''Those Whom the Gods Detest'' is the sixth studio album by American

technical death metal Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Techni ...

band

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

. The album was released on November 3, 2009, in North America, and on November 6, 2009, in Europe through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. It was produced and mixed by Neil Kernon, with

Erik Rutan Erik Rutan (born June 10, 1971) is an American heavy metal musician and producer from New Jersey. He is the guitarist and lead vocalist of death metal band Hate Eternal and lead guitarist for Cannibal Corpse, who he fully joined in 2021 after ...

handling the drum recording. The album debuted at #160 on ''Billboard'' 200 list in United States. US Charts Retrieved on 2011-07-02. The cover artwork, a depiction of the Egyptian Pharaoh

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

, was brought to realization this time around by Michal "Xaay" Loranc, with whom Karl Sanders has previously worked on his second solo record ''

Saurian Exorcisms ''Saurian Exorcisms'' is the second solo album by Karl Sanders, the vocalist/guitarist of the death metal band Nile. It was released on 14 April 2009 through The End Records. The music is a full length exploration of the atmospheric interludes ...

''. According to a post on the band's message board, they were also planning to release a "making of" documentary covering the rehearsals, preproduction and studio sessions of the album. The documentary, called ''Making Things the Gods Detest'' was later released on October 30, 2010. Liner notes, written by

Karl Sanders Karl Sanders (born June 5, 1963) is an American singer and guitarist, most widely known as the founding member of the ancient Egyptian-themed technical death metal band Nile. Early life Before creating Nile, Sanders was in a thrash metal ...

to explain the concept behind the songs, were featured in the album booklet for the first time since their 2005 album ''

Annihilation of the Wicked ''Annihilation of the Wicked'' is the fourth studio album by American technical death metal band Nile. The album was released on May 23, 2005, by Relapse Records. This is the first Nile album to feature George Kollias on drums, replacing Tony L ...

''. As of September 24, 2009, the track "Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld" has been made available for streaming over MySpace Music. On October 28, 2010, the band released the official video for "Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld".

Critical reception

Critical reception of this album has been relatively positive. Justin Norton from the website

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

, within the website's heavy metal subdivision, favorited ''Those Whom The Gods Detest'' as being one of their best albums to date. "''Those Whom The Gods Detest'' is a career landmark packed with mind-boggling guitar riffs and solos, nonstop speed, George Kollias’ inimitable drumming and a sense of urgency some claimed was missing from their last effort. Death metal bands take note – Nile is back with a vengeance, much like Boris Karloff in the old Universal Mummy pictures." Norton also noted that this album's name is anti-religious. "Frontman Karl Sanders says anger and rejection were parts of this album, and it shows. 'The concept is that all of us who play and listen to metal are the people that the gods hate. So he new albumis a unified rejection of the gods - any god, every god,' Sanders says. 'Not any one in particular, but all of 'em.' If the album is meant to be a rejection of gods then it’s certain to unify metalheads in praise."

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Nile

−

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Dallas Toler-Wade − guitars, bass, vocals * George Kollias −

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional personnel

*Mike Breazale, Chief Spires, David Meredith, Jon Vesano, Pete Hammoura − additional vocals

Production

Neil Kernon Neil Kernon is an English musician, record producer, mixer and recording engineer from London. He is a Grammy Award winner and has worked on over 100 Gold and Platinum records. Biography Born to a musical family, Kernon's formal musical trai ...

−

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

− engineering *Serdar Ozturk − assistant engineering *Alan Douches - mastering

External links

"Those Whom The Gods Detest" at discogs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Those Whom The Gods Detest 2009 albums Nile (band) albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Neil Kernon Criticism of religion