LIVE REVIEW: Nile, Hideous Divinity, Intrepid, Pestifier, The Underworld, 11/09/2024
Photo Credit: Casey Coscarelli
Tonight is a special night in the nation’s capital. In one of the most beloved, intimate venues in the heart of Camden Town, The Underworld a capacity crowd of lucky fans gather to witness one of the most hallowed names in death metal lay waste to everything in its path. Tonight Nile walk this famous stage to promote their latest offering, the aptly named The Underworld Awaits Us All in an event that could very well rank amongst the most exciting of the year.
The first band to hit the stage on this multi-national bill are Belgium’s own Pestifier. The boys are technically proficient and are clearly all at the top of their game with their musical capabilities, but on a line-up this stacked with death metal ferocity, they come off a little one dimensional and uninspiring. The performance is decent enough and, on another night, they would go down a storm, but tonight their progressive tech-death leanings don’t quite hit the same as they should, and it feels a little flat. 6/10
The next band up are a different story entirely. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that you have one of the most revered death metal bands in history tonight you would have to say that Intrepid are the most exciting act on the stage tonight. The young Estonian wrecking crew engage the boys the crowd from the very first note and deliver old school death metal with surgical precision and ruthless aggression. Despite the lack of space on the stage at this point with two MASSIVE drum kits the lads stand tall, puff out their chests and subject the baying crowd to volley after volley of crushing riffs, thrash-inspired solos and blast beats. All capped with guttural, Corpsegrinder-esque vocals and plenty of headbanging. Watch this space, because these young lads seem hungry and have the talent to make some real waves going forward. 8/10
Next up we have the Italian natives from Hideous Divinity who have the unenviable task of following on from the previous set. The band take to the stage bathed in green light and immediately put their foot to the floor, beating the audience over the head with a melee of blast beats and pummelling riffs. Frontman Enrico Di Lorenzo is the secret weapon for the band tonight. He is as charismatic and entertaining with his stage movements as he is impressive with his vocal range and tonight, he works the crowd expertly. Music is technically superb and sprinkled with enough of a dramatic flair to give the audience a taste of something different on the night, standing out amongst the other supports who opted for more of a ‘stand a deliver’ approach. 7/10
However, all of the bands look insignificant when you hold them up against tonight’s headliners. Nile are and have been death metal royalty for more than three decades at this point and from the very moment they take to the stage you can see why. The band hold nothing back as they dive straight into a scorching rendition of Sacrifice Unto Sebek from their iconic Annihilation of The Wicked album. The band sound as visceral as ever with this current line-up, made up of founding member Karl Sanders on guitar and vocals, along with the titanic talent and drummer for more than two decades George Kollias, bassist/vocalist Dan Vadim Von and guitarist/vocalist Zach Jeter making up this current incarnation. The three-pronged vocal attack is incredibly effective as the band rip through the monstrous tracks Defiling the Gates of Ishtar and To Strike With Secret Fang from the albums Black Seeds of Vengeance and this years The Underworld Awaits Us All respectively.
By the time the group flies into their scathing rendition of Kafir! the mosh pits is spinning like a vortex in the middle of the packed floor with limbs, sweat and beer flying in all directions. And the energy shows little sign of letting up as the band lay down violent a violent display in the form of Call to Arms, Vile Nilotic Rites, and Stelae of Vultures.
As the band power their way through the set, it becomes increasingly difficult not to marvel at imperious back catalogue that they can draw from. Arguably one of the most well-stocked arsenals in all of extreme metal. This is no more evident than when the lads unleash a scathing rendition of Lashed to the Slave Stick. A song that has been in regular rotation for the band since its release twenty years ago and one that gives Kollias a chance to really stretch his legs with some serious double bass work, sounding more like heavy artillery than a drum kit.
Towards the back end of the set the temperature in the venue has reached uncomfortable levels, not unlike it would be in the height of summer in ancient Egypt. But that does not slow down this death metal juggernaut of a band as they pummel their adoring fans senses with the colossal (and ridiculously named) Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Faeces by the Four Apes. A song that has grown in notoriety, not just for the ludicrously long title but also the insanely heavy blast beats and sonically overwhelming riffs that sound like they come from the minds of a band twenty years Nile’s junior.
As the final notes ring out of Black Seeds of Vengeance the band hold their instruments aloft victoriously. The ceiling is sweating at this point and the four musicians stand front and centre on the famous stage drenched in sweat but being bathed in adoration and applause from their onlooking fans. Nile is regarded as an institution in in the metal scene, having plied their trade at the highest echelons of the death metal world and with this latest line up they look as solid as ever. Better, in fact than they have done in years and hopefully they will continue on for many years to come yet. 9/10
Written By: Rich Webb
