Line #84 Music/Nile


1	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 [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] horror.
2
3	!!!Discography:
4	* ''Worship the Animal'' (demo, 1994)
5	* ''Festivals of Atonement'' (EP, 1995)
6	* ''Ramses Bringer of War'' (EP, 1997)
7	* ''Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka'' (1998)
8	* ''Black Seeds of Vengeance'' (2000)
9	* ''In the Beginning'' (2000, compilation of the ''Festivals'' and ''Ramses'' [=EPs=])
10	* ''Born'' (2002)
11	* ''In Their Darkened Shrines'' (2002)
12	* ''Annihilation of the Wicked'' (2005)
13	* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Legacy of the Catacombs]]'' (2007)
14	* ''Ithyphallic'' (2007)
15	* ''Those Whom the Gods Detest'' (2009)
16	* ''At the Gate of Sethu'' (2012)
17	* ''What Should Not Be Unearthed'' (2015)
18	* ''Vile Nilotic Rites'' (2019)
19
20	''Current lineup:''
21	* Karl Sanders: guitars, vocals (1993-present)
22	* George Kollias: drums (2004-present)
23	* Brian Kingsland: guitars, vocals (2017-present)
24
25	''Former members:''
26	* Dallas Toler-Wade: vocals, guitars, bass (1997-2017)
27	* Chief Spires: vocals, bass (1993-2001)
28	* Jon Vesano: bass, vocals (2001-2005)
29	* Joe Payne: bass, vocals (2005-2007)
30	* Chris Lollis: bass, vocals (2007-2012)
31	* Todd Ellis: bass, vocals (2012-2015)
32	* Pete Hammoura: drums, percussion, vocals (1993-2001)
33	* Tony Laureano: drums (2001-2004)
34	* Brad Parris: bass, vocals (2015-2022)
35
36	-----
37	!!Tropes:
38
39	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: "The Eye of Ra" has a DownerEnding, with Sekhmet rampaging across the world and no end in sight to her slaughter of humanity. The original myth ended with Sekhmet being tricked into getting drunk (thanks to Ra mixing beer with red dye so it resembled blood) until she fell asleep. In the liner notes, Karl says that his nihilistic side made him choose to get rid of that story's happy ending and have Sekhmet cleanse the earth of humanity.
40	* AGodAmI: Invoked in "The Supreme Humanism of Megalomania".
41	* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Played with; George is a pretty laid-back guy, but his playing tends to be extremely fast-paced, to the point of a joke being made that his parts sound like someone pushed a drumkit down a staircase.
42	* AlwaysNight: The liner notes for "Annihilation of the Wicked" say that Afu-Ra's boat, and by extension the sun, actually navigates ''around'' Seker's kingdom rather than attempting to sail through, because of how difficult the navigation through darkness would be.
43	--> The dominion of Seker\
44	Barren desert of eternal night
45	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: "Revel in Their Suffering" involves an oppressed people celebrating the downfall of their oppressors.
46	* AudienceParticipationSong: A lot of their songs, most prominently "Black Seeds of Vengeance," and "4th Arra of Dagon," where, during the outro chants of the songs, the band will often step away from the microphones and chant along with the crowd and will often invite fellow musicians from other bands on their tour packages to come onstage and participate as well.
47	* BadassBoast: "User-Maat-Re" is essentially one big boast telling of Ramses II's "amazing" accomplishments, including the boast that his legacy will last a million years. The trope is subverted in that Ramses feels that his father still views him as being unworthy of his legacy. Considering that we still know him as "Ramses the Great" might lend a bit of appreciation to his contributions, however.
48	** This makes more sense when you understand Ramses' throne name "User-Maat-Re" ("Strong is the Justice of Re") was corrupted by the ancient Greeks into "Ozymandias", which Percy Bysshe Shelley turned into the trope namer for LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair.
49	* BadassBookworm: Karl Sanders is a walking encyclopedia of Egyptian mythology and history. He even has a personal library filled with Egyptology books.
50	* BeneathTheEarth: "Von unaussprechlichen Kulten" features lyrics about this.
51	* BigFun: Karl and Brad.
52	* BilingualBonus: Discussed in the liner notes for "Von unaussprechlichen Kulten". Karl notes that the English (''Nameless Cults'') and German (''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'') translations of the book's title, as conceived respectively by Creator/RobertEHoward and Creator/AugustDerleth, members of Creator/HPLovecraft's circle of collaborators, don't precisely match with each other. He lists the literal translation of "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" as being "Unpronounceable Cults", appropriate for a (fictional) book that concerns itself with the followers of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s whose names were beyond humanity's ability to correctly pronounce. (other sources note "Unnameable" and "Unspeakable" as other viable translations for Unaussprechliche(n), all of these again being appropriate given the subject matter). He also notes that the name "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" is actually grammatically incorrect in German, and even notes a debate he had with himself over whether to stick to this incorrect name or add the German word "Von" (Of) to the front of the name, which would make it correct. (Clearly, he went with the correct version).
53	* BoltOfDivineRetribution: In "The Imperishable Stars Are Sickened", the dying sun god Ra avenges the victims of humanity's inumerable atrocities by using a supernova to obliterate mankind along with the planet earth.
54	* CameBackWrong: "The Essential Salts" describes how to turn a dead body into the eponymous salts from the Creator/HPLovecraft novel ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and bring the dead person back to life. Unfortunately the salts sometimes get contaminated, resulting in "something that is part man and part whatever gnawed his corpse".
55	** Not to mention even the ones who don't turn into monsters are usually driven insane from the transition from death back to life.
56	* TheCameo: [[{{Music/Immolation}} Ross Dolan]] laid down some vocals for "Khetti Satha Shemsu", although it can be pretty hard to hear given [[VoiceOfTheLegion the nature of the track's vocals]]. Ross (along with Bob Vigna) also helped inspire the extensive liner notes that Karl has included on most albums beginning with ''Black Seeds of Vengeance'' (which closes with "Khetti").
57	* ControlFreak: Dallas, apparently. The idea to just have the guitarists track the basslines was his, as he wasn't confident in the ability levels of any of the post-Vesano bassists aside from Parris (who joined after ''What Should Not Be Unearthed'' was recorded) and was apparently also very nitpicky and perfectionistic.
58	* DoomMetal: In addition to their technical blasters and epics, Nile usually has about one or two death/doom metal songs per album.
59	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Sanders' vocals on the earliest material sometimes sound more like the vocals of James Hetfield on '80s Music/{{Metallica}} records than the death growl we're used to. One could make a convincing argument that significant portions of ''Worship the Animal'' have more to do with ThrashMetal than with DeathMetal. It's also not as heavy as their later stuff, but it's still plenty technical.
60	* EldritchAbomination: Of both Egyptian and Lovecraftian origin.
61	** "As He Creates So He Destroys" is about [[AlmightyIdiot Azathoth]], the most eldritch being in the Cthulhu Mythos.
62	* EpicRocking: Songs like "Unas Slayer of the Gods", "Annihilation of the Wicked", and "Even the Gods Must Die", which is fairly uncommon in death metal (though, obviously, not so uncommon in ProgressiveDeathMetal).
63	** Taken to an even higher level with the four-track, 18 minute title suite from ''In Their Darkened Shrines''.
64	* FateWorseThanDeath: This seems to be quite common among the band's works, as it was among the Egyptian view of the afterlife. Can sometimes reach AndIMustScream levels.
65	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: This is how some parts of the afterlife were seen by the Egyptians; the song "The Burning Pits of the Duat" is a nice expression of this.
66	* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
67	** Karl: choleric
68	** George: melancholic
69	** Brad: sanguine
70	** Brian: phlegmatic
71	* HumansAreBastards: All over the place in ''Vile Nilotic Rites''. In the second to last song, humanity becomes so evil that Ra wipes them all out via ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill supernova]]''.
72	* GodzillaThreshold: "Evil to Cast Out Evil" mentions Pazuzu, the demon responsible for bringing famine during dry seasons and swarms of locusts during rainy seasons. However, he is capable of repelling other demons and evil spirits, hence, an evil to cast out evil.
73	* {{Gorn}}: Like many death metal bands, their lyrics sometimes feature very graphic descriptions of death, mutilation and the torture-filled afterlife.
74	** Which makes it extra creepier because they actually did that back then.
75	** The song "Masturbating the War God" takes the two words that form this trope and mix them to their logical conclusion, featuring captive women of conquest being impaled upon the "massive stone member" of the aforementioned God statue, along with some other details that won't be repeated here.
76	*** "Masturbating the War God" gives Cannibal Corpse a run for its money in the gorn department. And unlike CC, who writes this kind of stuff for [[RefugeInAudacity camp value]], the source material of this song is [[{{Squick}} dead serious]]. (The band themselves aren't, though.)
77	** The song "Ithyphallic" also has highly gorny lyrics, specifically "anoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen"
78	*** "Ithyphallic" even means "with an erect penis".
79	** The song "Cast Down the Heretic" feature some pretty nasty lyrics as well, involving smashing of vertebrae, vomit, dismemberment, and the immolation of internal organs.
80	** The song "SSS Haa Set Yoth" mentions "violent sexual atrocities of which none dare speak" being perpetrated by nightmarish reptilian {{precursors}}.
81	* HorribleHistoryMetal: When they aren't singing about Lovecraft's writing or Egyptian Mythology they're singing about this.
82	* IAmTheBand: 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 does not consider himself the frontman, and is quite comfortable letting the other members take the main spotlight onstage.
83	* ImAHumanitarian: The narrator of "The Black Hand of Set"
84	** "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Eat of the Dead]]"
85	** "Unas Slayer of the Gods" is an almost word-for-word transcription of the "cannibalism texts" of Pharaoh Unas' tomb, wherein the graphic depiction of him murdering and consuming the entrails of the gods is found.
86	* {{Instrumentals}}: They usually have a few of these per album. Most often they are significantly lighter than the surrounding fare and have an Egyptian flavour, but sometimes they do metal instrumentals as well (the closing movement of "In Their Darkened Shrines", "Ruins", is an example of a DoomMetal-flavoured instrumental by the band).
87	* TheKlutz: George Kollias, at least when it comes to coffee. The man apparently has an ''uncanny'' knack for spilling it.
88	* LeadBassist: In spite of their revolving-door nature and frequently questionable lineup status, all of their bassists have been Type Bs.
89	* LeadDrummer: Original drummer Pete Hammoura was part of the band's VocalTagTeam.
90	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Their early EP title ''Festivals of Atonement'' comes from Creator/FriedrichNietzsche's ''The Gay Science'' (''Die fröhliche Wissenschaft'', 1882; also sometimes translated as ''The Joyful Pursuit of Knowledge and Understanding''). The full passage (which is commonly {{Quote Mine}}d to suggest something much different from Nietzsche's intended meaning) is:
91	--> "GodIsDead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What '''festivals of atonement''', what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"
92	* LoudnessWar: Most noticeable on ''Those Whom the Gods Detest'' and its VERY loud drum parts; the album was mastered by War criminal [[Music/HateEternal Erik Rutan]]. Also, listen to just about any acoustic section from ''Darkened Shrines'' onward - they tend to be brickwalled to about the same volume as ''the actual death metal parts''.
93	* MetalScream: Type 1 for Dallas, Type 2 for Karl. Brad Parris is also a Type 1, while Brian Kingsland is both a Type 1 and a Type 2 depending on whether he is doing a part from Vesano or Dallas.
94	* MinisculeRocking: They do a good bit of this, too. Most (but not quite all) of their ambient/acoustic interludes are under two minutes.
95	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Every bassist they have had since Jon Vesano has fallen victim to this to some degree. Chris Lollis, Todd Ellis, and Brad Parris have at least technically been full-time members despite having never appeared in promo photos (save for Parris, who has) or recorded anything (despite the fact that Lollis was around for two separate recording processes), but Steve Tucker, Christian Lofgren, and Joe Payne were all strictly live session players. Granted, the former two were both only around for a tour or two each, but the latter was in the band from 2005 until at least the beginning of the ''Ithyphallic'' recording process in February of 2007, when he was fired for undisclosed reasons. This was apparently mostly due to Dallas, who didn't trust the abilities of most of their bassists and came up with the idea to have them sit out the recording sessions; with him out of the picture, Brad Parris made writing contributions and tracked his own parts on ''Vile Nilotic Rites''.
96	* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Jon Vesano was an integral part of the band. Ever since he left, they've been through a fairly large amount of bassists, most of them hired guns for live sessions, with only Christian Lofgren, Chris Lollis and Joe Payne having received any sort of recognition due to their work in Lecherous Nocturne (as well as [[IAmTheBand being the driving force of the band]] in the case of the former) and Divine Heresy, respectively (and the drug trafficking arrest of the latter in 2012, where he was caught with $26,000 worth of marijuana, as well as three handguns and $5,000 in cash). It's especially egregious when you consider that Lollis was around for the recording of ''Those Whom the Gods Detest'' and ''At the Gates of Sethu'', but didn't lay down any tracks; like all post-Vesano albums, Karl and Dallas just did the bass tracking themselves. This has changed with Dallas' departure, however, as Parris has moved to the center of the stage and does a substantial amount of the vocal parts, and he also participated in the writing process and tracked his own parts on ''Vile Nilotic Rites''.
97	* NoKillLikeOverkill: Akhenaten's fate in "Cast Down the Heretic", which was probably TruthInTelevision (while no recorded accounts of Akhenaten's death exist, Karl reasoned in the liner notes that, given how many people Akhenaten pissed off, it was probably an incredibly violent, gruesome, and drawn-out end).
98	* OminousLatinChanting: Ominous Egyptian Chanting: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V56n95wW0I "Khetti... Satha... Shemsu..."]]
99	* PintsizedPowerhouse: Karl and George.
100	* ProtestSong: "Call to Destruction" was explicitly intended to decry the destruction of pre-Islamic artifacts while at the same time portraying the rationale for doing so through the eyes of an Islamic extremist who sees them as blasphemous and subversive.
101	* RasputinianDeath: "Cast Down the Heretic". While the exact details of Akhenaten's execution are not known, Karl reasoned that it wasn't rocket science to assume that his death at the hand of the Amen-Ra priesthood (which had been forcibly dissolved during his reign) was likely ''extremely'' gruesome, violent, and drawn-out.
102	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The best example of this trope is "Annihilation of the Wicked":
103	-->His servants,
104	-->Hideous reptiles of terrifying aspect.
105	-->Whose work is nothing less than the annihilation of the wicked.
106	-->On their blocks,
107	-->They cut into pieces the flesh of the dead,
108	-->Singing hymns of torture and mutilation to their master.
109	-->Accompanied by the wailings and anguish of the damned.
110	* RevolvingDoorBand: For a while, as Karl and Dallas went through myriad drummers and bassists before finally settling on Kollias for the former, though this trope is still very much in effect for the latter (though their status as full-time members has been questionable ever since Jon Vesano left; Payne was explicitly a live session player, while Lollis and Ellis were both listed as full-time despite being absent from recordings and inconsistently appearing in promo photos). Brad Parris, however, is a full member, as he participated in the writing process and tracked his own parts on ''Vile Nilotic Rites''.
111	** Averted on the band's two early [=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).[[note]]He did, however, join before it was released, and is officially listed as a member in the booklet via a welcome message in the liner notes.[[/note]] 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.
112	* SadlyMythtaken: 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.
113	* SealedEvilInACan: "Annihilation of the Wicked" describes the death god Seker as being entombed in the depths of his own chamber. Oddly enough, though, even his own subordinates have little motivation in actually unsealing him.
114	* ShoutOut: The Creator/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.
115	* ShownTheirWork: Karl Sanders' knowledge of mythology and history is so extensive that he has had to clarify on numerous occasions that he is not an actual Egyptologist, and that if people wish to find out more about the subject matters of the songs he writes, while he is happy to answer in some cases, one would be best served by a few trips to a well stocked library.
116	* SopranoAndGravel: Dallas contrasts Karl's extremely low grunt with a mid-ranged roar. Played even straighter on "The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased" courtesy of Mike Breazeale's clean vocals.
117	* SpecialGuest:
118	** Derek Roddy on ''Black Seeds of Vengeance'', since he was hastily recruited mid-session to replace Pete Hammoura after the latter's injury.
119	** Tim Yeung was a brief live member between Tony Laureano's departure and the hiring of George Kollias.
120	** Steve Tucker, fresh out of Music/MorbidAngel after David Vincent's return, was the first in a long line of tour-only bassists after Jon Vesano's departure. He was gone by the end of the U.S. ''Annihilation'' tour.
121	** Scott Eames filled in for Brian Kingsland on their spring 2022 US tour, as Brian had just had a kid.
122	** Jon Vesano has shown up as a guest vocalist on most albums subsequent to his departure from the band.
123	* StartMyOwn: Karl, George, and Brad all have side projects; the first two have solo projects (Karl has a Middle Eastern folk/ambient project, while George has a death metal project), while Brad has Olkoth, which is full band. Dallas also started Narcotic Wasteland as this, but they became his main band after he left Nile. Subverted with Lecherous Nocturne; while Dallas was indeed in the band at one point, he was not a founding member and in fact joined seven years after they had formed. The misconception that they are a side project is likely due to their close ties and the frequency with which former Nile personnel end up joining. Also subverted with Enthean, as they were Brian Kingsland's main band well before he joined Nile.
124	* TimeAbyss: Some of the creatures referred to in the songs (eg: "SSS Haa Set Yoth") seem to have been alive (or whatever equivalent it is in their nature) since even before man appeared on Earth:
125	-->Lurking among us hidden in obscurity, descended from the dawn of the ages...
126	* {{Unperson}}:
127	** The song "Black Seeds of Vengeance" features the lyrics:
128	--->"We shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the sky!"
129	** "Cast Down the Heretic" is this as well, basically depicting the Amen-Ra priesthood executing UsefulNotes/{{Akhenaten}} in the [[{{Gorn}} gorniest way possible]] and then obliterating all evidence of his rule and religion.
130	* UncommonTime: Since they are a TechnicalDeathMetal band, this was pretty much inevitable. They have been using it since their first demo.
131	* VocalTagTeam: Dallas Toler-Wade was their main vocalist during his tenure, but both Karl Sanders and Jon Vesano/[[NobodyLovesTheBassist (insert post-Vesano bass player here)]] would chip in significant lead vocals. Since Toler-Wade's departure, the band plays this straighter; Karl still does all of his parts, while Brian and Brad split duties roughly 60/40.
132	* VoiceOfTheLegion: Every now and again, most notably "4th Arra of Dagon" and "Khetti Satha Shemsu".
133	** Also "Utterances of the Crawling Dead".
134	* WellDoneSonGuy: "User-Maat-Re" depicts Pharoah Ramses II's[[note]]aka "User-Maat-Re Setep-en-re", hence the title[[/note]] exploits as a desperate attempt to gain the favor of his dead father, Seti I. These exploits included the conquest of vast swaths of territory and launching a campaign of temple- and monument-building unmatched for sheer quantity.[[note]]although the liner notes indicate the quality was somewhat lower than certain predecessors of Ramses[[/note]] The song nonetheless depicts the spectre of the late Seti as being eternally unsatisfied with his son ("[[TitleDrop User-Maat-Re]], thou hast done '''''nothing'''''"), in turn driving Ramses to ever greater heights (or depths, if one views this as insanity).

Context Music / Nile