Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
May 6th 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Based out of Greenville SC but themed on ancient Egyptian religion and mysticism, technical death metal band Nile have been in existence for more than 20 years, and on this particular leg of their North American tour, they’re presenting a career-spanning set of songs their most loyal and die-hard fans would greatly appreciate, as it comprises some deep cuts and material they’ve never performed live before. Beginning the tour in Atlanta GA on April 14, moving through the East Coast and Canada and making their way Westwards, Nile visited the House Of Blues Sunset Strip in West Hollywood last night to lay their relentlessly crushing onslaught upon their LA fans.
As Nile didn’t bring any touring support with them this time around, local band Kaustik was the only opening act of the night and they started things at 7:50 PM. I previously saw them opening for Havok at the Whisky around seven months ago, and didn’t enjoy their performance on that occasion, as I didn’t think they fit in with the other bands on that lineup well at all. But this time they fared a lot better in my opinion, playing a more-than-decent set and garnering a positive response from the crowd, which wasn’t large in numbers yet. The technical aspects of their guitar work in particular went down rather well amongst this gathering of Nile fans, and the competent drumming served as an ideal ally to it. Frontman Robbo’s bass playing was solid, but I feel the vocals could still form a better fit with the music and there’s room for him to slow down the tempo of his vocal delivery and focus a little more on delivering it through melody lines. Even for vocalists who pursue a harsh/growling style, there’s definitely scope to ‘sing’ and formulate melody lines, and Testament’s Chuck Billy is the best example of that. Anyhow, I was able to appreciate this Kaustik set infinitely more than that previous time. They ended at 8:20 and provided a decent appetizer for this death metal-hungry crowd.
Kaustik links:
KaustikBand.com
facebook.com/KaustikBYFH
twitter.com/KaustikBYFH
It was a strange show in some regards, with no tour support and the sole local opening act playing only 30 minutes, followed by what turned out to be a 45-minute wait for the headliner, and despite all that, the show ending unusually earlier than what’s normal for House Of Blues metal gigs. But at 9:05, the four members of Nile walked onto the stage without much fuss, and a rip-roaring rendition of the tune ‘Sacrifice Unto Sebek’ off of their stellar 2005 album ‘Annihilation Of The Wicked’ marked an auspicious beginning to their 15-song set wherein each of the seven studio albums were represented. The material off of the first three albums naturally drew the biggest response from the longtime fans, but tunes from the two latest albums ‘At The Gate Of Sethu’ and ‘Those Whom The Gods Detest’ weren’t far behind either. The band’s collective sound was massively intense right from the get-go and it simply never dwindled down at any point during the set.
Guitarist and principal songwriter Karl Sanders, in the exact same outfit I saw him wearing when Nile played at the Key Club in late 2010, was at the peak of his powers guitar-wise, and was well assisted by three excellent musicians in Dallas Toler-Wade on vocals/guitar, Todd Ellis on bass and the highly revered George Kollias on drums. In a show of this nature wherein the style of music is extremely serious, technical and unrelentingly intense, it’s crucial for the band’s frontman to inject some comic relief, and Dallas certainly did that when he demanded the crowd to give him their best death metal voice and confronted the dude who yelled Freebird. ‘This is the only free bird you’ll get from me tonight’, he said as he gleefully flipped him off.
When it comes to catering to fans of technical death metal, with this performance Nile showed that it’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better than them. While I’m personally not the most ardent fan of this sub-genre you’ll ever find, I am certainly open to appreciating some of it, specially when it’s done as brilliantly as Nile does. In all honesty though, I was seeking the slower, more riff-based parts in their music, parts that could serve the head-banger in me and weren’t filled to the brim with technical complexity to such an extent that it’s too hard to grasp all at once. And to that effect, ‘Iskander Dhul Kharnon’ was easily my favorite track of this set.
The turnout at the House Of Blues was worryingly light at first but it was great to see the GA floor nearly packed with Nile fans by the time the band started, and the atmosphere in the venue was excellent due to this very vocal crowd. Overall, Nile delivered a righteously intense death metal treat for all in attendance, and with this career-spanning set under their belts, Karl Sanders and his troops seem fully geared to create new material and unveil the next chapter in their musicality.
[Interview with Karl Sanders to be posted soon]
Check out a gallery of 25 Nile photos below, or view it here if you’re on a non-Flash device:
Nile links:
Nile-Catacombs.net
facebook.com/NileCatacombs
twitter.com/NileCatacombs
Set List:
01. Sacrifice Unto Sebek
02. Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar
03. Chapter For TransformingInto A Snake
04. Kafir!
05. Hittite Dung Incantation
06. Enduring The Eternal Molestation Of Flame
07. Supreme Humanism Of Megalomania
08. As He Creates So He Destroys
09. The Blessed Dead
10. The Howling Of The Jinn
11. The Inevitable Degradation Of Flesh
12. Iskander Dhul Kharnon
13. Sarcophagus
14. Lashed To The Slave Stick
15. Black Seeds Of Vengeance
Remaining Tour Dates:
05/07/14 Club Red – Tempe, AZ
05/08/14 LVCS – Las Vegas, NV
05/10/14 The Chameleon Room – Oklahoma City, OK
05/11/14 Trees – Dallas, TX
05/12/14 Green Room – San Antonio, TX
05/13/14 Scout Bar – Houston, TX
05/14/14 Siberia – New Orleans, LA
05/15/14 Orpheum – Tampa, FL
House Of Blues Sunset Strip links:
HouseOfBlues.com/LosAngeles
facebook.com/HOBSunset
twitter.com/HOBSunset
instagram.com/HOBSunset