Nile is perhaps the only death-metal band with the stones to sing about Egyptian deities boasting the penile fortitude of a three-day Cialis binge. The South Carolina quartet did just that on its fifth album, 2007's Ithyphallic. The record's title track details a fertility god (Min, perhaps) who annihilates his enemies and eventually demands, "Anoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen."
Far from a one-time fetish, the band makes a habit of incorporating pharaohs and deities, placing the Pyramids and sphinxes on album covers, and occasionally tossing in guitar lines evoking the dustiest parts of North Africa. Paired with grinding, violent instrumentation and near-impenetrable growls, the historical angle gives their material an impressive scope — although there are rumors that these guys have yet to actually visit Egypt.
