Nile - At the Gate of Sethu

[ChAAPY]

holy shit this new song is awesome. love the vocals.

[ceddeeoo]

yeah it's dope. Even the clean vocals part which i found eh at first grew on me. TWtGD wasn't very interesting to me but this is way cooler. Hope to hear more of those low growls.

[Auslander]

There's lots of crazy stuff on this record. Hope you guys dig it.

[Dysrhythmia]

Originally Posted by Auslander

There's lots of crazy stuff on this record. Hope you guys dig it.

Do you have any idea if Nevermore plan to reissue DNB?

[Auslander]

No idea, sorry.

[SLIT YOUR GUTZ]

I thought Nevermore were pretty much over. If they continue it's pretty much the Warrel Dane band now? And all of their releases are still available, why would you need a reissue?

[temproh]

Why are talking about Nevermore now?

PS: This board deserves an internet award for all those tags...

[McGoreslam]

Looking forward to the album. The low growls on the new song, are very good!

[Phidion]

Just got around to listen to the new track. Nile sounds better than for many years. Really cool and different track. That new vocal style seems odd at first but takes a few spins before it gets settled. Hoping for a more meaty/heavy production on the final product though.

[Popegina]

From the M-A forum:

For everybody who is wondering about the vocals. Here is a statement of Karl Sanders (copied from the official Nile Forum):

"Right on. For anyone interested in the Vocal Breakdowns in this [new] song;

The Part that goes "I will Erase You" is Mike Breazeale and Jason Hagan Harmonizing
The Part that goes "I am Re" Is Mike Breazeale
The very first growl , the last growl , and the two demon possesion growl/screams over the instrumental break is Jon vesano
The rest is me , doing a couple of different voices - the first and very last verse is a normal Karl subteranna "mummy growl" , then there is the Sobe Karl voice - kind like the old school aforementioned "coroner vox" and a few variations where the different voices are layered together for sickness .

The idea is /was to branch out somewhat , and incorporate a little variety in the vocals beyond ( in the words of our detractors) the same old thing .

[...]

"Fiends" happens to be the one random track that doesn't have Dallas - but it does have a wide variety of guests .

[...]

Yes, the vox on Fiends ARE different."

[Mr-Shredz]

After a few spins I decided I don't really like this song, even after reading the concept meaning and who did the weird vox. The thing that is bugging me the most is definitely the guitar sound, I listened to AOTW and the guitar tone is immense compared to this. Not dissing the production vision btw I can tell they wanted a less chuggy sound for guitars so all the other sounds stand out a lot more in the mix but for me Nile is all about the riffage sound.

I'm still looking forward to the rest of the songs though, just like Meshuggah and Corpse, I didn't like the songs they streamed online but loved the rest of the tracks. Hope it's the same for this one.

[Auslander]

Originally Posted by Mr-Shredz

After a few spins I decided I don't really like this song, even after reading the concept meaning and who did the weird vox. The thing that is bugging me the most is definitely the guitar sound, I listened to AOTW and the guitar tone is immense compared to this. Not dissing the production vision btw I can tell they wanted a less chuggy sound for guitars so all the other sounds stand out a lot more in the mix but for me Nile is all about the riffage sound.

I'm still looking forward to the rest of the songs though, just like Meshuggah and Corpse, I didn't like the songs they streamed online but loved the rest of the tracks. Hope it's the same for this one.

This song is a bit of an anomaly in that it is the only one which relies on rhythm guitars to incorporate all the melodies within the song. There are no solos, or additional harmony guitars which are a common Nile addition, so the guitar sound was made as clear as possible rather than using the usual dirtier Nile sound.

This is something that has bothered the guys for years, Karl in particular, where he feels that with all the usual distortion in the guitar sound a lot of the note clarity is obscured by the fur that all the gain provides. So, this time round, and in this song in particular, the cleaner approach was the way we chose to go.

There are plenty of different types of songs and riffs on the new record, but this particular song required a lot more note clarity than Nile has ever had before, so that's the reason behind the decision to go in this direction.

[quartertone]

I have no problem with that. I agree that the fatness of the tone has sometimes muffled exactly what was going on in the past, as great as it may have sounded in itself.

[ChAAPY]

no complaints here either. the guitar tone might be thinner, but when the bass comes in to fill in that hole, everything comes together like it should. was this quad tracked again? did that ever come up when discussing the issue or clarity? great job with the mix btw.

[Auslander]

Yes, quad-tracked as usual. The Nile guys are not big fans of bass either, and if there's any song on the album where the bass subtly shadows the guitar as opposed to being more prominent, then this is that song, basically for the reasons I outlined in the previous post.The guitars on this song took by far the longest to track of any Nile song so far, so because of that we wanted them to not be stepped on too much by the bass.

[SLIT YOUR GUTZ]

but... but I love prominent bass

But I know bass has never been in the forefront of Nile's music. It'd be tight to hear the bass go crazy or solo or something once in a while in their music though.

[Mr-Shredz]

Originally Posted by Auslander

This song is a bit of an anomaly in that it is the only one which relies on rhythm guitars to incorporate all the melodies within the song. There are no solos, or additional harmony guitars which are a common Nile addition, so the guitar sound was made as clear as possible rather than using the usual dirtier Nile sound.

This is something that has bothered the guys for years, Karl in particular, where he feels that with all the usual distortion in the guitar sound a lot of the note clarity is obscured by the fur that all the gain provides. So, this time round, and in this song in particular, the cleaner approach was the way we chose to go.

There are plenty of different types of songs and riffs on the new record, but this particular song required a lot more note clarity than Nile has ever had before, so that's the reason behind the decision to go in this direction.

Thanks for clarifying the direction on the production of this album Neil, I always admire the vision of a band in the recording progress and the producer's input in creating this vision perfectly.

I can't really imagine having dirtier guitars in this particular song by putting myself on the creator's shoes. I guess it's just me and the illusion of always expecting high volume guitars in DM

Anxious to hear the rest of tunes!

[Auslander]

Thanks. As I mentioned, this song is pretty much the dark horse on the record on several levels. It is the only one that doesn't feature Dallas on vocals, plus there are no solos or additional guitars, so it's not really typical.

It also has lots of tricky time signatures in it, and lots of crazy drumming, which can make it sound a bit fragmented at first, but I honestly think this song is very concise and well put together.

This album has a lot going on and is very aggressive as well. I hope you guys dig it as much as we do. It was a lot of work.

[Mr-Shredz]

Forgot to say that that guitar sound you did for The Wretched Spawn is my favourite Mesa recorded sound ever And of course the guitars in AOTW (these were Marshall though right?) - another reason why I was surprised on this approach of tone for this new album.

[Auslander]

Thanks very much. I think both albums had a pretty decent guitar sound.

Regarding the sound on AOTW, after over a year of living with it, the guys decided that that there was too much low end on the album overall, so on Ithy they asked me to take lots of low end out, from the guitar sound, to less bass, and also less lows on the kick. It wasn't really my choice, but we had to give it a try.

After Ithy came out, it was clear that there had been something of an over-reaction to the thickness and somewhat cloudy mix of AOTW, so on Those Whom they just left things up to me again.

From that point on we have been trying to find the best balance to be able to hear everything as clearly as possible. When you're playing songs at upwards of 280BPM, it becomes increasingly difficult to have "low" low end anywhere,as things just fart out the speakers unless the sounds are tailored to the faster tempos. When you consider that 1/4 notes at, say, 282 bpm means George is playing up to 1,128 kicks per minute, it's important to be able to hear those clearly, rather than them being soft and mushy, which they naturally sound at those speeds, simply because the hits actually end up being so soft due to the crazy tempos.

That being said, I try to get things as defined as possible from a playing pov, and also a sonic pov. There have to be some compromises of course, but those are made in the best interest of hearing the parts/notes clearly, rather than having a fuller but indistinct sounding mix.

Combine that with the fact that Nile doesn't (at least at this point) have a bass player who plays on the records, the bass just functions as low end support, but is always kept in a place where it does not step on the guitars. While the bass is well-played of course, there isn't a reason to feature it from a "virtuosic" point of view, as its job in Nile is just to add some low end in and not get in the way.

Of course, on the slower sections where things breathe more, there's plenty of bass by comparison to the songs which are up at 250bpm +++

[SLIT YOUR GUTZ]

I like the production on "Those Whom" better than Ithy or AOTW.
I really disliked it on Ithy. Made it really hard for me to get into the album.

[Auslander]

We think that the new one is a step up from TWTGD.

[discombobulation]

Finally getting around to listening to this, now on the third spin.

I love the song itself. Sounds pretty damn fresh for them, and even fairy fresh in the bigger scheme of things IMO. The added variety is coming at the best time possible for them – the last two albums, whilst being solid, didn't hold my attention as much as their earlier albums. This is captivating in comparison.

I will say the guitars sound slightly nasal with some slightly 'squishy' or 'ugly' mids seemingly pushed forward. Obviously this is just a compressed sample though, so I will hold reservation till I hear the final thing. However, I do agree with the necessity for clarity and the choices being made.

I used to think the AOTW production was unbelievably good, but after a few years and better gear, I realised that the low end was a bit too much of a squishy fudge brownie. Tasty but ultimately too dense.

Wasn't that excited by this release, but I am now. Very curious as to what the whole album will sound like.

[SixSickSix]

Song kicks ass, production kicks ass. Want now.

[Rottenatomy]

really good info, Neil. cool

[Tomes of Deceit]

Yeah, very interesting. You and your avatar are welcome members of the forum.

[Phidion]

Will there be a slower piece à la Sarcophagus on the new one?

[wachtourak]

Listened a few more times, production is growing on me. Also sounds a lot better through my speakers than my headphones for some reason. Genuinely anticipating this one now.

[Auslander]

You guys can expect the full gamut of Nile atmospheres, mood and intensity from this album.

[Mr-Shredz]

I hope there's more phallus lyrics too, shit was hilarious in that album. I actually like that release, don't know why people diss it so much, The Essential Salts and Ithyphallic are tunes and a half!