Scarab - Serpents of the Nile

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For fans of Nile!!!

Scarab are a Death Metal band from Cairo who formed in 2006, whose albums are full of songs about spirituality, theories and philosophies and how they perceive the World around them. They could be seen as part of the Ithyphallic Metal movement in Death Metal, a term coined by veterans / titans of that genre US band Nile. 'Serpents of the Nile' is their upcoming release and starts with the song 'Calling forth the ancient spirits of Kemet' which uses Egyptian sounding guitars and a male choir to create an atmosphere of foreboding and help set you up for the rest of the album. 

We then explode into 'Visions of a blood River', which at an epic nine minutes long is the longest song on the album. It has to be said that this is a band who likes to create epic sound scapes and only one of the songs on this album clocks in under five minutes long. 'Visions of a blood River' is a superb track full of deep growling Death Metal vocals, epic sounding guitars, and mid paced riffing and drumming along with some superb guitar solos and keyboards to add to the atmosphere.

This pretty much is how the rest of the album continues full of mid paced riffing, superb drumming and those deep Death Metal vocals all wrapped up in ethereal keyboards to add to the Egyptian sound. We then reach track four which is the shortest track on the album, which is strange because it's the title track 'Serpents of the Nile' and it definitely is one of the standout songs on the record for me personally. Conjuring up a deathly groove while also managing to be catchy as prime Cannibal Corpse this manages to sum up the sound of the band in five minutes. This however also leads to the problem I had with the album. 

Full of epic songs with only one song is under the five minute mark, this band is brimming with talent and ideas. Although some songs are superbly structured and the riffs and variety is there, I found some songs just went on and on for maybe a little bit too long causing me to get a little bit bored of them. So in conclusion if your looking for an album that is something a bit different, or something to fill the gap while Nile work on a new album check out 'Serpents of the Nile' by scarab. Although this album is not an absolute classic, it is still very very good and well worth checking out if your into epic sweeping Egyptian themed Death Metal.

Review by Ronnie Jenkinson 

Listen! to the title Track 'Serpents of the Nile' Below...