Nile’s ninth album Vile Nilotic Rites sees the Egypt-obsessed technical death metallers change both bassist and guitarist. That’s only a fact worth mentioning because the band have made the transition so seamless you wouldn’t realise otherwise – it’s rare that a band can overhaul almost 50 per cent of its line-up and not see even the slightest waver in sound or quality. This record follows the same blueprint as every other Nile album, then; skull-shatteringly heavy, a flurry of technical riffs slice their way through the swampy atmosphere created by a barrage of blastbeats and guttural roars. It would be easy to accuse Nile of churning out the same old stuff, because, after a quarter of a century the band’s sound has become something incredibly dependable, and as constant as the ...