Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines

One of the most domineering and devastating extreme metal bands on the circuit today, Nile began delving into the depths of Egyptian history and Lovecraftian mythology in the mid ‘90s. With two highly regarded albums under their belt by the time 2002 rolled around, the South Carolinian trio took their distinctive brand of death metal to the next level with In Their Darkened Shrines. Every caveat of their sound is covered in the hour long run time, with the blistering speed of “The Blessed Dead” offset by the crushing, monolithic weight heard in “Sarcophagus”. Regardless of whether it’s the breakneck tremolo riffs or the integration of acoustic guitars and native instrumentation into the songs, the band expertly evoke the sound, spirit and darkness of ancient Egypt in a technically unimpeachable display of brutality. In Their Darkened Shrines both consolidated their sound and featured some of Nile’s most ambitious song writing at the time (“Unas, Slayer of the Gods” and the four part title track – both towering epics), allowing the band to truly bring life to a bygone era and etch themselves a place into death metal history.

Mudvayne- End Of All Things To Come

The second studio album by the Mudvayne was released on the 19th November 2002. This album only took a month to write and was recorded at  Minnesota’s Pachyderm Studios. The album was influenced by the band’s passion for progressive rock and jazz .  The album might not have took long to write but the album was very effective at the time of release and still bring’s a sense of nostalgia. Chad Gray vocal’s are very passionate and moving on this album and to me and  it seem’s the track ‘World So Cold’ was a good  representation of how the band were feeling as a whole at the time.