Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka is the debut studio album by American death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band Nile

Nile (band)

Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...

. The album was released on April 28, 1998 through Relapse Records

Relapse Records

Relapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...

. The album is considered to be their breakthrough record. In contrast with the following album, Black Seeds of Vengeance

Black Seeds of Vengeance

Black Seeds of Vengeance is the second album by American death metal band Nile. The album was released on September 5, 2000 through Relapse Records. Black Seeds of Vengeance marks the first album in Nile's discography to feature extensive liner notes in the booklet, written by Karl Sanders to...

, the songs are much shorter in length than the songs featured on later Nile albums.

The title of the album is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

 story "The Outsider

The Outsider (short story)

"The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between March and August 1921, it was first published in Weird Tales, April 1926. In this work, a mysterious man who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he can remember decides to break free in search...

". The phrase is featured in the song "Beneath Eternal Oceans of Sand" which has lyrics paraphrased from the aforementioned tale. In Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

Cthulhu Mythos

The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...

, Nephren-Ka was an Egyptian Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 whose unspeakable cult worship led him to be stricken from almost all Egyptian records. The catacombs where he is buried are referenced in several Lovecraft stories as well as many stories by other mythos authors.

The song "Ramses Bringer of War" covers the intro of Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....

's Mars movement from The Planets

The Planets

The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...

.

The title of the song "Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche" roughly translates as "The Revenge War Song of the Assyrians" in German ("Das Rache-Kriegslied der Assyrer"), as if it came straight from the field journal of a German archaeologist.

Track listing

1. "Smashing the Antiu
   Antiu
   The Antiu were dwellers in the desert east of the land of Ancient Egypt and Sinai, whom the early Pharaohs waged war with continually. It seems that one of them must have won some decisive battle, which was held to be of such importance that an annual festival was established to commemorate it...
   
   " - 2:18
2. "Barra Edinazzu" - 2:47
3. "Kudurru
   Kudurru
   Kudurru was a type of stone document used as boundary stones and as records of land grants to vassals by the Kassites in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 12th centuries BCE. The word is Akkadian for "frontier" or "boundary"...
   
    Maqlu" - 1:05
4. "Serpent Headed Mask" - 2:18
5. "Ramses
   Ramesses
   Ramesses is the name conventionally given in English transliteration to 11 Egyptian pharaohs of the later New Kingdom period. The name essentially translates as "Born of the sun-god Ra"....
   
    Bringer of War" - 4:45
6. "Stones of Sorrow" - 4:17
7. "Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche" - 3:13
8. "The Howling of the Jinn
   Jinn
   Jinn are supernatural beings in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings.Jinn may also refer to:* Jinn , a Japanese band* Qui-Gon Jinn, a character in the Star Wars universe...
   
   " - 2:34
9. "Pestilence and Iniquity" - 1:54
10. "Opening of the Mouth" - 3:39
11. "Beneath Eternal Oceans of Sand" - 4:17

Personnel

Nile

• Karl Sanders
  Karl Sanders
  Karl Sanders is an American musician, most widely known as the founding member of the American Egyptian-themed death metal band Nile. He was born in California, and lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Karl is endorsed by Dean Guitars, and has two signature models by KxK Guitars...
  
   - lead vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Chief Spires - vocals, bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Pete Hammoura - vocals, drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Additional musicians

• Gyuto
  Gyuto Order
  Gyuto Tantric University is one of the great monastic institutions of the Gelug Order.-History:Gyuto was founded in 1475 by Jetsun Kunga Dhondup and is one of the main tantric colleges of the Gelug tradition...
  
   Drukpa - choir chants
• Drilbu Dungkar - thigh bone flutes, Turkish gong
  Gong
  A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
  
  s

Production

• Produced by Bob Moore