Band:	Nile
Album:	Those Whom The Gods Detest
Style:	Brutal death metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	October 2009

01. Kafir
02. Hittite Dung Incantation
03. Utterances Of The Crawling Dead
04. Those Whom The Gods Detest
05. 4th Arra Of Dagon
06. Permitting The Noble Dead To Descend To The Underworld
07. Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence
08. Kem Khefa Kheshef
09. The Eye Of Ra
10. Iskander D'hul Kharnon

Those Whom The Gods Detest is an intense, explosion of technical death metal that immediately upstages the band's most recent releases. Nile pulled out all the stops with this one, but unfortunately still produced nothing that will keep you addicted two months down the line. The Nile name can never be overlooked however, and within Those Whom The Gods Detest you will find a death metal album of all the usual Nile traits, which includes the band's usual inexplicable musicianship.

Early impressions of the album are the best ones you'll have of it. However some of these death metal eruptions such as "Hittite Dung Incantation" and "Permitting The Noble Dead To Descend To The Underworld" may simply never get old. When Nile are on the ball, they absolutely kill it. The good thing about Those Whom The Gods Detest is that the band are on the ball more than they have been for the best part of a decade. Where Nile struggle however, is pulling together a full-length album that is consistently relentless in its brilliance. Since the band started putting out longer albums, we have been haunted by longer songs such as the dragging "4th Arra Of Dagon" that sometimes even come close to ten minutes. Ambition is one thing, but if you look back at where Nile are in their element, it isn't there.

Egyptian influence, some of the best vocals in death metal, and some of the most punishing drumming this side of the pyramids. Those Whom The Gods Detest has it all, but unfortunately it also has too much. Take out the twenty most tedious minutes of this otherwise long death metal album, and we could have been staring at the best album the band have ever put out. When Nile are good, they are simply the best. The problem with Those Whom The Gods Detest is that once again the band tried to be too ambitious and the result is a dreary average song length of pushing six minutes.

Nile have such potential to put out one of those great death metal albums you'll always remember, and Those Whom The Gods Detest is the closest the band have come to making that dream a reality in recent years. But also, let us not overshadow the terrifying intensity the band have had ignited within once more with the shorter songs of the album. This is an at-times mesmeric and awe inspiring album, but unfortunately also a little dull at other times.

Once again Nile flash their unrivalled talent and ability to blow you away with the power of death, but also remind you that they have become incapable of condensing material down into that whole, manageable, complete album.

-

Death metal
Nuclear Blast
USA
Length: 56:36