Nile has grown and improved in every way with this album. The Egyptian influence is incorporated into the sheer brutality much better and with much more continuity, to create an earth shattering atmosphere. If you're not familiar with this band, I recommend you at least download a few mp3s, because you're missing something unique. The death growl vocal onslaught is one of the most brutal in death metal, and they use their signature double bass kick and loudly produced brutal guitaring to great effect. This album is a prime example of brutality mixing with atmosphere. Many metal bands end up compromising one for the other, and this is why Nile is at the top of today's death metal scene. If you like albums which have an underlying theme, you'll love this album. Each song portrays something specific about Egyptian culture and history, and the cover booklet has lyrics along with detailed explanations of the meaning of each song. This has to be the best release of 2000!

This review is credited to:
Julian Forbes

I first heard Nile when I was in a music store over here in Australia, and was quite literally blown away. After standing there with a stupid grin on my face for a good five minutes, I hastily approached the counter and requested this album. Thats where it all started... I have never really been a huge fan of death metal, but now that has all changed. Nile take some of the most brutal death metal and spice it up with some Egyptian flavour, the recipe for epic, thoughtful and invigorating metal rarely seen in todays music scene. I really can't recommend this album enough. There are some moments on this disc that just make you clench your teeth, do the devil hand sign thing and assume guitar stance. They also somehow manage to get a bit of melody in amongst that madness as well. My only few complaints are that perhaps the band could slow down a little every now and then, and maybe the production could have been *slightly* clearer. Apart from the aforementioned insignificant flaws, 'Black seeds of vengeance' belongs in every self-respecting metalheads' collection: The prime example that metal is still going strong and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Nile- Black Seeds of Vengeance 9.9/10