It also highlights the fact that, in death metal, it's not where you're from that matters, but how you sound. This telling quote points to the sense of spectacle-and fiction, for God's, or, uh Satan's sake-that's so important with this music. It's probably completely more fascinating than my home state of South Carolina." Live, the sight of this band-fronted by a trio of grunting, growling men wrestling impossibly dense and complex riff mutations from their fretboards at warp speed-is legitimately awe-inspiring.Īsked what it was about ancient Egypt that grabbed his fascination, Nile frontman Karl Sanders responds, "I think the monumental, grandiose scale of it all-it's completely larger than life. Nile in particular managed to do so while also adding layers of orchestration-chants, gongs, authentic Egyptian folk instruments-that were new to the genre and, amazingly enough, didn't sound terrible. These new extreme bands helped to up the death metal ante to new levels of insanity, inspired by the bionic musicianship of pioneers Morbid Angel and bolstered by superhuman chops and stamina. At the time, heavy-hitters Carcass, Napalm Death, and Entombed were then moving in a less-extreme direction (to the chagrin of stubborn fans), while meat-and-potatoes standbys such as Obituary were becoming old news with the rise of the more majestic, atmospheric black metal bands from Norway. But it's no joke.Įgyptology obsessions aside, Nile are representative of the wave of second-generation bands-along with the likes of Brazil's Krisiun, Canada's Cryptopsy and Kataklysm, and current tourmates Vader-that came to death metal's rescue in the late '90s as the original platoon had begun to lose steam. To the outsider, their premise will probably seem a little ridiculous: Four burly guys from South Carolina writing meticulously researched songs about ancient Egypt, then delivering them in an indecipherable torrent of blasting drums and lower-than-low vocals. In the cult underworld of death metal, Nile are currently one of the genre's most recognized bands, alongside elder statesmen Morbid Angel and perennially tasteless popularizers Cannibal Corpse. England's Carcass and Napalm Death Florida's Death, Deicide, Morbid Angel, and Obituary and New York's Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse-these heathens took rock 'n' roll to its heaviest, most ludicrous extreme, wowing diehards and repelling everyone else with onslaughts of growled vocals, guttural guitars, and clobbering double-bass drums: The genre's popularity has ebbed and flowed since then, but it's never gotten close to garnering a cultural tombstone. While hair metal was fading and thrash bands like Slayer and Pantera were earning their first gold records, the death metal bands ruled the underground. They've also been written off as sellouts and otherwise left for dead by even their once-faithful old fans.Įntombed were the biggest, baddest band to emerge from the great Swedish death metal explosion of the late '80s and early '90s, which coincided with a worldwide golden age for the gore-obsessed genre. They were one of the original bands on the preeminent Earache label, and they've sold hundreds of thousands of records over the years, even earning a few Swedish Grammy nominations. Plus, for all its strange twists, their decade-and-a-half career neatly parallels that of the genre as a whole. Sure, there are groups that are more popular, influential, and technically dazzling, but none can sum up what's cool about the genre better than these guys did on songs like Clandestine's "Living Dead" or Left Hand Path's "But Life Goes On." But like cockroaches, Lemmy from Motörhead, and death metal itself, Entombed refuse to keel over-they just keep mutating and coming back stronger.Īs a death metal fan, it's hard not to root for Entombed. "Lineup changes, a few managers, a bunch of bookers, fuck-ups from record labels, bus crashes."Īdd to that list of troubles defecting band members, chronic distributor woes, and trend after hostile trend within the metal underground. We've been through a lot of shit," boasts Jörgen Sandström, bassist for Swedish death metal pioneers Entombed.
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