Combining the extreme speed and brutality of modern death metal with the ancient styling of Middle Eastern music, Nile formed in their hometown of Greenville, SC, in 1993. With their self-proclaimed trademark of "Ithyphallic Metal", Karl Sanders(guitar/vocals), Chief Spires (bass/vocals), and Pete Hammoura(drums) debuted with their Festivals of Atonement album in 1995, leading Nile to a southwestern tour in support of other big metal acts such as Obituary, Deicide and Broken Hope. Viscera Productions was responsible for Nile's follow-up EP "Ramses Bringer of War" in 1997 and was going to release their second album "Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka", if they hadn't gone out of business later that year. However, Relapse Records was more than happy to put it out in early 1998, giving Nile a wider distribution and a chance to hit the road with Incantation and Morbid Angel. The follow-up, "Black Seeds of Vengeance", was released in late 2000.
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In the cosmos
There is balm as well as bitterness
And that balm is Nepenthe.
Yet underneath endless oceans of sand
I have not forgotten
Those who had betrayed me.
Silent and unmovable,
I am not sorry
For I had hated the light.
Now I ride with the undead
Across the night-sky
And play by day
Amongst the catacombs of Nephren-Ka
In the sealed and unknown
Valley of Hadoth by the Nile.
I know that light is not for me
Save that of the moon over the rock tombs of Neb
Nor any debauchery save the unknown feasts of Nitokris
Beneath the great pyramid.
But in the loneliness of entombment,
I welcome the bitterness of alienage.