Customer Reviews

Black Seeds of Vengeance

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I like to play excerpts from this album to music ignorants to let them know what they are missing in their soundscape. I like the look of genuine fear in their faces when the death chants transform into death metal. I like to tell them that the song is about impaling women on the massive stone member of father Anhur, the war god.
Many find this very scary and upsetting. I like that.

In some ways Nile are much like the typical death metal band. "Black Seeds of Vengeance" contains more than enough searing guitar work, guttural vocals, and blastbeat drumming to please any Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel fan. However, Nile have a unique idea that sets them apart from the pack. They combine their prototypical death metal with Egyptian/Middle Eastern elements that make this album a truly dark and eerie piece of music. It's obvious pretty early that this is more than just a death-metal album. The title track blasts forward with unbridled speed and intensity, driven by Pete Hammoura's amazing precision and variety on the drum kit. The following song, "Defiling the Gates of Ishtar," starts off similarly, but then suddenly breaks into some eerie and frightening choral chanting before getting heavy again. Another highlight is "Masturbating the War God," a slow, grinding basher that also includes some choral vocals towards the end. Probably the best song here, though, is the epic "To Dream of Ur." The song starts out with some creepy music and slow, tortured whisphering, then switches to brusing death metal, then switches back, and then back again. I know that's not much of a description, but suffice to say the song rules. And if that's not enough, "Libation Unto the Shades Who Lurk in the Shadows of the Temple of Anhur" and "The Nameless City of the Accursed" are excellent Egyptian-sounding interludes that add to the haunting atmosphere of the album without being self-indulgent. The musicianship is excellent throughout, and the lyrics are far smarter and more meaningful than the typical death metal fare, so be sure to read them (every song is explained in the liner notes too, which is cool). Now to get their other albums!

Ok, I admit. I Napster'd this album way back when, and put off actually buying it. Once I finally got the CD, I was very glad I did. Reading the liner notes and the explanation of the meaning of each song was worth more than the cost of the CD. My respect for Nile has doubled having read about their lyrical content.

They put such an intelligent and unique spin on the "evil" death metal routine. Once you know what the songs are about, you will never hear their music in quite the same way. The blast beats sound more punishing, the guitars more desperate for revenge, the vocals more brutal.

Their songs are each pieces of a narrative. They seem to be using the Egyptian motif to explore their own interests in history, but there also seems to be an underlying message of the futility and destructive nature of religion, humanity's endless quest for immortality, sexuality as a weapon, and the costly price paid for one's own arrogance, hatred for others, revenge, etc.

The standout piece is by far Masturbating the War God. Several of the songs have lyrics that were translated more or less directly from Egyptian manuscripts, this is one of them. The lyrics are utterly haunting, you just have to read about it to believe it.

Enjoy!

This album isn't as powerful or brutal as their first album the catacombs of nephren-ka, but I still admit that this album is great. This album has more technical and emotional sounds to it, and some songs are very epic. The title song(Which is a killer) starts really heavy but has a nice, mellow ending. Most of the songs in this album has the similar pattern. If you're a big nile fan, you'll love this album, and mostly the death metal fans(Especially people who likes bands such as amorphis) will surely love this album...

This cd is so utterly amazing that it's hard to put into words just how much of a masterpiece this is. At first listen, to the inexperienced metal fan, "Black Seeds..." may sound overwhemling in its ferocious complexity and inhuman technicality. However, after repeated listen the true genius of the cd will emerge.
The time and effort which went into the making of this album was phenomenol; the lyrics took two years to research whilst Dallas Wade's masterpiece "Multitude Of Foes" took an entire year to compose by itself.
This album however, despite the excellent drum work of Derrik Rhoddy (who actually did the huge majority of the drum work on this album), the comanding bass playing of Chief Spires and the technical playing of Dallas Toller Wade is mostly an exhibition for the absolutely godly song writing talents of Karl Sanders. Songs such as "Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar" and the title are simply breathtakingly well written. Indeed each song on the album
stands as a huge muscial achievement and a masterpiece in its own right.
The albums crowning moment (and possibly the crowning moment in the entire death metal movement) comes with "Masturbating The War God". Not a song for people who "like that keyboard dimmu borgir stuff because its SOO meaningful" or other such trendy releases and false musicianship contrived from multiple drum tracks and layered simple harmonies, Masturbating the war god builds to an epic creshendo which almost defies the boundaries of how music can effect conscience.
Using this great song as a fulcrum the album is divided into the insanely technical opening of the first works, following into some slightly slower more atmospheric pieces.
I honestly can't understand how anyone could fail to apreciate the unbelievable quality of this cd...possibly not recommended for novices of the death metal movement or those who think that a song is awful if there are not very very simple riffs played throughout or excessive keyboards to carry the song.
This stuff is awesome..

I have been a long-time fan of Nile since their debut album "Festivals Of Atonement" in 1994, I believe. After being slightly upset with 1998's lackluster release, I was almost tempted to give up; I'm glad I didn't!

"Black Seeds Of Vengeance" is a terrific album, melding traditional death metal with various Persian and Egyptian influences. Perhaps the most meritorious, as well as the most overlooked, aspect of their writing style is their tendency to use nothing but Gypsy and Persian scales for their guitar lines. Being that these scales are presented in your everyday death metal fashion, it comes across as a fresh approach amongst the many Cannibal Corpse clones that are still present to this very day.

The drumming, which was provided primarily by good ole Derek Roddy, is a tad typical for the genre. Pete Hammoura's style gave Nile's songs better structure considering their approach, and it is unfortunate that he was unable to play on this album. Hope you get well soon, bro!

Well, this was my first death metal cd, so it has a special place in my heart. It's not my favorite, but I'll always remember it as the first time I listened to a full album of such heavy music. All I knew was, I needed to get a death metal cd, any one would do. Nile was one of the few death bands the store carried, so I picked this one up. It delivered. If you like your death mixed with egyptian theme, then Nile is the band for you. I find it epic sounding.

Hello! Awesome album, very solid all the way through, and doesn't become boring like alot of Death Metal albums can. My favourite songs would have to be Masturbating the War God, and Multitude of Foes, the latter which took Dallas Toler-Wade about a year to arrange!

However, I am really writing this just to clear something up. Alot have been praising Pete Hammoura's drum work on this album, and while he is a great drummer, it may interest you to know that the only song he actually played on this album was 10 - To Dream of Ur. The rest of the albums drumwork was taken care of by the legendary Derek Roddy. He had never heard the material, and yet, managed to get every track down in just 27 hours!! Awesome work, and he is very often overlooked, as the album just credits him as playing 'Additional Drums'. WTF? Pete Hammoura played ONE song, therefore, making him the one who filled in some 'Additional Drums'. Just wanted to clear that up, that's all.

After listening to Black Seeds of Vengeance for 8 hours non stop, all I can say is this: I am speechless!!! I was left with my cloths and ears shredded to pieces!!
I've been into heavy-speed-trash-death/grind since 1984, so it figures that I know what I'm talking about! Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance is absolutely stunning! Like it says in adds in specialized magazines, "Run and hide among the living while they still outnumber the dead". This album is very freakish, with vocals that resemble to voices from beyond the grave, that have cavernous echoes into them, that seem to come straight out of an Egyptian curse! Do not turn off the lights when you listen to this one!!! Amazon.com should have package this one with a mummy!!!! I really like the inclusion of Middle Eastern and North African rythms and instruments in between and in the songs, way original. The singers also sing incantations in ancient Egyptien and Summerian, which can only add to the terror!!! Sorry but this Satanic [junk] that we hear since Morbid Angel and Deicide has been overdone, Nile's concept of Egyptian curses and demons is fresh and welcome. The music is very violent and brutal, it will take you hours to decipher every instruments, it's very technical and speedy, sometime the noise is unbearable especially when the "cursed"voices are over it. My friends fleed in terror after hearing the voices of the singers which are by the way the true show stopper-jaw dropping moments of this album!!

It's sad that some people get caught up on how much a band is promoted, and forget what really matters: the music. Sure this album has been hyped up, but I assure you it lives up to all the hype. Black Seeds of Vengeance is my favorite death metal album, and one of my favorite albums in any genre. I've been listening to this extreme form of music for almost 10 years now, and I've never heard an album of this caliber. At first, I didn't like it at all, it sounded too monotonous. The wall of sound was so thick that I was turned off. But after several listens, the layers to this masterpiece began to peel away and the true genius began to shine through. Nile integrate their obsession with ancient Egypt into very brutal death metal. Many people call it a gimmick, but I'm here to tell you it sounds like nothing you'll ever hear. The riffs and drum patterns are purely Egyptian-influenced, while retaining the death metal style. You may not like it at first, but give it repeated listens (I recommend through headphones) and Nile's brilliance will grab you like the cold, dead hand of an ancient pharoah reaping his vengeance. Sorry, just had to:) Buy or die!