NILE — In Their Darkened Shrines (review)

NILE — In Their Darkened Shrines album cover Album · 2002 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
topofsm
By the time In their Darkened Shrines was released, Nile was already well established in the Death metal scene. The previous album, Black Seeds of Vengeance, brought together their signature sound of low end mixing with quick guitar lines and plenty of blasts, all under a strong Egyptian and Middle Eastern sounding banner. But this is where they refined it. Songs on In their Darkened Shrines gather more explorative structures, production becomes a lot clearer, and Nile finally arrives at their large, epic scale sound they are known for.

Along with Annihilation of the Wicked, Darkened Shrines is very much what standard Nile sounds like. Tons of energy in the crazy blasts with plenty of little phrygian modal guitar lines blazing through the ear. Right off the bat it distinguishes itself from the previous album, with a droning guitar and a wave of a choir bringing the album in with a dramatic tone, before blasting into the rest of the opening track, "The Blessed Dead". There is plenty of alternation, as per usual in Nile, between the incredibly fast blastbeats (just listen to "Churning the Maelstrom") and slow, pounding death riffs (most of "Sarcophagus").

Aside from the larger scale of sound and the more refined songwriting, Darkened Shrines introduces one of Nile's fan favorite characteristics, their long, epic songs. "Unas Slayer of the Gods" is an eleven-minute long death rampage, where the band impressively goes on for lengthy periods of time with their fast, aggressive riffs, rarely letting off save for a few pounding sections and some Egyptian-styled marches. "Unas" being a fan favorite, Nile became known as one of the better songwriting groups, especially among the technical death metal scene. This is not the only track that gives an epic scale, as the album closes on the four-part epic title suite "In their Darkened Shrines". It starts off completely with an Egyptian march, goes into some of Niles most aggressive songs ("Destruction of the Temple of the Enemies of Ra"), and closing out on a dark, slow, grandiose track highlighting Nile's best slow melodies.

All in all, "In their Darkened Shrines" exemplifies some of the best of Nile's music, and introduces many fresh new elements that you still don't see too much in technical death metal. The production is great, the songs are great, there's a giant, epic feel about the album, and it contains some of Nile's best tracks. Definitely a landmark in technical death metal, and recommended to any fan of extreme metal in general.
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