YMMV / Nile

• Awesome Music: Quite a lot of it, but it's particularly hard to go wrong with anything from Annihilation of the Wicked or In Their Darkened Shrines.
• Even Better Sequel: In Their Darkened Shrines to Black Seeds of Vengeance and, depending upon one's perspective, possibly Annihilation of the Wicked to In Their Darkened Shrines. This may also sometimes be considered to apply, in a strange way, to their drummers. George Kollias seems to be more warmly regarded than his predecessors, many of whom are borderline legendary in their own right (especially Tony Laureano and Derek Roddy, although the latter was only a session drummer for them).
• Fan Nickname: "Colonel Sanders" for Karl.
• Friendly Fandoms: Nile fans have historically been on good terms with Black Metal band Melechesh. While the latter deals with Sumerian and Arab mythology, and has a slower, thicker sound with Black vocals, the high technicality and broad similarities in lyrics and inspiration have bridged the gap. Helps that founder Ashmedi and Karl are friends.
• Funny Moments: Karl Sanders interviews happen to be really cool, the best one probably where he told the interviewer about how he made an entire afroamerican gospel choir sing Die Rach Krieg Leid der Assryche.
  • For one of his solo albums, Karl Sanders "quoted" the book Von unaussprechlichen Kulten, which, if you know your Cthulhu Mythos, is sort of like a German version of the Necronomicon and, much like said tome, does not actually exist. Mr. Sanders decided that since the various authors in the circle such as Robert E. Howard, Derleth, and Lovecraft all freely used self-made references to the same fictitious books to make readers think they were actually real, that he should try doing the same. It ended up working better than he thought it would, as he received a sudden rash of e-mails wanting to know where he had found a copy of the book. When he told the e-mailers that the book wasn't real and that he had invented the "quotes," they simply became convinced that he was lying to them, and that he was "keeping the dreaded, 'legendary' tome to [himself]." A literature student in Germany even went so far as to find a catalog entry (for a book no longer in the school library, no less) that happened to match the location and time period of the book's publication per the mythos, with the author's name being substantially similar to the fictional author of Von unaussprechlichen Kulten, to "prove" the book's existence.
  • In the liner notes of What Should Not Be Unearthed, Karl pondered the potential catastrophic evils of South Carolina in the explanation for "Evil to Cast Out Evil", namely locust swarms, palmetto bugs, summer thunderstorms, the odd tornado, and George Kollias repeatedly spilling coffee on his carpet.
• Heartwarming Moments: The opening to "The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased".
  The great one has fallen on his side
  Swarmed by the eight crocodiles
  I know them by their names and their lives
  I save my father from them
• Misaimed Fandom: Many, many newbie fans will accidentally think the band are Egyptian, due to their heavy Egyptian themes. But they're American (with the exception of Kollias, who is Greek) in actuality.^note Some people may also consider Laureano an exception, as he is originally from Puerto Rico, but Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, despite Puerto Rico not (yet) being a state. Can't blame them due to how believable it is.
• Narm: "Unas Slayer of the Gods" has a quite narmy spoken word section, to wit:
  Unas hath taken possession of the hearts of the gods!
  Uuuunaaaas feedeth on their entrails!!
  He hath gorged on their unuttered sacred words!!!
  He hath ASSIMILATED the WISDOM of the GODS!!!!
  HIIIIIS EXISTEEEEENCE IS EVERLASTIIIIIIIING!!!!!
  • In Karl Sanders' first solo album, there is a section in "The Forbidden Path Across the Chasm of Self-Realization" that makes the above sound completely serious:
    I am that which hath becommmme,
    Omnipotent, eTERnal, mmmboundless.
    Theeee immutable principle upon which aaaaall speculation is possible;
    The tranSCENDing fowace of human conception.
    I become as beyond the range and reach of thought;
    UnthinkAble and unspeakAble.
    I become my OOOOWN absolute reality.
    For I am all that shall ever be,
    And all that ever was.
• Never Live It Down: Karl's infamous "Betcha Can't Play This" appearance, where he absolutely butchered a fairly basic sweep-picking lick that was well below his playing level. He later went on record to state that he made the mistake of getting trashed with some friends the night before and went in to film his appearance with a ferocious hangover the next day.
• Replacement Scrappy: Surprisingly averted with Brian Kingsland. While he was an unknown outside of the Carolinas and certain circles of the Bandcamp tech-death scene (due to Enthean, his main band prior to joining Nile), most fans have embraced him due to his incredible technical ability and impressive vocal range, and the shakeup of the band's dynamics was also surprisingly well-accepted due to the middling reactions to the past two Nile releases.
• Seasonal Rot: At the Gate of Sethu and, to a much lesser degree, What Should Not Be Unearthed. The former is almost unanimously viewed as their worst album (a view shared by Karl, though "The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased" surfaced on their setlists after the lineup shift after having been absent during the Dallas era), while the latter is generally viewed as an improvement, but is still not held in particularly high regard.
• Signature Song: "Sacrifice unto Sebek" and "Black Seeds of Vengeance". "Sarcophagus" is their signature Doom Metal song.
• Stuck in Their Shadow: Kollias' predecessors may be slipping into this, especially among newer fans. Keep in mind, among these are Derek Roddy and Tony Laureano, both considered legends in the field of death metal drumming for their work both with Nile and in other bands.
• Tough Act to Follow: Most of their later releases have ended up suffering negative comparisons to their earlier albums, particularly In Their Darkened Shrines and Annihilation of the Wicked. Apart from At the Gate of Sethu, they're rarely outright disliked, but they're also rarely considered to live up to the earlier releases.
• Win Back the Crowd: Both of Nile's 2010s releases were met with a generally lukewarm reception; At the Gate of Sethu was widely held to be their worst release, while the reception of What Should Not Be Unearthed was more So Okay, It's Average. The departure of Dallas Toler-Wade and induction of Brian Kingsland was received surprisingly positively, however, and Brian quickly proved himself on the road, while the increased prominence of Brad Parris and general reintroduction of the triple-vocalist approach (rather than Dallas handling the majority of the vocals and the bassists doing backing vocals) also helped. Vile Nilotic Rites continued this trend, as it was held to be their best in a long time, and most fans agreed that Brian and Brad also brought a lot to the table as writers and shook the dust off Karl and George.