UMUR
"Ramses Bringer of War" is an demo (later reissued as an EP) release by US death metal act Nile. The demo as originally released through Anubis Records in November 1996 and later reissued on EP through Visceral Productions in 1997. The three tracks on the 10:01 minutes long demo/EP would later appear on the band´s debut full-length studio album "Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998)". "Ramses Bringer of War" is based on the classical piece "Mars: Bringer Of War" from Holst's "The Planets".
The music on the demo/EP is technically well played and brutal death metal with ancient Egypt/middle eastern lyrical themes. There is a clear direction in everything Nile have ever released and already this early on the concept was crystal clear. "The Howling of the Jinn" is a short and fast played death metal track. A brutal assault on the ears, while the title track is a bit more varied and epic. The keyboards on that track don´t sound that great though. They sound a bit artificial and cheap. The ambient "Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche" closes the EP. It´s relatively short and atmospheric. On a longer album it might serve a purpose as atmosphere builder or a breather between brutal death metal tracks, but here it feels a bit like a waste of time on an already very short EP release.
While it´s not a perfect release (the sound production and especially the drum production could have been better) "Ramses Bringer of War" is still a worthy purchase that shows a clear development in the band´s sound and give a hint of where that sound is going. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.