Conor Fynes 'At the Gate of Sethu' - Nile (5/10)

It’s a pattern we’ve seen before; regardless of musical genre, there will come a point in most ambitious artists’ lives where they will hit a plateau. As musicians become more confident and skilled within their style, there is often a yearning to see how far they can push their boundaries. This usually results in a string of progressively more complex and detailed albums. Ultimately, the artist will reach a point where they either cannot push the envelope any further, or long for the comforts of their earlier incarnations. Such was the story for Black Sabbath, Metallica, Bathory, Voivod, Dream Theater and most other bands that lived on past their glory days. So too, it seems, is the case for Nile and their seventh album, “At the Gate of Sethu”. Following the ambitious compositions, vicious hooks and untraditional instruments used in “Those Whom the Gods Detest”, Nile have returned to a more primordial state, focusing instead on a stripped-down approach reminiscent of their earlier material. To their credit, Nile’s unrelenting technical chops retain their claim as one of death metal’s best acts, but this regress has robbed their sound of many of the things that made them interesting to me in the first place.

Over the course of “Ithyphallic” and “Those Who the Gods Detest”, Nile had departed somewhat from the technical death metal style to focus more on sounds of oriental ambient music befitting their Egyptian mythological themes. Not only was this ‘Egyptian music’ being used in interludes; it was a vital part of the band’s musical expression- the epic climax to “Kafir!” comes to mind. Barring the non-metal instrumentation, these albums (with particular regards to the latter) took Nile past the confines of their technical death metal songwriting, fusing the music with excellent hooks and otherworldly atmosphere that made the albums work on a level beyond the style Nile were known for. “At the Gate of Sethu” takes the band’s sound to a time before the dynamic of these albums. The unrelenting aggression of their defacto magnum opus “Annihilation of the Wicked” appears to be the direction they were looking to take on this one. As a result, the songwriting has been generally condensed, the speed turned up and the unessential elements left for the jackals to feed upon. Although the potential to bring Nile back to their more aggressive form could have worked wonders, this latest album feels like a rehash of ideas, largely less inspired and memorable than the former style they are trying to rekindle. Nile’s cutthroat skill with their instruments hasn’t faltered any, but the songwriting lacks both of the momentum of their early work, and scope of their latter work.

Although it was likely a conscious decision in order to give the album a more stripped-down feeling, the production feels far less vital than it did on the last two albums. Although the now-scarce Egyptian instrumentation still enjoys the rich atmosphere I’ve come to associate with Nile’s interludes, the prevailing metal element feels like a studio throwback to somewhere between “In Their Darkened Shrines” and “Annihilation of the Wicked”. The rhythm guitars bear the brunt of the weakened production, sounding pretty dull compared to albums of the more recent past. Although George Kollias’ technical barbarism on the drumkit is the most impressive aspect of Nile’s performance this time around, the drum production sounds completely sterile, succumbing to the all-too common ‘trigger’ syndrome. Fortunately, the lead guitarwork sounds as great as it ever has, although this sense of inconsistent production is a bit of a problem in its own right. It’s a shame really, because some of the riffs on the album are fantastic. “The Eternal Molestation of Flame” in particular is a powerhouse of exciting death metal riffs. “The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh” is another great one, finding a firm balance between groove and dissonance. Although the technicality is constant throughout most of the album, most of the album passes by as something of a blur, one frantic riff after another. The highly informed and well-researched lyrics that have in part defined the band’s career are still here, but in a style of music where people complain ‘you can’t even understand what they’re saying’, it’s not enough to keep the perception of quality from taking a firm dip southward.

Nile’s latest album is the musical equivalent of a celebrity acting in a biographical film about themselves; even though this is their signature style, it comes off feeling contrived anyways. Nile’s willingness to go beyond the boundaries of what is normally considered ‘death metal’ is one of the big things that got me into them in the first place. “At the Gate of Sethu” has nothing necessarily wrong about it, but goddamn, was I ever expecting more from them.

UMUR "At the Gate of Sethu" is the 7th full-length studio album by US death metal act Nile. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in July 2012. It´s the successor to "Those Whom the Gods Detest" from 2009. "At the Gate of Sethu" was produced by Neil Kernon, who has produced every Nile album since "Annihilation of the Wicked (2005)". He has created a rather different sound compared to the last couple of releases and judging by fan reactions to the album, the production seems to be an aquired taste.

...personally the sound production was also one of the first things I noticed was different upon my initial listen. It took quite a few listens before it clicked with me, and I still think I prefer the sound production on the last couple of albums over this one, but when that is said, "At the Gate of Sethu" is still a very well produced album. Brutal and raw sounding and featuring loads of details clearly audible in the mix.

...another feature that is a bit different from the last couple of albums is the vocals. They are more varied and in addition to the two growling type vocal styles that Nile usually use, the music on "At the Gate of Sethu" also include clean vocal parts and some higher pitched aggressive type vocals. The latter type is performed in a sort of theatrical/hysterical manner. Again this is a feature that took some time getting used to, but I´d say the variation in the vocal department successfully provides the music with an extra dimension.

What hasn´t changed in the world of Nile is how well composed and intriguing their music is and how well playing they are as a band. Nile are still extremely skilled musicians and among the elite artist on the death metal scene. As always we´re treated to intriguing lyrics about ancient Egypt/middle east, which song titles like "The Gods Who Light Up the Sky at the Gate of Sethu" and "Slaves of Xul" bear witness to. Other than a couple of shorter instrumentals, "At the Gate of Sethu" is made up of brutal and technically well played death metal tracks. Some, like the opener "Enduring the Eternal Molestation of Flame", are furiously fast paced and brutal, while others are more sophisticated and dynamic like "Supreme Humanism of Megalomania". Common for all tracks are the many twists and turns, tempo changes, and creative songwriting ideas. Even at their most simple and direct, Nile are never really simple. A level of sophistication as high as this is rare in death metal. Thankfully it´s never at the expense of power and aggression.

So "At the Gate of Sethu" might have been a slow grower that didn´t impress me much upon initial listens, but sometimes patience and an open mind can change one´s perspective. To my ears it´s obvious that Nile have lost none of their vitality, originality, or sophistication in the process of developing their sound. They´ve opened up for new ideas and maybe it was a good time to do that. As great as the last three albums are, they feature a very similar sound and style. "At the Gate of Sethu" is slightly different and I praise the boldness to try a few new things. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

adg211288 At the Gate of Sethu is the seventh full-length album from US brutal/technical death metal act Nile. The album was released in 2012 in both jewel case and digipack formats, each with unique artwork. The digipack features instrumental versions of a couple of the regular album tracks as bonuses. At the Gate of Sethu features the same three-piece line-up as the group’s last couple of albums, namely Karl Sanders, Dallas Toler-Wade and George Kollias. However like with said couple of albums At the Gate of Sethu also features some guest vocalists, including the group’s former bassist/vocalist Jon Vesano, who performed on Annihilation of the Wicked (2005).

At the Gate of Sethu sees Nile in pretty much the same vein as they’ve ever been. Instrumentally these guys produce some pretty phenomenal death metal. Delivering riffs at breakneck speed, occasionally spiced with the Egyptian flavours they’re known for, and generally giving the eardrums a good pummelling. It is brutally intense, but with a sense of class that comes from the technicality.

Unfortunately unlike their other releases At the Gate of Sethu is marred by a vocal performance that is perhaps best described as being a bit up and down. The deep growling that listeners of their past releases will be familiar with is present and correct, not to mention strong as ever, but they also seem inclined to include vocals that fit more of a ‘harsh but not quite growling’ manner. These vocals were one thing that stood out for all the wrong reasons in the pre-release track, The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased. Whether it’s Karl or Dallas doing these, or one or the guests (with no less than five credited vocalists present on the album, and being death metal, it’s hard to tell sometimes), I can’t say. These vocals aside, the deepest of the growling is strong as ever, but overall the vocals do feel somewhat inferior to how they were on the preceding Those Whom the Gods Detest, or any Nile release. Perhaps conversely they also included some clean vocals in moderation, which actually worked pretty well. But then again they did in the previous albums title track and I would actually like to hear them used a little bit more in Nile’s music. Their style of clean vocals add some quite epic parts to the music.

Reservations about the vocals aside the music is more top quality technical death metal of the kind the metal world has become to expect from Nile. Although more tracks of epic proportions would have been a welcome addition to the release, as there’s nothing really on the sort of level of Those Whom the Gods Detest, 4th Arra of Dagon, Unas Slayer of the Gods, or What Can Be Safely Written. The closest delivered here is the closing track The Chaining of the Iniquitous, which falls short of the greatness of past masterpieces.

All in all At the Gate of Sethu is perhaps the most difficult Nile album to get into so far. For the couple of reasons outlined above it’s certainly a contender for the group’s weakest album to date, perhaps narrowly superior to the debut Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka where the band were still finding their sound and didn’t yet have Dallas Toler-Wade in the band. Although ultimately I have to say that a great album tier rating is still deserved because of the top notch instrumentation I also have to close this review on a note of disappointment, as all things considered, At the Gate of Sethu is a major step down compared to the last few releases of the band. At the end of the day this was satisfying enough, given a few listens to let it sink in, but with five superior albums under their belt, the band can and have done much better.

7.9/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))