Annihilation of the Wicked

As time goes on, heavy metal continues to get more and more extreme. No, not the "stuff" you hear on the radio or see on MTV that tries to pass itself as metal, but the music that is bubbling under in the metal underground. Nile is one such band that continues to push metal's boundaries to the limits, as it does on its 2005 release Annihilation of the Wicked (produced by Neil Kernon of Queensrÿche fame). Obviously judging from its name and song titles, the group has a thing for Middle Eastern imagery, and the album starts off with sounds straight out of the desert, "Dusk Falls Upon the Temple of the Serpent on the Mount of Sunrise." But there is nothing that could possibly prepare you for what is lurking around the corner, as perhaps "a metallic head-on collision" is a fitting description for the machine gun-like "Cast Down the Heretic." Guitarist Karl Sanders continues to make a valid argument that he is one of the top guitarists of the extreme metal genre throughout the album, as he has no problem keeping pace with the rapid-fire drums. If you're not well versed with this style of metal, the songs on Annihilation of the Wicked may start to blend into one another after a while, but extreme metal fans will be writhing in ecstasy.