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With surprisingly little fanfare we get this excellent debut from Nile drummer George Kollias. You might think it odd for the guy to just use his own name when he's the drummer – that's more usual with singers and guitar players – but here it is honest because the dude did everything himself. This is not just a bunch of songs Kollias played drums on and hired guest musicians for the rest. No. He played the guitars, the bass, did the vocals and (obviously) played the drums. It's a real one-man project most often seen in Black Metal circles because, let's be honest, it is easy to play instruments up to the minimal standards of basement Black Metal.

This is not that, and I am genuinely blown away by his musicianship. Yes, he brought in players to rip the leads on this thing – guy can't do everything – but the riffs are solid and propulsive, and the vocals are an authoritative rasp with real depth to it. This is just a rock-solid slab of aggressive, technical Death Metal, reminiscent of stuff like Ex Deo and later Behemoth, although with no symphonic elements, just pummeling, heavy Death Metal. A fine album.