Band:	Nile
Album:	In Their Darkened Shrines
Style:	Brutal death metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	2002

01. The Blessed Dead
02. Execration Text
03. Sarcophagus
04. Kheftiu Asar Butchiu
05. Unas Slayer Of The Gods
06. Churning The Maelstrom
07. I Whisper In The Ear Of The Dead
08. Wind Of Horus
09. In Their Darkened Shrines I: Hall Of Saurian Entombment
10. In Their Darkened Shrines II: Invocation To Seditious Heresy
11. In Their Darkened Shrines III: Destruction Of The Temple Of The Enemies Of Ra
12. In Their Darkened Shrines IV: Ruins

Nile is actually a very original band, their music is a mix of Brutal Death Metal with Technical approaches, plus some melodic environments added here and there, few bands manage to make hybrids sound cool, Nile is one of those bands, now let me review one of their most popular albums, "In Their Darkened Shrines"

The music surrounding the album is magnificent and polished, this guys have a lot of talent that's for sure, the songs are structured and balanced, let's take Sarcophagus for example, this particular track gives the album a nice "Medium tempo" feeling, this track is actually slower than the other tracks but in a very good way, the riffing is not Brutal for sure, but the song flows nicely and it manages to be not boring, the drumming is very good, not complex but hell it's catchy; generally speaking this track proves that Nile has many more things to offer than just rapid beats and impossible to understand growls.

The concept towards this album is good, the last four tracks are attached to each other (check the track-list, you'll understand what I mean), those songs are actually good but it gets really annoying sometimes to hear very similar riffing in more than 3 songs, don't get me wrong those four tracks are amazing as hell and the riffing is not the same over and over again (just similar); the songwriting, as you may see by all those concepts surrounding the album, is almost perfect, the band took care of every detail from the lyrics to the artwork etc..., even the music has some Egyptian passages here and there (just hear the fifth track in the 5:26 minute and you'll see what I mean), so one more time we can realize this guys are more than the average Death Metal band.

I actually like this album a lot, and I will play it very often I think, but I declare myself not a Nile fan, of course I can understand why so many metal-heads worship this band, you can find everything in their albums, from brutal stuff to rhythmic beats, melodic parts and catchy riffs all over the album, so I do not despise the band but I do not worship it either, anyway, I have to face it...Nile is a very good band after all.