Legacy Of The Catacombs is a “best of” compilation released by Relapse Records a week before Nile released their Nuclear Blast Records debut after spending nearly a decade on Relapse’s roster. The album contains a CD and DVD, the CD contains 12 tracks, 3 songs from each of the band’s four Relapse releases. The DVD contains three music videos. Nothing was remixed or remastered, this is just 3 songs from each album with 3 videos, that’s it.

The opening three tracks are taken from Nile’s last Relapse release, 2005’s Annihilation Of The Wicked. I already wrote up a thorough review of this release, but long story short; the three tracks chosen for this compilation ("Cast Down The Heretic", "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" and "Lashed To The Slave Stick") are high paced death metal with a triggered-to-the-tits drum kit blasting away in the background. It’s honestly the best Nile release on Relapse, but still left a lot to be desired.

The next three tracks are from 2002’s In Their Darkened Shrines recorded shortly after Chief Spires left the band leaving the effort to be recorded as a three-piece. This material is probably Nile’s worst in terms of quality, production and song-writing. The production was rough and muddy on this effort, the songs displayed a fair amount of technicality but the material just kind of fell flat. "Execration Text", "Sarcophagus" and "Unas Slayer" were the three songs chosen, each one containing the typical Nile sound. It’s just really not my thing, especially "Unas Slayer", a nearly 12 minute track containing an overabundance of Egyptian melodies. Some people find it cool, to me it just sounds really fucking corny.

This is followed by three tracks from 2000’s Black Seeds Of Vengeance featuring the hilariously titled "Masturbating The War God" as well as "Chapter For Transforming Into A Snake" and "Black Seeds Of Vengeance". This was the final Nile effort that featured Chief Spires and was basically a blast beat clinic for Derek Roddy. The riffs are well played, but don’t do much for me. I actually find myself watching the seconds tick by on my watch waiting for the songs to end. The song writing is just so dull, it makes me question why anyone ever gave a fuck about this band.

The final three tracks are from the band’s Relapse debut Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka which featured the “classic” Nile line-up of Fatty Sanders, Chief Spires and Pete Hammoura. It’s the least technical of the band’s four full length efforts released on Relapse and one of their best. This was before Nile decided to go the late-90s Cannibal Corpse route and try to be more technical than is necessary. The more simplistic song writing of "Howling Of The Jinn", "Barra Edinazzu" and "Smashing The Antiu" is much more entertaining and compelling than the over the top ridiculous technical shredding and blasting of the newer material. This effort was by no means ground breaking, but it was catchy enough that I understand why people became fans of this band.

The three videos for "Execration Text", "Sarcophagus" and "Sacrifice Unto Sebek"… who gives a fuck? If you have access to the internet you can just watch these videos on YouTube for free, so it’s hardly a bonus. Relapse have really outdone themselves with their bullshit marketing for this effort stating, and I swear this is real; “A collection of band and fan favorites, as well as a bonus DVD containing all of their studio videos, Legacy Of The Catacombs is a truly crucial release for the seasoned Nile fan or newcomer alike. “ Crucial? Really? Dude, it’s just three tracks from four albums, nothing has been remixed or remastered, there are no rare gems or unreleased tracks, it’s just 12 songs any Nile fan has heard before.

When Nile burst onto the scene in the late 90’s and earlier this decade, they were part of a wave of over hyped blasting death metal bands like Krisiun, Cryptopsy and Decapitated who received heaps of praise from the media despite the fact they released some really fucking boring material. To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of Nile. I heard their early demos and thought they were okay, but once they signed with Relapse people went fucking nuts for them. They weren’t a bad band, just not a very entertaining one, although they did bring a new riffing style to a once stagnant genre, and while I never thought they were very good song writers, many bands they’ve influenced have taken that style and used it to create some truly amazing material, so kudos to them for that.

Bottom line is this album isn’t necessary for anybody except for those completest freaks who feel the need to buy up every piece of merchandise, every vinyl pressing in every color for every album and all of that other dumb shit. Nile fans already own all of the Nile albums, and Legacy Of The Catacombs offers absolutely nothing new. People who aren’t fans of Nile can easily, download samples from all of these albums directly from Nile and Relapse Records websites and decide what album they want to start with. This is purely a cash grab move by Relapse and if you’re dumb enough to buy it all I can do is hope you don’t procreate, please, smash yourself in the testicles with a hammer now to save future generations from your stupid kids, grand kids and great grand kids. If not… well… at least there’s hope some of them will turn gay and take an axe to your family tree.

Written By: Teufel