Sunday, June 24, 2007

Nile : "Ithyphallic" [2007]

..:: Información del Álbum ::..
Banda: Nile
Álbum:
Ithyphallic
Año:
2007

Género:
Brutal/Technical Death Metal
País:
USA

Tamaño:
71.2 MB
Calidad:
Exelente

..::Descargar::..

6 comments:

Matías said...

“Ithyphallic”: Itifálico en español. Según la Real Academia de la Lengua Española: Que tiene el falo erecto. Un nombre muy sugerente para un álbum de death metal, y sí, yo lo corroboro éste disco la pone dura, durísima. Y es que cada álbum que pasa, Nile se afianzan más en un estilo muy suyo. Podríamos empezar a etiquetarlos: “Death metal egipcio” o algo así, pero en el fondo, no dejan de ser lo que son, uno de los grupos más animales, brutos y agresivos del panorama death metalero mundial.

Parece que nota que Karl Sanders toca, nota que se convierte en bala directa al cerebro, cada composición que hace es más animal que la anterior. Cada riff es más pesado y más brutal que el que le precede y en “Ithyphallic” esto se traslada a galaxias más lejanas que nunca. Desde que conocí a este grupo allá con su “Amongst the catacombs of Nephren-ka” no han dejado de sorprenderme en cada álbum que han sacado y éste no es una excepción. Brutalidad comprimida en 40 minutos de duración en los que ruedan cabezas, ruedan muchas cabezas.

Musicalmente, Nile son la mezcla perfecta entre brutalidad y técnica. Riffs pesados aunados en fuerzas con solos vertiginosos y punteos endiabladamente veloces. Las voces de los tres parecen salir de un pozo sin fondo o de una oscura cueva, crudísimas. La batería es un taladro percutor atravesándote la cabeza de un lado a otro sin contemplaciones. En conjunto es un trabajo muy rápido, técnico, brutal en algunas fases y sobre todo muy conseguido y trabajado. Una continuación excelente a un ya brutal de por sí “Annihilation of the wicked”.

Describamos brevemente el significado real de “Ithyphallic”, una clara mención a un concepto usado en civilizaciones antiguas como la griega, la mesopotámica o, claramente y tratándose de Nile, la egipcia. Bien la figura itifálica era usada en ritos para mejorar la fertilidad. Existen dos mitos en la antigua cultura egipcia sobre éste concepto: el primero de ellos es la figura asociada al dios Min, siempre representado con el falo erecto, dios de la fertilidad. El otro hace mención al falo de Osiris, devorado por el pez Oxirrinco. Cuando Seth mató a Osiris (su hermano) éste descuartizó su cuerpo en varios pedazos que fueron esparcidos y escondidos por todo Egipto. Isis, esposa de Osiris, recuperó todos los trozos a excepción del falo en cuestión y lo devolvió a la vida. La portada, muy conseguida, como viene siendo habitual en los art-works de esta banda norteamericana, probablemente haga mención a éste mito.

Los temas siguen todos la misma línea, la misma línea que ha mantenido Nile en casi todos sus álbumes: velocidad, brutalidad y técnica. Sin embargo hay una canción que destaca entre todas las demás: “The infinity of the Stone”, un tema acústico con sonidos árabes y reminiscencias claras hacia Egipto. No es nuevo que éste cuarteto incluya temas de “descanso” o temas que se alejan del death metal. Un ejemplo claro de esto es “Khetti Satha Shemsu” del “Black seeds of vengeance” o la que nos atañe ahora.

Es la anterior la única muestra de descanso, la única tregua que da un álbum repleto de tralla machacona. Destaco entre todos por su brutalidad a temas como el single ya subido a internet “Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water” (con un nombre cortito, si señor), “Laying Fire Among Apep” por su técnica y velocidad, “The Language of the Shadows” o “As he creates, so he destroys”.

Llegados a este punto yo os digo: ¿Os gusta el brutal death metal?, ¿Creéis que lo habéis escuchado todo en este estilo?, ¿Queréis escuchar algo nuevo, fresco y atronador? Pues no esperéis más, o mejor dicho, no esperéis más de lo que ya vais a tener que esperar hasta el día 20 de julio, fecha de lanzamiento de uno de los discos del año en éste género… y si no, el tiempo lo dirá.

Sergio Rodríguez Villa

Matías said...

Of course, this album starts off with an Egyptian sounding intro, which I completely expected, and then kicks in to the brutality and intensity that is Nile. I will admit that upon my first listen to this album I wasn’t that impressed, but I thought I should give it a couple more listens before I wrote this review, and boy was I right.

This is a continuation of the last 4 albums, and bares many similarities with Annihilation of the Wicked. However there are some differences, which are almost unnoticeable while first listening to the album. The vocals sound different, but in a good way. I don’t know if it is just me, but they sound almost more brutal, if that is even possible. The lyrics, once again, are very well written, I just really love the Egyptian themed lyrics, they are so interesting. And on this album it seems like they are better than ever.

The riffs are, as usual, fast and heavy as fuck! But also differ a bit from earlier releases. It seems like there are some more slow paced parts. Now don’t get me wrong, Ithyphallic has its fair share of fast riffs. I have to give credit to Karl and Dallas, there are some amazingly played solos, one of the best being halfway through The Language of the Shadows, which is really melodic, but in a good way. It seems like they’ve really combined melody with brutality on this album, and done a great job of it.

The drumming is the same as always. I really love the drumming, but it just lacks variation. Yeah, sure it’s really fast, but that’s not what it’s all about, to me. It has a lot of double bass, which I'm sure a lot of you will love.

This is really a great and I really recommend to any fans of Nile, and fans of death metal at all, for that matter. As I said before, I really wasn’t that into it when I first heard it, but just give it a couple more spins, and I know you’ll enjoy.

Stand-out tracks: Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor against Attacks from He Who is in the Water, The Essential Salts, and Ithyphallic.

Deranged

Matías said...

Nile has always been a legend in my eyes. Each new album they mold from their musical talent is the perfect mix of brutal, heavy, and interesting. With a newfound emphasis on Egyptian mythology and instrumentation, Ithyphallic exceeds many former albums.

The album starts off slow, with a musical intro, but cascades into the signature blasts beats and fast riffing that has always been key to Nile’s sound. The first track is somewhat long for an opener, but no complaints here. I believe that the length of a song holds no importance, as long as the quality of the content is bearable for the duration of time.

The next few tracks are very fast paced, some with catchy choruses and blisteringly fast double-bass shredding. The lyrical content is extraordinary, and represents the heavy interest in all things Egyptian that has been Nile’s original concept since day one. One thing that I truly enjoyed about this album is the fact that there is less gore and violence in the lyrical themes than ever before. This leaves more room to educate the listener on the abstract themes that lie therein.

As the album continues, the usual death metal ailment of repetitive content is cured by the usage of strange instruments, Egyptian guitar harmonies, and the fundamentally flawless recording quality of this album. All instruments can be heard very well and each adds their own distinct part to the overall effect of the album. This is one of many reasons why I am in love with Ithyphallic.

One complaint that I have, which is shared by many who have heard this album, is that the music very closely resembles previous albums, such as Annihilation of the Wicked, or In Their Darkened Shrines. This is why I am not willing to give this album 100% percent. The progression of the album is similar to these older albums as well. The only truly noticeable change is the recording quality, which, in Ithyphallic, is the best of any Nile album so far. Although the similarity to previous albums was a disappointment to me, I believe that this album would be amazing if it were to stand alone, not shadowed by Nile’s former work.

Written by Robropnkr1 on October 24th, 2007

Matías said...

Certainly one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2007, at least amongst the death metal crowd, NILE's Ithyphallic probably manages the tricky task of not disappointing the band's long time fans. And what it surely does is to add new people to that already impressive fan base.

The record kicks off in a quite bombastic way (no surprise here) and barely manages to avoid being cheesy. After the minute-or-so-long intro, the actual song - What May Be Safely Written - starts. Again, no surprise, Aggressive, yet sometimes intricate riffs over Kolias' technical and brutal drumming. But somehow, this time it seems better than before, at least for somebody who doesn't listen to NILE regularly. The song does slow down, as expected, but remains very heavy indeed. After a more straight-forward second song, the brilliant title track kicks in. Though not the fastest, nor the most brutal on this record, Ithyphallic stands out mainly because of intelligent songwriting and well chosen riffs. The next prominent track is Eat of the Dead - slow and doomy, yet still a crushing, forceful song. The latter half of the album is mainly an all-out assault, technical and brutal. The exceptions are The Infinity of Stone, an acoustic interlude, of course in a Middle-eastern style, and the epic Even the Gods Must Die. It's a 10-minute-long, very complex song that features slow, crunchy parts, faster and more technical riffs, along with more atmospheric passages. A very good way to end an album.

Taken as a whole, Ithyphallic is balanced and well structured. In most cases, just before a song gets monotonous, it changes from an aggressive affair to a doomy, heavy part or the other way around. There are also some melodic bits and pieces scattered throughout. The drumming is very solid, fast but not just focused on blast beats and kick drums - there are some very complex drum fills. I've already mentioned the guitars several times, and the bass is nothing special, but that's not a real problem here.

Now for the downside. Despite the almost perfect songwriting and the very well-developed technical skills of the band, it is still a very formulaic record. As I've already mentioned, there are no real surprises. It's everything a NILE record is expected to be, just, as I see it, done better than before. In fact, if you especially like Annihilation of the Wicked, there is a chance you will dismiss Ithyphallic as just a more polished version of that record. However, for most NILE fans and not only, this album should prove to be one of the top albums this year.

Written by phaedrus on August 29th, 2007

Matías said...

If you know Nile then you know what to expect from any of their albums : extremely brutal, impossibly technical death metal. Their themes are based in Egyptian and other ancient mythologies, and the melodies in their music follow this theme as well.

This album, the long awaited Ithypallic (they named their niche genre of death metal “Ithyphallic Death Metal” many years ago) is pretty much what I’ve come to expect from Nile. Tracks 1 through 7 are reminiscent of the frenzy found on their last release, but feature better production, more focused vocals, and a rather distinct character for each song. Some of the lyrics are kind of redundant if you’ve followed the band for a long time as I have, but others like the spell of “Papyrus” and the almost scientific “The Essential Salts” are really cool.

Track 8 is the epic instrumental “The Infinity of Stone”. If you’ve heard Karl Sanders’ solo stuff, you know what to expect here. It’s dark and brooding instrumental stuff done with middle eastern instruments (some live and some programmed). Personally I love this track, but always find myself wishing Nile would incorporate more of this stuff inside of songs and not as interludes.

Track 9, “Language of the Shadows” is the weakest on the album and could in my opinion have been cut. There’s nothing special happening, just the same old blast frenzy mixed with an epic riff for the chorus. Any band copying Nile could come up with this.

The album ends with the staple epic, “Even the Gods Must Die”. Great song. Here the middle eastern atmospheres are blended into the song and the tempo is slower throughout, making for a more progressive Nile than we’re used to.

Sorry for the track by track, but with a band like Nile you have to be specific if you want to differentiate between their albums. All in all, this album won’t change anyone’s opinion. I love it because I love Nile, but it won’t convince you if you didn’t “get it” based on their older material.

Written by Armchair_Philosophy on August 18th, 2007

Matías said...

Of course, this album starts off with an Egyptian sounding intro, which I completely expected, and then kicks in to the brutality and intensity that is Nile. I will admit that upon my first listen to this album I wasn’t that impressed, but I thought I should give it a couple more listens before I wrote this review, and boy was I right.

This is a continuation of the last 4 albums, and bares many similarities with Annihilation of the Wicked. However there are some differences, which are almost unnoticeable while first listening to the album. The vocals sound different, but in a good way. I don’t know if it is just me, but they sound almost more brutal, if that is even possible. The lyrics, once again, are very well written, I just really love the Egyptian themed lyrics, they are so interesting. And on this album it seems like they are better than ever.

The riffs are, as usual, fast and heavy as fuck! But also differ a bit from earlier releases. It seems like there are some more slow paced parts. Now don’t get me wrong, Ithyphallic has its fair share of fast riffs. I have to give credit to Karl and Dallas, there are some amazingly played solos, one of the best being halfway through The Language of the Shadows, which is really melodic, but in a good way. It seems like they’ve really combined melody with brutality on this album, and done a great job of it.

The drumming is the same as always. I really love the drumming, but it just lacks variation. Yeah, sure it’s really fast, but that’s not what it’s all about, to me. It has a lot of double bass, which I'm sure a lot of you will love.

This is really a great and I really recommend to any fans of Nile, and fans of death metal at all, for that matter. As I said before, I really wasn’t that into it when I first heard it, but just give it a couple more spins, and I know you’ll enjoy.

Stand-out tracks: Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor against Attacks from He Who is in the Water, The Essential Salts, and Ithyphallic

Written by Deranged on June 20th, 2007

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