Take a band whose core sound is devastatingly Morbid Angel-ish in it’s mannerisms.Throw in some Egyptian influences like weird chanting, traditional instruments and background synths.Mix it up nicely so that they get incorporated into the songs themselves.Then burn this death metal mayhem onto a CD. Yes sir,you guessed right. The black smoldering piece of plastic you now hold in your hands can be none other than Nile. "Black seeds of Vengeance", the follow up to 1998’s totally crushing "Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren Ka" sees the band steadily continuing on a path where none have gone before. After a typical eerie intro the band blasts straight into the title track. an utterly devastating song with some impressive fretwork. the guitar sound leaves a little to be desired as it is very muddy and sometimes just gets buried in the mix. Anyways,as if this song wasn’t impressive enough,the listener is next faced with "Defiling the Gates of Ishtar".This song totally embodies what Nile is all about. Twisting and turning through passages of pulverizing blast beats and ingenious guitar work,this is some inspired song writing indeed. "Masturbating the War God" and "Multitude of foes" can rape your eardrums and bleed them dry many times over.Technical.Brutal.Tight. These 3 words sum up the album perfectly. The speed which the drummer attains on the double pedal is astounding.The vocal approach is multipronged,with the "proper" vocals done in a low growling voice and is mixed with some higher ranged harsh deliverances too. When they do manage to slow down,as on "The Black Flame" and "To Dream of Ur", the result is equally impressive. Nile are adept at building the menacing and foreboding atmosphere which convinces the listener they are listening to something Evil! The only 2 cribs i have against this album are to do with the guitar sound (needed a little bit more punch) and the last 2 songs, "Nameless City of the Accursed" and "Khetti Satha Shemsu". These 2 songs are total Egyptian kind of stuff.While I don’t mind innovative music like this at all,i would prefer this stuff to have been mixed up with the heavy parts. Anyways, nothing can change the fact that Nile RULE! and this album RULES! Get this or Die.