NILE is a band that helped the coming back of Death Metal in the USA after the saturation the genre suffered in the middle of the 90s. Albums as “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” (1998), “Black Seeds of Vengeance” (2000), “In Their Darkened Shrines” (2002), “Annihilation of the Wicked” (2005) and “Ithyphallic” (2007) helped to sediment their musical career, becoming one of the giants of the genre and the most famous Death Metal act of its generation. And after many tours throughout the world and many albums, what “The Underworld Awaits Us All”, their 10th studio album, can bring us that they didn’t deliver before?

Once again, Karl Sanders worked as producer and on the recordings, leaving the mixing and mastering for the hands of Mark Lewis (the same one who already worked with the band, and is known for his works with WHITECHAPEL, ALL THAT REMAINS, BELPHEGOR, DEATH ANGEL, DEICIDE, DYING FETUS, SIX FEET UNDER, CANNIBAL CORPSE, TRIVIUM, KRISIUN, METAL ALLEGIANCE, NE OBLIVISCARIS, PAINSIDE, PROJECT46, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and many others), creating a brutal and aggressive sonority, but ‘dry’ and heavy as well, and everything can be understood easily. And as guests, here are Mike Breazeale (who sings on Karl’s solo band) and Jason Hohenstein (of LEGION OF LUNACY) on the additional vocals. Back to the question: what NILE can deliver after all these years? The same technical and sharp Death Metal that they’re used to do, with contrasts between the vocals’ tunes, and everything that they’re used to offer to the fans. But in the case of the band, with all these years on their shoulders and such contributions, do they need to do the unexpected once more and cause a new revolution? One thing must be said: the songs are amazing, in a high level again. It cannot sound as an instantaneous classic, but Death Metal fans will have no reason for complaints.

All the eleven tracks are truly amazing, each one of them a massive blow in the ears, and to shred every shadow of doubt, check the brutality of the offerings as “Stelae of Vultures” (a fast song in the usual ways of NILE, with excellent tempos shifts and amazing guitars and bass parts), “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes” (again a song filled with refined technical appeal, but without loosing its brutal grasp, with amazing guitar riffs and arrangements), “To Strike with Secret Fang” (that has similar elements to what they showed on “Invocation of the Gate of Aat-Ankh-es-en-Amenti”, but being shorter), “Naqada II Enter the Golden Age” (another massive blow of aggressive energy in the ears), “Overlords of the Black Earth” (it’s great to hear that brutality and technique mixed in such way can keep the extreme hooks), “Under the Curse of the One God” (some slow parts on this one are really great, showing the nasty riffs the band is able to summon)… Well, the best is to listen to “Doctrine of Last Things”, “True Gods of the Desert” (excellent clean vocals parts in some moments), “The Underworld Awaits Us All”, and “Lament for the Destruction of Time”, because all of them have great surprises.

Once again: NILE doesn’t have anything more to prove, so enjoy “The Underworld Awaits Us All”, because it’s a great release, indeed.