!" with all this history to cover you'd imagine there wouldn't be much time for string twiddling huh? No fear, six soliloquies squeezed into five and a half minutes of old skool thrashy beats.

Unfortunately Mustaine's politically fuelled wrath doesn't always transfer so easily to such strong tunes, as Kick The Chair proves. If there's something to be said for the corruption of the courts, there are I'm sure more eloquent ways of doing it. It seems without taking a hard line attitude to your music and lyrics (a la RATM) it is nigh impossible for your political ranting to be taken with any clout.

That said,I have somewhat of a sneaking suspicion that including songs entitled Back In The Day which addresses the history of metal with the following eloquence: "In denim and leather, we were all part of the force, knocked Rock and Roll on its ass and put Metal on the coure." alongside your social commentaries probably doesn't aid your course either.

Of Mice And Men is somewhat of an autobiographical account of the highs and lows of Mustaine's life, charting his rise and many falls throughout his chequered past. It is at this point that Megadeth ran out of material, at least that's the only excuse for Shadow Of Deth, which consists of Dave chanting Psalm 23 in a pseudo-English accent. Ouch.

Overall this is most definitely not Megadeth's St. Anger. Although they have plenty of it, the rage too often comes across somewhat farcically. Believing subtlety to be something not reserved for the thrash genre, Mustaine and his fret battering mates have produced an album that requires minimal intelligence to grasp, and just a little more humour in order to be taken seriously.