NILE
w/ Unearth
Corner Hotel - Melbourne, Australia: November 21st 2015
Amplifier Bar - Perth, Australia: November 22nd 2015
It only seemed like yesterday that death metal giants Nile were in Australia on tour in support of the "At The Gate Of Sethu" album in 2013 and here we are 2 years later with the band back again in support of another fantastic album in "What Should Not Be Unearthed". We caught the last 2 shows on the tour which also featured Unearth in Melbourne and Perth so here's a wrap up of what went down at each show.
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The Corner Hotel - Melbourne
The tour with Nile and Unearth with supports from Whoretopsy and Feed Her To The Sharks has been running pretty well so far with Brisbane and Sudney having first cracks at the metal bands. The third show in Melbourne saw the tour hit The Corner Hotel to a fairly decent sized crowd, death metallers Whoretopsy opening up and warming the crowd up with their brand of old school death metal. An interesting choice on the bill was metalcore act Feed Her To The Sharks who have been gaining some serious attention in recent years but I couldn't help but wonder if the crowd reaction was genuinely supportive or sarcastic. Either way I couldn't help but grin as the band put on an energetic show to a very relaxed crowd.
Next up was Unearth who I had seen before and teaming them up with Nile was again an interesting choice but after their set, it made sense in a lot of ways and without a doubt the crowd lapped it up as the band pummeled their way through an almost hour long set of old and new.
As the red curtains opened after Unearth, there appeared the band that comprises Nile and after a brief intro, proceeded to launch into older tracks like "Black Seeds Of Vengeance" favorite "Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar" and the crowd pleaser "Kafir" early in the set. The band sounded as good as ever with their punishing sound and heavy attack on riffs and the amazing George Kollias dazzling the fans on drums. Every member of the band including new guy Brad Parris on bass was nailing it, providing a stellar performance that encompassed tracks from their back catalogue including their latest album "What Should Not Be Unearthed".
The new material which included "Call To Destruction" (topped with choice words from Karl Sanders on ISIS), "In The Name Of Amun" and "Evil To Cast Out Evil" fitted perfectly with the older material, a clear sign that the band has retained everything that the fans love them for as pointed out by Dallas himself. Which is no easy feat considering how harsh fans can be in metal.
A highlight of the show as always is the brutally heavy "Howling Of The Jinn", Dallas briefly mentioning the use of phones by people at gigs which is a common thing these days and the irony certaintly lost on some on the night. As the band ended the night with "Black Seeds Of Vengeance", we are reminded one more time why Nile are one of the best in the business.
Amplifier Bar - Perth
Our guest reviewer Steve Monaghan reports on the last show of the tour in Perth the following night.
Tonight's show was a very diverse mix both musically and crowd wise to begin tonight's proceedings where Melbourne's Goregrind merchants Whoretopsy with "Nature's pocket" taken from the 2014 album "While You Were Sleeping". The band's sheer ferocity was awe inspiring to say the least, the track "In Loving Memory" was another stand out track with pig squeals a plenty with the crowd lapping up every single minute of terror.
Next up was Unearth. Now in my humble opinion you either really like this band or not, the band's stage presence was commanding however for some unknown reason the crowd really were not into tonight's set apart for the few die hard fans down the front. The guitar work and fret board wizardry not to mention some seriously impressive drumming were in full flight tonight, this really was a shame to see a highly underrated band give 110% with very little crowd reaction but maybe it was just me....? Stand out tracks included "Zombie AutoPilot", "Last Wish" and "Never Cease".
Nile took to the stage with a forboding presence and unmistakable brand of Egyptian tinged death metal. Dallas Toler Wade's banter were a high light and unlike so many other bands around, what you hear on CD is what you get in a live setting. George Kollias is an absolute machine and is one of the best drummers on the scene today, I put him in the same league as Mike Smith from Suffocation.
Stand out tracks from tonight's set included a fearsome rendition of
"Kafir!", "Those Whom The Gods Detest" and the stand out for me "Lashed To The Slave Stick".
To sum up, this was one of the gigs of the year on so many levels, the nay sayers were silenced very quickly and the die hard fans were left wanting more!
Photo Gallery - click to enlarge
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Melbourne Review by Andrew "Schizodeluxe" Massie
Perth Review by Steve Monaghan
Photos by Tammie Molotov - Molotov Enterprises And Photography
