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Five years after Vile Nilotic Rites we finally get Nile's first post-pandemic recording—by far the longest gap in their history. After their classic era this band wobbled a bit, with weaker albums like At the Gates of Sethu, but What Should Not Be Unearthed seemed to signal a revival.

This is kind of in-between, with the furious, technical playing we expect from this band. You get the blazing leads, intricate drums, and spiraling, complex riffs that are part of the Nile sound. Again, guitarist Brian Kingsland seems to be handling most of the vocals, and if I have a complaint about him, it's that he is too far forward in the mix and has too many lyrics, so it seems like he is constantly bellowing at you. I miss the old days when the vocals were just a sepulchral rumbling in the underside of the music. The band also tried out some clean-chanted female vocals layered in places, and overall I don't think it works.

The recording is a bit flat and needs more depth, and the songwriting as a whole is also a little flat—songs seem to go on too long, but that's mostly because they are repeating themselves too much, not because they are actually long. After a while the aggression and speed start to pale, as you realize the band is doing a lot but not accomplishing as much as they should be. A weaker album in the Nile canon.