Nile crushed Tokyo Godzilla-style with its brutal death metal
They didn’t walk like Egyptians. Instead, American death metal legends Nile crushed Tokyo Godzilla-style.
Nile at Space Odd, Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan on 8th October 2024
As I walked into Space Odd, I had that annoying-yet-catchy 80s song “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles stuck in my head. Since the band was formed in South Carolina, USA in 1993, Nile has been known for its Egyptology and HP Lovecraft influences. Lucky us, they didn’t attempt a Bangles cover in their live set. Instead, they performed a crushingly brutal technical death metal show. This evening the Nile members formed a ferocious unit performing bone-crushing and face-melting death metal. Nile turned into a Godzilla-like entity crushing buildings and people across Tokyo. It was a masterclass in musical brutality.
Of the three opening acts – Imperial Slave from New Zealand, Gutslit from India and Half Heard Voices from the US – the Mumbai lads stood out the most. Gutslit put on a high-energy set of brutal death grind that reminded me of the mighty Aborted. It was a great way to warm up the audience for Nile.
Nile’s founder and leader Karl Sanders performed the show dressed in a black t-shirt and an Egyptian ankh necklace. It is the music that is in focus when Nile is on stage. During the first few songs of Nile’s set (“Sacrifice Unto Sebek” from the 2005 “Annihilation of the Wicked” album and “Defiling the Gates of Ishtar” from the “Black Seeds of Vengeance” album from 2000), I thought of Morbid Angel. No wonder, as Nile’s current line-up consists of Karl Sanders and Zach Jeter on guitars, George Kollias on drums and, yes, Morbid Angel’s guitarist Dan Vadim Von on bass. Nile’s third guitarist Brian Kingsland is currently not touring with the band.
Part of what makes Nile such a great, brutal and relentless live act is that Dan, Zach and Karl share the vocals with Dan doing the heavy lifting. This gives them a vocal power and variety that many other death metal acts lack.
Nile’s latest album, “The Underworld Awaits Us All”, was released at the end of August. They performed a few songs from it this evening – “To Strike with Secret Fang”, “Stelae of Vultures” and “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes” (undoubtedly the best song title this evening). The new songs stood up well to the classic songs in the set. A brutal and enjoyable evening finished on a high with a splendid version of “Black Seeds of Vengeance”.
