History Music / Nile

** Averted on the band's first two EPs and the first full length release, ''Amongst The Catacombs of Nephren-Ka'', when the original line-up of Sanders, Chief Spires on bass and Pete Hammoura on drums was fully intact (and Dallas wasn't even a member until ''after'' Catacombs was recorded). It was a career-ending injury to Hammoura while recording ''Black Seeds of Vengeance'' that set the revolving door in motion, with Spires leaving just after due to personal and creative differences stemming from Hammoura's injury.

** Taken to an almost unheard of level with the four-track, 18 minute title suite from ''In Their Darkened Shrines''.

** ''Ahem''. The four-track, 18 minute title suite from ''In Their Darkened Shrines''.

*** The song "Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water" from the album ''[=Ithyphallic=]'' doesn't do badly, either.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The band's original demo tape, which was more ThrashMetal-oriented, has been out of print for over a decade and Karl says there are no plans to re-release it. You can still probably find it on a file-sharing site somewhere, though.
** And then it was rereleased in 2011.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent : And how!
** The best example of this trope is ''Annihilation of the Wicked'':
--->His Servants,
--->Hideous Reptiles of Terrifying Aspect.
--->Whose Work is Nothing Less than the Annihilation of the Wicked.
--->On Their Blocks,
--->They Cut into Pieces the Flesh of the Dead,
--->Singing Hymns of Torture and Mutilation to Their Master.
--->Accompanied by the Wailings and Anguish of the Damned.

* {{Unperson}}: The song "Black Seeds of Vengeance" features the lyrics:
-->"We shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the sky!"

'''Nile''' is a TechnicalDeathMetal band from South Carolina, USA, founded in 1993. They have a Egyptian theme (hence the name), and many of their lyrics deal with Ancient Egyptian history and mythology. They also use themes of [[HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] horror.

* {{A God Am I}}: Invoked in The Supreme Humanism Of Megalomania.

* {{Getting Crap Past The Radar}}: The song ''Kafir'' has a rather amusingly blasphemous play on the Muslim prayer:

* {{Gorn}}: Like many death metal bands, their lyrics sometimes feature very graphic descriptions of death, mutilation and the torture-filled afterlife.

** The song "Ithyphallic" also has highly gorn lyrics, specifically "anoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen"

* {{Mohs Scale Of Rock And Metal Hardness}}: While most of their songs hover around 10, some of their more overtly Middle Eastern songs can get quite low on the scale.

* OneOfUs: In the liner notes for ''Those Whom the Gods Detest'', Karl mentions the Nazi Zombie levels from CallOfDuty. Apparently the zombies behave similarly to the title creatures in "Utterances of the Crawling Dead".

* {{Sadly Mythtaken}}: Notably averted, Karl Sanders actually has a deep knowledge in Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythology, actually going so far as to tell the meaning behind the songs in the booklets.
* ShoutOut : The HPLovecraft circle receives homage from this band in many of their songs, Karl Sanders himself shows his interest by talking about the references of the Myths in Nile's albums.

** Also, on his second solo album, there is a song called ''A Most Effective Exorcism against Azagthoth and his Emissaries'', which features a drum sample from the Gerudo Desert theme song from TheLegendOfZelda:TwilightPrincess.

* BeyondTheImpossible: George Kollias. Just...George Kollias. Listen to his double bass work and keep this in mind: HE DOES ALL THAT WITH '''''ONE FUCKING FOOT.'''''
** A bit of clarification: he only does the blastbeats one footed. For the normal double bass stuff, he does it two footed. However, what's even crazier is that ''he only uses his ankles when drumming at this speed,'' when nearly 95% of all drummers would have to use their whole leg. To give you an idea of how insane that is, in the song "Kafir," there is a section at 280 BPM, during which he plays a section of solid 16th notes, again, using only his ankle for motion, obviously using both feet. To put this in laymen's terms, and to demonstrate how insanely difficult that is, try to sit down, and using only your ankle as the fulcrum of motion, attempt to tap your foot to the ground nine times in one second. Now try to perfectly synchronize your other foot ''one eighteenth of a second'' off. Then do it a little bit faster than that. We'll be waiting.

** "Cast Down The Heretic" is this as well, basically depicting the Amen-Ra priesthood executing Akhenaten in the[[{{Gorn}} gorniest way possible]] and then obliterating all evidence of his rule and religion.

** "Cast Down The Heretic" is this as well, basically depicting the Amen-Ra priesthood executing Akhenaten in the[[Gorn gorniest way possible]] and then obliterating all evidence of his rule and religion.

** "Cast Down The Heretic" is this as well, basically depicting the Amen-Ra priesthood executing Akhenaten and then obliterating all evidence of his rule and religion.

* {{Narm}}: "Unas Slayer of the Gods" has a quite narmy spoken word section, to wit:
--> Unas hath taken ''possession'' of the ''hearts'' of the ''gods''!
--> Uuuunaaaas '''feedeth''' on their '''entrails'''!!
--> He hath gorged on their ''unuttered'' '''sacred''' ''words''!!!
--> He hath '''ASSIMILATED''' the ''WISDOM'' of the '''GODS'''!!!!
--> '''''HIIIIIS EXISTEEEEENCE IS EVERLASTIIIIIIIING!!!!!'''''
** In Karl Sanders' first solo album, there is a section in "The Forbidden Path Across the Chasm of Self-Realization" that makes the above sound completely serious:
---> '''''I''''' am that which hath becommmme,
---> Omnipotent, e''TER''nal, mmm'''bound'''less.
---> '''Theeee''' immutable principle upon which ''aaaaall'' speculation is possible;
---> The tranSCENDing '''fowace''' of human conception.
---> I be''come'' as beyond the range and reach of thought;
---> Unthink'''A'''ble and unspeak'''A'''ble.
---> '''''I''''' become my '''OOOOWN''' absolute reality.
---> For I am all that shall ever be,
---> And all that ever was.

* FaceOfTheBand : Karl Sanders. He's the only member of the band that's been around since the inception. He also writes about 80% of the music, and about 99.9% of the lyrics (Dallas wrote the lyrics to one song). Unusually though, he is not the frontman, and is quite comfortable letting the other members take the main spotlight onstage.

* CompleteMonster: The reptilian beings refered in some of their songs apparently fall under this trope.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Karl Sanders interviews happen to be really cool, the best one probably where he told the interviewer about how he made an entire afroamerican gospel choir sing ''Die Rach Krieg Leid der Assryche''.
** For one of his solo albums, Karl Sanders "quoted" the book "[[ArtifactOfDoom Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten]]," which, if you know your CthulhuMythos, is sort of like a German version of the Necronomicon, and much like said tome, does not actually exist. Mr. Sanders decided that since the various authors in the circle such as Robert E. Howard, Derleth, and Lovecraft all freely used self made references to the same fictitious books to make readers think they were actually real, that he should try doing the same. [[GoneHorriblyRight It ended up working better than he thought it would]], as he received a sudden rash of e-mails wanting to know where he had found a copy of the book. When he told the e-mailers that [[CassandraTruth the book wasn't real and that he had invented the "quotes,"]] they simply became convinced that he was lying to them, and that he was "keeping the dreaded, "legendary" tome to [himself]."