After three impressing releases; now comes perhaps their masterpiece. Ultra blaster Tony Laureano has left the Egyptian percussion kit for the corpse-painted Satan worshippers that call themselves Dimmu Borgir. After hearing that news, I really feared for the future of Nile. I was wrong, because what these guys do is just search for someone better! And they found him!! George Kollias, is even more awesome than Tony, believe it or not! He can play blastbeats in 32^nd pass with an equally fast double pedal!! That’s a rare phenomenon. So, this guy is faster and perhaps a little bit more technical too. Can someone wake me out of this daydream please…

I read in a newspost before the release of this album a statement from Nile founder Karl Sanders that Nile in this line-up (by the way, the dude with the ultra muscular arms named John Vesano playing bass and lead vocals at Nile has left too, but somehow they found this nineteen year old kid that plays just as tight and can do some grunting too!!!) sounds better than they have ever sounded before. I just could not believe that. Now, I just have to.

 

 

Enough chit chat, let’s review the album. Besides it's sounding faster and even more technical than before; I’d say that Nile has got the Opeth fever. And by that I mean the tendency to write long opuses that last eight to ten minutes and do not bore you at all. And in death metal, I see little greater achievements than making ultra brutal tracks of exaggerated lengths that have your utter most interest from beginning ‘till the end. And there are three of those on Annihilation of the Wicked!

The album features enough riffs to give you goose bumps and banging tendencies, while there also are enough parts that make you wonder how in the hell you can play stuff like that tight as they do. And all that accompanied by a three vocal attack screaming long forgotten Egyptian myths about gruesome Pharaoh schemes and eerie temple contents. My kind of music! Beats the hell out of the next accurate description of how to mutilate a priest with a tea spoon if you ask me.

Yes, to me Nile have proven themselves again and I hope they will continue to do so in the future. I still honestly can’t say if I find this the best release of them ever, but I’d give it a good chance to acclaim that position within three months or so. This remains, in my eyes, the best way of dealing with death metal 'cause it’s interesting and stays interesting in so many angles. All prepare for the Annihilation of the Wicked!!!