Review by Sonny for Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All (2024)

Nile finally return with their tenth studio album, almost five years on from 2019's Vile Nilotic Rites. These guys are one of my absolute favourite tech death crews, but even I must admit that they have been somewhat underwhelming over the last two or three albums, so I didn't go into The Underworld Awaits Us All with particularly high expectations. Happily, however, the band seem to have returned, post-pandemic, with a renewed sense of purpose, laying down their best material for some time. They have obviously retained the technical chops and songwriting skill that such well-established names have accumulated over the years, but they have also rediscovered a younger band's vitality and energy that it seemed had deserted them some time ago. They have definitely upped the ante in the brutality stakes on The Underworld Awaits Us All, their technical skullduggery all seemingly directed towards the purpose of hammering your senses with pummelling body blows of visceral and savage precision.

The riffing is some of their best in years, frantic, fierce and energetic, yet flawlessly executed, whilst the soloing is expansive and expressive, yet is also superbly controlled and tightly executed so as not to sound self-indulgent or trite. Particular note must be made of George Kollias machine gun-like drumming which reaches hyperkinetic performance levels without ever missing a beat. The man must be part Terminator to sustain this level of drumming intensity and precision. The production is worth a mention as it is as impressive as the musical performances, with a depth and clarity that allows the entire band to shine and no one suffering for want of presence in the mix, both guitars and drums sounding beautifully crisp and sharp.

This is obviously a Nile record so there is a certain level of grandiosity expected, which is lent an additional level of pomp by the inclusion of operatically choral backing vocals to accompany the usual roaring, deathly growls and the eastern-flavoured interludes are present and correct once more. Despite the emphasis on the Ancient Egyptian themes that permeate the band's very essence, I have never really felt that they get in the way of the music and once more that is true here. The moments where the atmospherics take over are relatively brief, being mainly restricted to the short interludes and the closing instrumental, "Lament for the Destruction of Time", the band never losing sight of the fact that their fans are metalheads who come to hear technically adept death metal that is at once searingly savage and brutally bludgeoning. And in that respect Nile have delivered, presenting us with their best album since Those Whom the Gods Detest and in so doing, rising once more to the top of the tech death tree.