Another Point Of View: Nile (Review by Paul)

Nile/Ex-Deo – Bogiez

An early start to proceedings meant that I missed the opening acts (sorry but I was there by 8:00).  I am led to believe that I missed a good set from Svart Crown so that was a bit of a pisser. I blame Mr Ruddles. Anyway, just over a month since Ex-Deo stormed the main stage at BOA, Maurizio Iacono’s side project arrived in Cardiff. I have had them pretty much on repeat in recent times and have to admit that their brand of death metal is right up my street. Cramming onto the stage in Bogiez is a far cry from the space they were afforded at BOA but they got straight down to business and were greeted like conquering heroes (sorry!). One of the largest crowds I’ve experienced in Bogiez were in appreciative mood, pits opening up on a regular basis and as you’d expect lots and lots of fists in the air. Tracks aired included The Tiberius Cliffs, The Final War and the opening track to their last album I Caligvla. As we’ve come to expect at Bogiez the sound was top quality and this allowed the guitars of Stephane Barbe and Jean Francois Dagenais to feature prominently. The set ended with the anthemic Romulus and an ovation from the assembled crowd. Excellent stuff. 9/10

At 9.15 the unmistakable entrance music of South Carolina’s Nile blasted out and the band launched into one of the most brutal aural assaults that Bogiez has ever witnessed. Karl Sanders guttural vocals led the band through opener Sacrifice Unto Sebek with the technical skills of this extremely heavy band clear for all. Nile moved swiftly into Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar before personal favourite Kafir incited more pit action and much windmilling – both on stage and off. The drumming of George Kollias is quite incredible; think Mario Duplantier and then add some. There is absolutely no matching this band in terms of technique in the death metal field. Sanders and Dallas Toler-Wade are both quite brilliant guitarists and the intricate duelling between them is breath-taking at times However, in such a small venue it was sometimes difficult to see anything on stage. This isn’t often a problem but, and it this is my view, with death metal sometimes the wall of sound can become a little similar and attention can wander. Anyway, the majority of the crowd seemed very happy and Nile blasted through a set which contained tracks from a number of their albums. The Howling Of Jinn and offerings from the latest album At The Gate Of Sethu came and went and suddenly that was it. 10:10 and it was all over. I think that the band made a comment about Bogiez bringing the finish time early but I couldn’t say that for definite. A slightly confused and disappointed crowd milled around for a bit before streaming out into the evening air. I saw Nile last year at BOA for the first time and was massively impressed. Tonight it was Ex Deo who stole the show. 7/10

*Editors note* On further investigation with the venue it was bad time management from the band that meant they had curtailed set and nothing to do with the venue itself