Nile is back with another installment of their trademark Egyptian themed technical death metal. This is their eighth outing and if you’re expecting a new direction from Nile compared to previous efforts then you’ll be disappointed. But hey everybody knows what to expect from these guys! I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the previous album At the Gate of Sethu mostly because of some strange production. In contrast, I am of the opinion that Nile reached staggering heights with Those Whom the Gods Detest . I think What Should Not Be Unearthed is somewhere between the two and I’m certainly glad Karl and co. got around to unearthing this record.

The album starts off with a maelstrom of a track named Call to Destruction which criticizes the destructive actions of extremist Muslims who are trying to erase a history which contradicts their own somehow by “tearing down these blasted edifices of heathenism”. It’s a cool track and while it might sound a bit generic on first listen it’s definitely a grower. Negating the Abominable Coils of Apep and Liber Stellae Rubeae both follow the old reliable format of Nile songs whereby they go between sets of lightning fast blistering riffs into grinding halts of disgustingly heavy material (in a good way). Interestingly, Liber is about the writings of Aleister Crowley and becomes more than just another Nile track when accompanied with the lyrics.

In the Name of Amun is a cool track with a memorable intro, followed by some fan friendly riffs and an awesome outro consisting of apocalyptic preaching, surely a future staple in their setlist. Despite these moments, I think the album gets a bit too repetitive at this point and tracks blend together if you’re not concentrating on the material. The title track typifies this and was a disappointing attempt at introducing some variety into the album, this literally sounds like its dragging along to nowhere. Evil to Cast Out Evil more than makes up for this though and really saves the day with what I can honestly say is one of the best songs in their entire discography. It sounds really fresh and inspired the whole way through with some excellent vocal moments and one of my favourite solos of recent times. Incredible stuff from Nile here!

The Age of Famine and Rape of the Black Earth fall back into the borderline indistinguishable songs category I’m afraid and while the latter has a memorable outro featuring a delicious eastern scale riff, these songs aren’t really interesting enough to hold much attention. The deftly named Ushabti Reanimator is an impressive Egyptian style instrumental that breaks these two up and it’s a welcome break when listening to the album the whole way through. The album wraps up with To Walk From Flames Unscathed , which is an attempt at an epic finale which they’ve done on a few albums, e.g. Iskander Dhul Kharnon and Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten . There are some nice moments on this one, such as a wailing lead lick that rides over sections of the song, but overall bells and whistles included, it’s not a truly powerful track in my opinion.

Overall, I’m slightly disappointed with this as an entire work. It should always be mentioned that the musicianship on this album, as well as every other Nile album is absolutely mind-boggling. The production on this is vastly improved to the previous album and really helps to accentuate the complexity of the riffs and the intensity of the drumming. However, due to a lack of spark and variety, there are portions of this album that are quite tough to get through. That aside, some spectacular moments and one of the best death metal songs I’ve heard in recent times ( Evil to Cast Out Evil ) makes this another solid release from Nile .