Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Nile What Should Not Be Unearthed Company: Nuclear Blast Release: 2015 Genre: Death Reviewer: Greg Watson

Fell short of really pulling me in

Buried deep in the rotting grounds of Egypt, the latest offering from Nile has been found, dusted up and polished for public display. "What Should Not Be Unearthed" is a Nile album through and through, with plenty of muted, chugging riffs and heaviness to weigh down even the Great Pyramids.

As with most Nile albums, at least for me, I started to lose interest about 4 or 5 tracks in as things just began to get a bit repetitive. After a couple times of listening to the album in patches, I finally made my way through the whole thing and while it is a solid release, it is just too repetitive for me. I know this genre struggles with pacing and changing things up. I mean there's only so much you can do before old riffs start reappearing and you're listening to riffs that you heard six to seven years ago. The one change here is that Karl Sanders' vocals are a bit more of a middle of the road growl instead of the rumbling, throaty ululations we are so used to from him. Those deep growls are still present but are used more as background growls than the main vocal body.

Instrumentally the band just set out to make one of the heaviest albums they could and in that, they definitely succeeded. Tracks like "Call to Destruction", "Liber Stellae-Rubaeae" and "In the Name of Amun" are just punishing, pulverising songs that seek to break your will.

All in all, the album was quite decent but fell short of really pulling me in and give me something new. Devoted Nile fans will lap this up with ferocity and death metal fans in general have something solid to sink their teeth into.