Gig

Nile – Gig Review 17th October @ The Brightside, Brisbane QLD

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Oct 18, 2024

7 min read

Nile
The Brightside, Meanjin/Brisbane QLD
October 17th, 2024
Support: Carnal Viscera and Descent

Absolute giants in the world of brutal and technical death metal, Nile’s legacy in the genre is almost as rich and deep as the culture they’ve based their careers on. As South Carolina’s finest Egyptian export, the group has three decades of metal history to their names, including a multitude of visits to Australia, with this tour their 6th tour down under overall - and first in nearly 9 years (thanks Covid). With the Brisbane gig the third date of this run, a big Thursday night crowd has shown up at The Brightside - even a delayed entry some 45 minutes after the advertised door times isn’t enough to dampen the spirits of the ever-growing line of punters.

Moving on quickly from the pushed-back start, local boys Descent hit the stage to a rapidly filling venue. A fixture of the Brisbane heavy music scene, and fresh from supporting metalcore kings Killswitch Engage last month, the HM2-pedal-loving act’s diversity is on full display as they equally seem at home on this much more brutal bill. Truncating their set down to 20 minutes to keep things running on time, they receive a strong reaction - especially from the small crew of dedicated headbangers up the front thanks to key moments of atmosphere and dynamics amongst the dissonant carnage.

Ripping through a quick changeover, horror-fixated quintet and national supports Carnal Viscera fight through a scrappy mix and a couple of loose moments in their set of gore-soaked death metal. With their vocalist bringing a friendly-bloke-at-the-pub meets Travis Ryan's (Cattle Decapitation) feral energy, tracks like ‘Cocaine Cannibal’ are the high points in their visceral showing. Ironically they sound most interesting when they're including elements not far from the headliner. Still, for the most part, it’s meat-and-potatoes death metal - not much to phone home about sure, but Carnal Viscera do their job by keeping the energy levels up through a shortened support slot.

With our main support act quickly vacating the stage, things seemingly come to a grinding halt as The Brightside reaches capacity. With Nile taking to the stage an hour later than advertised - nearly 90 minutes after the end of Carnal Viscera’s set - there’s almost a sense of relief from the liquored-up crowd as the lights dim and exotic strains emerge from the PA.

Opening with the tried and true ‘Sacrifice Upon Sebek’ and ‘Defiling the Gates of Ishtar’, Nile hit the stage with the air-tight precision that they’ve built their reputations upon. Any pent-up energy/intoxication from the heaving mosh is immediately discharged, requiring zero encouragement from the band to whip up push pits - with a couple of punters crowd surfing from the get-go. The set hits a delay early on following ‘Strike With Secret Fang’ as George Kollias ducks off stage to find a fan - as in the type that provides cool wind - leaving guitarist/vocalist Zach Jeter to fill in the dead space for a couple minutes before the night marches on.

New tracks from The Underworld Awaits Us All slot in perfectly with the ‘greatest hits’, with a couple of cuts from the previous LP Vile Nilotic Rites a nice addition - Nile never did make it down here on the back of that album. The ultra-talented vocalist/bassist Dan Vadim Von - also in fellow old-school death metal legends Morbid Angel - commands the centre stage with a straight-faced power, with band visionary and shred-lord Karl Sanders making up the final member of the triple-headed vocal attack. Sound-wise, it’s about as good as it gets for this type of music in a small-club environment; faster songs like the superb ‘Kafir' have their quickest moments lost in a blur of drums and guitars; but the more restrained, doom-influenced, and atmospheric moments of the night sound utterly massive.

Longtime drummer George Kollias roars around his massive kit, balancing otherworldly pace with complex and exotic cymbal work. Nile's main man Sanders performs well, despite cutting a slightly frustrated figure at the start - though he is genuine in his appreciation to the packed Brightside crowd. Death metal classic Annihilation of the Wicked is unsurprisingly leaned into heavily, while the nearly 25-year-old ‘Sarcophagus’ is as immense and epic as extreme metal gets.

Wrapping up their performance with - breathe - ‘Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes’ and the title track of their debut full-length Black Seeds of Vengeance, it’s certainly been a powerful evening for Nile - though the occasion may have lost some it’s shine due to the large delays, especially when the supports had their night's reduced. However, this is no slight on the performance from Nile, with the Brisbane metal freaks treated with some of the finest examples of technical, brutal extreme music ever created.

Admittedly as their set progresses a few bodies have left - let’s be real, this is an older 30/40+ crowd and it is a work night - but the tech death legends have proven undoubtedly that they can hang - and crush - any of their peers and disciples.

Review by Andrew Kapper