Last week, "Big Daddy" here told that Metal is the only common language between men of all countries in the world (only the socialist/communists countries still keep censoring it, but the dead regime is dying). Politics, religions, economy, races, not of all them can keep Metallians apart, or can make we hate each other. Metal bounds we all, keep us away from all these conceptions. Of course we live in a world drowned on the conceptions I told above, but no Metalhead would do something harsh to another one for them. And one more proof of Metal's universality is this Death Metal sextet from Cairo, Egypt (a country where Islam faith is strong), the brutal and oppressive SCARAB that rises from the sands and brings us their second album, the excellent "Serpents of the Nile".

They play a brutal and technical form of Death Metal, but don't think that they are a copy from NILE. They're not as technical as the North American band, but are more brutal and use some very good melodies here and there (especially on guitars), and very discrete (but always good) keyboards interventions. And they're trying to do something different, to not follow trends or any format we could think of into Death Metal. And on a near future, of course they'll do it. But even now, their mix of very guttural grunts, extreme harsh and powerful guitar riffs and some good solos, very good keyboards parts and a solid and heavy rhythmic session that has very good technique is showing a lot their potential. And they can be brutal both on fast moments as in slower and bitter ones.

I don't know who did the album's production, but he (or them) made a very good effort to make their work sound aggressive, intense, heavy, but clean enough for our ears understand what the band is unleashing.

The most astonishing feature in their musical work is the duration of the tracks: all of them (except for "Calling Forth the Ancient Spirits of Kemet", that is an introduction with a bit more than two minutes, and "Serpents of the Nile", with more than four minutes) are very long songs, so you can expect very good changes in tempos, but be safe: they are insane and brutal, and you'll not get bored.

The strength and brutal grasp of "Visions of a Blood River" (with very good guitar and drums works) and "Pyramid of Illusions" (great vocals, keyboards and bass presence), and the perfect "The Afterlife Illusions" can be pointed the best moments on the album, but the whole CD is excellent.

Hear it, and let the elder gods of the ancient Egypt take your souls to the land of the dead!