Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

I like this album, but it may never be as epic as early Nile because of its more spacious and thus less nuanced style.

It's hard to identify the new influence here, but spacious might describe not only the sparse use of guitars, but also the riffs which like to borrow scales for fills as much as possible. These are well applied however, in a complex, offbeat-based rhythmic framework that gives the guitarists plenty of room to jam and tweak expectations.

On the first track, at least, I'd argue there's a Rammstein influence here. The whole song is based around a chant and a catchy beat, over which come the deathgrind guitars and occasional Egyptian folk vocals. Later songs are more traditional deathgrind, but with more very simple rhythm riffs taking up lots of space, where most Suffocation-styled bands blast through transitions to get more showboat riffs in there.

There's plenty of energy throughout the album, and lots of the highly musical intricate fretwork this band has become known for, as well as some of the most brain-seizing choruses since Black Seeds of Vengeance. It's good to see this longstanding outfit keeping up the pressure -- on our eardrums. There may be a bit too much reliance on chanted vocal rhythms.

While this album is a return to form, its sparseness suggests both a new style and a lack of involvement in many of the details that make an album into A-grade metal. If Those Whom the Gods Detest falls short, it's not by much, and it's a lot more fun to listen to than the angry radio dreck of the nu-metal influenced metal generations.

Those Whom the Gods Detest

Kem Khefa Kheshef