Track Listing

1. Smashing The Antiu
2. Barra Edinazzu
3. Kudurru Maqiu
4. Serpent Headed Mask
5. Ramses Bringer Of War
6. Stones Of Sorrow
7. Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche
8. Howling Of The Jinn
9. Pestilence And Iniquity
10. Opening Of The Mouth
11. Beneath The Eternal Oceans Of Sand

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10510 in Music
• Released on: 1998-06-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
The members of Nile are bona fide ancient Egypt freaks, andthe fascination creeps into their music in ways other than crypt-focused morbidity. Exotic eastern instrumentation adorns songs like "Kudurru Maqlu" and the epic battle blast of "Ramses Bringer of War". Some of this sounds tailor-made for Conan the Barbarian, but Nile never forgets that they're a death metal band first and foremost; their brutal guitars andfree-jazz level drumming create dust devils of scouring noise.

Customer Reviews

Full of Eastern promise!
The first album (in the UK, at least) from Karl Sanders' Egypt-obsessed Death Metallers, and what can I say? It's excellent! All right, it doesn't quite manage to live up to Black Seeds Of Vengeance, or the brand new release In Their Darkened Shrines, but it does show the beginnings of what Sanders is trying to achieve; some of the riffs are amazing, whilst the pace of some of the double bass drumming beggars belief. However, it isn't all full speed Death Metal, some songs such as Beneath Eternal Oceans Of Sand have a slower, almost epic quality to them.
One point about this album is that, unlike it's successors, it does not contain an explanation of the lyrics within the liner notes, leaving some of the songs slightly confusing to those of us who haven't got a master's degree in Egyptology. This nit-picking apart, though, this is a top debut giving a glimpse of what was to come from one of the hottest bands in the Death Metal genre.

Almost a masterpiece.
I'd like to give this album five stars but can't quite. I'l reserve that for their third album 'In their Darkened Shrines.' I do love this album and it is their most adventurous musically. 'Die rache krieg lied der assyriche' sounds like nothing any other death metal band could ever produce and is far better than anything any other death metal band could produce. However, there are a couple of minor niggles.

The production lacks on the drums in my opinion. The snare is neither tinny enough to stand out at speed nor thunderous enough to be felt despite lack of distinct attack, as it is on the next two albums, making the blastbeats somewhat unsatisfying. Also the rest of the drum production makes it difficult to determine if the cymbals are trying to accentuate the riff or the bass-drums are providing mini-fills or just following the snare.

Secondly, it's hard to put into words but sometimes the songs seem overly unfocused. Nile is supposed to be progressive, light on repetition, but on this album sometimes the striving to make the songs sound uncliched makes them sound overly disjointed.

Despite these minor quibbles Catacombs is a fantastic album, that makes most death metal redundant. It also has that rarest of quantities in the genre, originality.

oh my god!!
Words cannot describe this album.After buying both Black Seeds.. and In Their Darkest i became interested in death metal again.Those were amazing albums but when Amongst... finally arrived to my house on a US mail order i became traumtized for days after the first listen.I thought that nothing could outdo The Blessed Dead..Until i heard Ramses Bringer Of War.About 3 min into the song comes a guitar solo and 2 rhytmic verses which brought tears to my eyes,such is the brilliance.Chuck Schuldiners DEATH being my alltime favourite band, i longed for another uber technical death metal band, and my god did i get it! This is their best album though the other 2 are equally amazing. Be warned: Listening to this band makes about everything else called death metal sound like shit. But thats okay, you dont need any other band after listening to Nile.