Metal Storm logo
Nile - What Should Not Be Unearthed review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
7.0

217 users:
7.66
Band: Nile
Album: What Should Not Be Unearthed
Release date: August 2015


01. Call To Destruction
02. Negating The Abominable Coils Of Apep
03. Liber Stellae - Rubaeae
04. In The Name Of Amun
05. What Should Not Be Unearthed
06. Evil To Cast Out Evil
07. Age Of Famine
08. Ushabti Reanimator
09. Rape Of The Black Earth
10. To Walk Forth From Flames Unscathed

Oh poor Egypt, you used to shine so bright in the Arab world. Now even Nile cries for you. When they could have used a shoulder to cry on themselves after releasing At The Gate Of Sethu.

It's almost inevitable to fall into the trap of writing a comparative essay when reviewing an album by a group of such stature, whose fans are certainly eager to love/hate the new output compared to older material. Your expectations for this review are understandable, even if they're pushing me towards a less passionate and entertaining kind of writing. But I'm a people pleaser, I'm not going to retain information. The answer to the question I can read in your mind is "yes, it's better".

The production was the first thing I pricked my ears for on this eighth album. Gone is the paper-thin, guitar-lite, cardboardy-drums production of What Should Not Be Unearthed's predecessor. The band itself talks about having the best recording/production atmosphere in the studio in years, and it definitely shows. I don't know what is responsible for this shift - I have my money on scented candles and bubbly - but keep it coming. Some could say the sound is almost too loud and/or saturated this time; I would say it's at least more balanced. The result is not only a rise in the technical quality of the opus, but also in the overall brutality. Or at least the appearance of it. You can get into berserker mode much easier if you're riding into battle in a papier-mâché Humvee rather than in a papier-mâché Fiat Panda, know what I'm saying?

Otherwise, no big surprise. You all know what Nile sounds like. We are here in the presence of the usual ten tracks either introduced or separated by the short Egyptian-themed moments that helped the band make their mark in the metal world. The aforementioned interludes are now shorter and less numerous, as if the will to make this album as brutal as possible pushed out a portion of the eerie introductions to make room for more... bang bang. But fear not, Colonel Sanders and friends haven't completely forgotten their adopted Egyptian roots and influence. And that gong is sounded often enough in case you wanted to bitch state otherwise.

One more clue which makes me near certain that Nile manufactured this release with the intent of surpassing the precedent level of sonic violence is the lack of ten-minutes-long tracks. It is partly due to the reduced space allocated to the exotic oriental musical goodness, although I would also bet on a clear choice in songwriting: the objective must have been to write shorter, faster, more powerful songs. On the one hand it definitely helps the album be more enjoyable and cohesive; but on the other hand it also makes the record look like a compact unit made of songs that try too hard to be hit singles. I would personally buy a compilation of ten versions of "Lashed To The Slave Stick" or "Cast Down The Heretic" right on the spot if it existed, but unfortunately, we haven't been blessed with songs as good as that in What Should Not Be Unearthed.

However, I wouldn't want to sound like an ungrateful and overly demanding fan. There are plenty of moments in this latest offering to warrant at least a listen. The intro riffs to "Liber Stellae - Rubaeae" and "Evil To Cast Out Evil", as well as the end to "To Walk Forth From Flames Unscathed" are just too good to overlook in my opinion. Albeit being balanced with flaws - like the forced, unnatural and repetitive diction of the lyrics on some of the songs - memorable segments are in good number, especially if you're a newer fan.

I myself would say I fall into the "older" fan category - whatever that means - and despite how fair I am trying to be with What Should Not Be Unearthed, I can't deny that I haven't been swept off my feet like I was on that summer night in 2006 when I first met Nile, via Annihilation Of The Wicked. But hey, new Nile is better than no Nile at all, which is actually better than ATGOS Nile.

Let's just hope that the dark skies over Egypt will clear soon enough. I would hate for Nile to have to mourn the losses of the culture they have tried to make us discover for so long. In the meantime, take this:





Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 6
Originality: 5
Production: 7

Written by Ilham | 26.08.2015




Comments page 2 / 2

Comments: 46   Visited by: 430 users
03.09.2015 - 11:37
Zap
Guest
Written by Ilham on 03.09.2015 at 03:30

Hope this clears it.

Actually, upon reading the review again, I retract my previous statement, it's positive enough to warrant a 7
As for how much I enjoyed the album, 7 is too high. I agree it's better than ATGOS, but it's still generic sounding compared to older works. It's basically a watered-down version of those albums. I'll probably never listen to it again.

Written by deadone on 03.09.2015 at 03:39

7 means good. Not sure why people don't understand that. Not everything in this world is very good or even excellent.

Most things should be a 6 which is average.

I completely agree. And how some people (like that smarc guy in this thread) can call a 7 a "poor" rating is beyond me. Everything starting at 6 is positive if you ask me.
Loading...
03.09.2015 - 12:18
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Zap on 02.09.2015 at 23:21

I think he means that the review seems to give off the impression you didn't enjoy it, whereas the rating contradicts that. I noticed/thought that too, but I just ended up ignoring the rating.



Re-reading his comment, I am sure you are right in saying that is what he meant. I missed the comma first time around.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
04.09.2015 - 06:09
Rating: 10
smarc78

Written by deadone on 03.09.2015 at 05:02

smarc78 your posts reek badly of seriously butthurt fanboism with delusions of grandeur ("I went to music school" - whoopee fucking do. It doesn't make you any better than the rest of us. And bare in mind most of metal's (and rock's) greatest artists don't have any formal music training either).

Feel free to submit your own review - Metal Storm allows that.


I pay credit where credit is due. Nile is one of the bands that prove great production can be made out of love for death metal music and not trends. Am I a fanboy? I am of death metal music and will pay credit to every honest band that does it for ages with no money in sight. Delusions - hmm I went to music school - spent 7 years studying classical music composition at conservatory and Uni... would an engineer feel guilty for admitting to a trade and knowledge? I love music and death metal more than anything else - I am trained musician and just by listening I can separate talent from pose... but hang on... I work in finance to pay for my hobby and passion... father of 2... I am also 12 handicapper in golf - drives around 300m, squat 120kg, dead lift 110kg... 37yo with six pack... what other delusions do I have? maybe i did not waste my time on drugs, drinks and smokes... well I love music and as most of us I work to pay for my hobby and other hobbies so its pure.

ohh do I think I am feel I am better than the Joey sitting on the sofa eating pizza and do nothing? you bet I am - work gets you places and makes you honest. Once you try to achieve something and have some results you appreciate those that have real results. Nile is one of the bands proving steadily that there is an urge, honesty and place for death metal for years to come. yes I have listened to new NIle for over 100s times already.

ilham has no clue what hes talking about and just bit of critical thinking with comparison to lets say Obituary, Iron Maiden, Suffocation, Slayer, Motorhead, Dave Mathews Band, Beethoven, Bach and few others would expose lack of critical thinking and serious flaw in objectivity.
----
myspace.com/eventually3
Loading...
04.09.2015 - 08:33
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
You can totally feel better than someone else if you have worked your way up. Go ahead and feel pride of the things you've done.
Not arrogance though. The idea is to not be a dick about it... It's obvious that's not teached everywhere in the world.

Are we still thinking being objective is the key to reviewing albums? Reviews are barely anything more than a formulated opinion. People take them WAY to seriously.
Also, you probably made a typo, as Ilham is a woman.
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
Loading...
04.09.2015 - 12:56
Rating: 6
Ilham
Giant robot
Written by smarc78 on 04.09.2015 at 06:09

Self-praising blabla.

I didn't reply earlier because my fellow MSers are doing a fine job at that. Plus I had rightly predicted how impossible it was to argue about the actual music with you. It's only "me me me me" so far. But you persist.

I'm sorry to break it you, but if you've been through seven years of music school and still haven't learnt that music is mostly subjective, then you failed. Also, you're going through a lot of trouble and feel the need to tell all your life story to support your fallacious claims. I mean, if I ever have to write 500 words to prove someone that I am "more able" to formulate an opinion on a Big Mac than they are just because I went to culinary school, please shoot me in the head between the eyes repeatedly until the bullet tract is a large and lose as Audrey Hollander's butthole that it attracts a flock of BCCs which in turn start DPing it. To me that reeks of massive insecurity that no kind of arrogance can hide. But hey, nothing personal, remember?

Maybe after your impressive benching session today, you should seek a coach that will teach you the proper form of actually reading a review, not resorting to strawman techniques, not taking it personally when people say your music isn't just as great as you think, and respecting people's opinion. The gainzzzzz in brain muscle mass and social respectability are crazy.

I hope this will be the end of it.
Loading...
04.09.2015 - 14:53
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
Now this is entertaining
Can't wait to see the response
----
"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
Loading...
08.09.2015 - 00:14
Guib
Thrash Talker
Written by Ilham on 04.09.2015 at 12:56

Written by smarc78 on 04.09.2015 at 06:09

Self-praising blabla.

I didn't reply earlier because my fellow MSers are doing a fine job at that. Plus I had rightly predicted how impossible it was to argue about the actual music with you. It's only "me me me me" so far. But you persist.

I'm sorry to break it you, but if you've been through seven years of music school and still haven't learnt that music is mostly subjective, then you failed. Also, you're going through a lot of trouble and feel the need to tell all your life story to support your fallacious claims. I mean, if I ever have to write 500 words to prove someone that I am "more able" to formulate an opinion on a Big Mac than they are just because I went to culinary school, please shoot me in the head between the eyes repeatedly until the bullet tract is a large and lose as Audrey Hollander's butthole that it attracts a flock of BCCs which in turn start DPing it. To me that reeks of massive insecurity that no kind of arrogance can hide. But hey, nothing personal, remember?

Maybe after your impressive benching session today, you should seek a coach that will teach you the proper form of actually reading a review, not resorting to strawman techniques, not taking it personally when people say your music isn't just as great as you think, and respecting people's opinion. The gainzzzzz in brain muscle mass and social respectability are crazy.

I hope this will be the end of it.


I ... Loved.. it.
----
- Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff -
Guib's List Of Essential Albums
- Also Thrash Paradise
Thrash Here
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 06:45
Rating: 10
smarc78

Written by Ilham on 04.09.2015 at 12:56

Written by smarc78 on 04.09.2015 at 06:09

Self-praising blabla.

I didn't reply earlier because my fellow MSers are doing a fine job at that. Plus I had rightly predicted how impossible it was to argue about the actual music with you. It's only "me me me me" so far. But you persist.

I'm sorry to break it you, but if you've been through seven years of music school and still haven't learnt that music is mostly subjective, then you failed. Also, you're going through a lot of trouble and feel the need to tell all your life story to support your fallacious claims. I mean, if I ever have to write 500 words to prove someone that I am "more able" to formulate an opinion on a Big Mac than they are just because I went to culinary school, please shoot me in the head between the eyes repeatedly until the bullet tract is a large and lose as Audrey Hollander's butthole that it attracts a flock of BCCs which in turn start DPing it. To me that reeks of massive insecurity that no kind of arrogance can hide. But hey, nothing personal, remember?

Maybe after your impressive benching session today, you should seek a coach that will teach you the proper form of actually reading a review, not resorting to strawman techniques, not taking it personally when people say your music isn't just as great as you think, and respecting people's opinion. The gainzzzzz in brain muscle mass and social respectability are crazy.

I hope this will be the end of it.


as said earlier - pay credit where the credit is due. obviously you have never achieved any mediocrity level at anything... being a music critic is not a real job, and w..king does not count either. because if you have achieved at least medium level at any thing in your life you would appreciate work of others.

Nile is a death metal band with their own music language they have pursued for many years, such as Iron Maiden, Slayer etc.... to insult them of being not original is as accusing Michelin for producing round tires. while at this - Michelin spent millions at new technologies and development - that your eyes and brain cant grasp... and so it is with death metal. you are not able to understand the qualitative and quantitative values.

yes music is subjective but the technical proficiency can be detected at any level.

this bla bla bla "How i feel about it" thats 5yo attitude.

learn to play instrument, compose music, record then sit again and listen masters how they do it.

for all others, dear fans - before start dishing - please do yourself a favor and hit the gym, go for walk, practice guitar or bass or drums... do humankind a favor and dont criticize band that brings smile and good time to those that like it. if you dont like Nile... well what did you expect from the band that uses Mixolydian scale?

as for me - I do music as my hobby since i was 12 - death metal - and few years at conservatory and uni. 25 years of fun. no i dont do it for money - i work in finance industry to fund my hobby to stay true to metal and objectivity. technical training i have achieved only helps to understand music better and create easier.

did you know that that Death's Overactive Imagination is true to the form of Beethoven's sonata E-major 30 op.109? of course you did not - you follow your feelings. technical training at any level and any industry helps to create better and longer lasting results.

but obviously - man as ignorant as you are to facts, quality and determination only see the hedonistic "I like this - I dont like that" and spreads the word. dont forget earth is round too
----
myspace.com/eventually3
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 06:57
Rating: 10
smarc78

Written by deadone on 04.09.2015 at 06:17

Thanks for proving me right. Just cause you went 7 years to music school doesn't mean you're the final arbiter of musical quality nor make your opinion more valid than that of the other posters or the reviewer.

Indeed all that technical knowledge doesn't mean much when it comes to talking about soul of music, how it makes us feel, how innovative it is,how memorable it is, energy, vibe and all that other stuff that makes it enjoyable. You can have the most perfectly played and produced piece of music and for it to be sterile and lifeless.

Music is not engineering and technical competence doesn't make a great album or song.

And amazingly a number of those bands you mention have suffered from long periods of mediocrity whereby they churn the same old album every few years (Obituary, Suffocation, and as much as I hate to admit it Iron Maiden, Slayer and Motorhead). DMB is about the only modern thing you mention whereby they've managed to write an enjoyable and memorable album each time that doesn't seem to be just a rehash of what came before it.


music is engineering and requires plenty of technical knowledge and competence. if someone told you otherwise they lied. and you are old enough to know that walking does not make you sportsman.
----
myspace.com/eventually3
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 10:58
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
FFS Ilham is a woman, NOT a man.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
10.09.2015 - 13:12
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Kudos to smarc78 though, I don't recall an MS review moaner so adept at meaningless and empty rhetoric as he is. I reckon he's a couple of posts away before he starts quoting passages from the Bible, probably ones he believes directly predicted the coming of Nile.

At any rate I've only heard a few tracks from this. I suppose it is a minor step up from the egregiously bad previous album but it's clear Nile can no longer compete with the wave of talent surging through death metal in recent years. There's just not much point to them outside nostalgia.
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 14:08
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by deadone on 10.09.2015 at 13:38

Dang that's most established bands these days.

Unfortunately yes. I don't think Nile are quite as bad as some, but I can't think of why you would choose to listen to any of the new stuff over the old. It's pretty rare for a band to maintain relevance, or make a proper come back. Then again I'd say Soilwork did it with their new album, which was one hell of a surprise.
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 22:12
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by deadone on 10.09.2015 at 14:29
The new Nile isn't as bad as this but still why listen to it when I can belt out In Their Darkened Shrines?

Because this is another piece of exquisite intricate art that you will never achieve unless you learn music and hit the gym... you piece of uncultured swine.
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
Loading...
10.09.2015 - 22:36
Rating: 6
Ilham
Giant robot
Written by smarc78 on 10.09.2015 at 06:45

I HAVE INSECURITIES LISTEN TO ME

I advise visiting a psychologist. Apparently no one can get through to you. Have a nice technically perfect and engineered expert day in your extremely purposeful life. If you don't mind me wishing you that, I obviously haven't got a PHD in Oxygen Breathing And Utilising For The Mastery Of Everyday Tasks - like you do.
Loading...
01.10.2015 - 04:27
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
I have a degree in Nile-ology and I have to say that you are completely and objectively wrong in your assessment, Nileham. If you had studied at Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water State University for forfteen years like I did while simultaneously balancing a pig named Jeremy on your back, then maybe you would be able to appreciate that this band is to Beethoven what Death is also to Beethoven. That's a comparison which I suspect went over the heads of all you gentlemen who still think that Nile is a band, instead of actually the concept of music physically incarnated into a guitar-playing chicken's body. After all, music that is technical and professionally-engineered makes people happy (only if they can provide the appropriate paperwork to prove that they are legally entitled to be made happy by said music, of course), and if it makes people happy then it must by definition be perfect and immune to all criticism from someone who doesn't even check under Mozart's decaying fingernails for lost symphonies for a living.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go file a complaint with the university and squeeze an extra degree out of them. My music theory professor says he went to Berklee, but if he thinks he's so great, how come he doesn't even have six autographed posters of Luc Lemay in his office? Nobody is qualified to teach me about music, I can tell you that.

Please consider my feelings next time you write a review.
----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
Loading...
01.10.2015 - 06:43
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by deadone on 01.10.2015 at 06:18

Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 01.10.2015 at 04:27

I have a degree in Nile-ology and I have to say that you are completely and objectively wrong in your assessment, Nileham. If you had studied at Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water State University for forfteen years like I did while simultaneously balancing a pig named Jeremy on your back, then maybe you would be able to appreciate that this band is to Beethoven what Death is also to Beethoven. That's a comparison which I suspect went over the heads of all you gentlemen who still think that Nile is a band, instead of actually the concept of music physically incarnated into a guitar-playing chicken's body. After all, music that is technical and professionally-engineered makes people happy (only if they can provide the appropriate paperwork to prove that they are legally entitled to be made happy by said music, of course), and if it makes people happy then it must by definition be perfect and immune to all criticism from someone who doesn't even check under Mozart's decaying fingernails for lost symphonies for a living.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go file a complaint with the university and squeeze an extra degree out of them. My music theory professor says he went to Berklee, but if he thinks he's so great, how come he doesn't even have six autographed posters of Luc Lemay in his office? Nobody is qualified to teach me about music, I can tell you that.

Please consider my feelings next time you write a review.


Damn this hits the nails on the head.


Quite a hard hit on the head.

Look at his Facebook posts, damn interesting.
Loading...

Hits total: 11245 | This month: 24