[Cover art by Michał “Xaay” Loranc]
Nile being Nile, one of the first songs they released was “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes,” which happens to be the longest title on the album. Naturally, reading that title made me wonder just how often apes and monkeys actually throw their poop. Turns out that’s mostly a captivity thing. We throw them in cages, so they throw their disdain right back at us. Maybe people do deserve to be made to eat feces by four or more apes, after all. Maybe some people even like the idea of getting hit with, or eating, a turd. The lyrics to the song really sound more like someone who’s addicted to coprophagia trying to convince themselves they’re not:
“I will Not Eat what I detest
What I detest is Feces
I will Not Partake of It
Excrement
I will Not Consume it
It Shall Not Enter me
It Shall not Come Near my Hands
Nor My Mouth
Nor Shall it fall From my Belly” (actual lyrics)
“Who would like feces? Definitely not me, man. No way. I never touch the brown stuff. By the way, you happen to see any of Koko’s diapers lying around recently?” (not actual lyrics)
As has been the case with the last couple of records, album number 10 sees the band stripping back the overtly Egyptian horns and bombast for a more straightforward death metal ass wiping… I mean whipping. In fact, the interlude “The Pentagrammathion of Nephren-Ka,” the closing of “Under the Curse of the One God” (that’s very reminiscent of “Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche” by the way), and the gong notes ringing out in the closer are really the only overtly bombastic “Egyptian” moments. The influence is still ever-present with the Middle-Eastern style of the guitar writing, but what’s here is much more focused on pure death metal, and a very fast brand of it at that. In fact, the aforementioned “Under the Curse of the One God” opens with a guitar note so fast that it sounds like a perturbed child scribbling inane spatters of color on an asylum wall. It has a real “Call to Destruction” vibe, and even in brief moments when it slows down, George Kolias is beating the ever-living hell out of every single part of his kit.
This continued passion for full-on assault means that often what separates each song from the one before it is a more subtle element, potent moment or killer riff. The opening scream of “Chapter for…” is visceral, and one of the riffs later in the track is appropriately bouncy like a monkey dancing in a tree. “Stelae of Vultures” piles leads on top of leads, never letting the listener rest. In opposition to that, “True Gods of the Desert” is the only song that spends the majority of its runtime in a slow crush. It utilizes a simpler, head-bopping riff as it trudges along. Even at the point where it unleashes a sustained scream to mark the launch of speed, that time passes quickly and brings it back down. The title track creates passages of big open space that let the guitar wail and simmer while also warping demented breakdowns of a sort into the middle, giving it a more dynamic impact than anything else on the album.
“Naqada II Enter the Golden Age” pops off brief choral vocals over the line “We’ve got to cleanse the black Earth,” in a manner that will likely make you want to sing along like a good little member of the gospel group. Those same vocals are used throughout the album in a few different ways. A little twist on the production gives them a more dramatic flair in “Overlords of the Black Earth,” they’re subtly woven in like a haunted chant in “Doctrine of Last Things,” and they pivot to a male voice on “True Gods of the Desert” that has a theatrical pomp befitting Dimmu Borgir. Though each instance of these choral vocals is typically short lived, their impact is a bit dulled by the fact that they appear in seven of nine non-instrumental tracks.
Ultimately, the triple guitar attack, rapid firing of three vocalists and powerhouse drumming of Kolias continue to be a draw all their own. In that way, The Underworld Awaits Us All continues right where Vile Nilotic Rites left off. So, if you’re looking for the big bombastic tracks and relentless integration of odd instruments from their early days, this one probably isn’t for you. But if you’ve been just as happy to get smashed to bits by the pure assaultive tact of their last few albums, this should keep you plenty satisfied. And if you don’t like modern Nile, well, you can go eat shit at the zoo.
