BravePicks 2024 - NILE's The Underworld Awaits Us All #10
December 21, 2024, 12 hours ago
In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it's far from over! And during the past three decades, we've literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!
Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords' writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025.
BravePicks 2024
10) NILE - The Underworld Awaits Us All (Napalm)
Beginning our top 10 are death metal legionnaires Nile. Brutal, fierce, and manic, The Underworld Awaits Us All is a reminder why they are kings of technical, brutal death metal. With the exotic drumming of George Kollias and Karl Sanders’ bruising guitar work, this is a mind-bending album that remains in constant energy for 52 minutes.
The Underworld does indeed await as Nile runs to #10.
Scribe Greg Pratt scored the album a 9.0, an excerpt of his review:
…opener “Stelae Of Vultures” sounding like a total wall of noise, the band actually sounding more alive than they have in a while here, the song just a steamroller of technicality and forward momentum.
Follow-up (deep breath) “Chapter For Not Being Hung Upside Down On A Stake In The Underworld And Made To Eat Feces By The Four Apes” continues the vibe but streamlines it down to 3:50 compared to the opener's 6:20 (which, I must say, races past); we're going back to Nephren-Ka here in that these songs aren't oppressive and overwhelming, they're full of energy.
And so is George Kollias' drumming, the man on an absolute tear here, mastermind Karl Sanders looking on with a sagely nod before laying down absurd riff after absurd riff, “Naqada II Enter The Golden Age” being almost catchy, “Under The Curse Of The One God” featuring riffs flying faster than they should at this point in Nile's career, “True Gods Of The Desert” absolutely destroying with a pair of Crowbar-worthy sludge/death opening riffs.
BravePicks 2024 Top 30
11) EVERGREY - Theories Of Emptiness (Napalm)
12) THE CROWN - Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
13) NECROPHOBIC - In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
14) DJEVEL - Natt Til Ende (Aftermath)
15) INTRANCED - Muerte y Metal (High Roller)
16) KITTIE - Fire (Sumerian)
17) BLACKTOP MOJO - Pollen (Cuhmon Music Group)
19) RIOT V - Mean Streets
20) PORTRAIT - The Host
21) ROTTING CHRIST - Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
22)SAXON - Hell, Fire And Damnation (Silver Lining)
23) ULCERATE - Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
24) POWERWOLF - Wake Up The Wicked (Napalm)
25) ENSIFERUM - Winter Storm (Metal Blade)
26) OPETH - The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
27) DARK TRANQUILLITY - Endtime Signals (Century Media)
28) MORGUL BLADE - Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse)
29) THE DEAD DAISIES - Light 'Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING - Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)
