Heavy Metal History of the World Part 2- Ancient Egypt Oct 01 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line 3 great songs on Ancient Egypt It has been awhile since I have written a review on here (I’ve been busy with school and other things and haven’t really had time), but I hope y’all forgive me for that! This review is the second part of my “Heavy metal history of the world” and it pertains to Ancient Egypt, a subject that at first was hard to find material for, but soon I found many songs, including a band solely dedicating songs to the subject (Nile). Anyway here are the 3 songs I picked to be the best songs on the subject: 1) Iron Maiden- Powerslave What is it about? This song is about the pharaohs in Egypt and how they thought they were gods. The song is told from the point of view of a nameless pharaoh who is dealing with his own mortality. These lyrics from the chorus are telling: “Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave I don't wanna die, I'm a God, why can't I live on? When the Live Giver dies, all around is laid waste, And in my last hour, I'm a Slave to the Power of Death.” They show how even though the pharaohs had great power in Egypt they were still bound by their own mortality. Is it any good? It is, Iron Maiden of course it is good! In fact, this is personally one of my favorite Iron Maiden songs, and contains probably some of their best bass guitar work. I love the way the bass guitar and lead guitar work together on the solo, which is probably my favorite Iron Maiden solo. The rest of the song is no slouch either, Bruce Dickinson does a great job on the vocal delivery and I think the song generally does a good job of having an “Egyptian” feel to it. Classic Iron Maiden. 2) Metallica- Creeping Death What is it about? This song is about the story of Moses freeing his people from the Egyptians. The first verse shows the way the Hebrews were mistreated by the pharaoh. This song has many references to the story of Moses, including references to the killing of all the first borns in the land of Egypt and the nile running with blood. Is it any good? Any real Metallica fan will agree that this is one of their greatest songs, the part near the end with the lyrics “Die by my hand I creep across the land Killing first born man Die by my hand I creep across the land Killing first born man” is simply genius, this is another song with a great solo. It is still a staple at live Metallica shows to this day, 20 years after its release. 3) Nile – Unas Slayer of the gods What is it about? This song is about Unas, who was the last pharaoh of the 5th dynasty, ruling from 2375 to 2345 B.C. Unas was infamous because according to the hieroglyphs on the walls of his burial chamber he was a cannibal. He was said to eat the flesh of his enemies to grow strong. The hieroglyphs also state that he slayed and devoured the gods, thus the title of this song, Unas slayer of the gods. The acoustic intro to this song gives a very good Egyptian feel to it, and the horn part about 5:30 in also has a genuinely Egyptian feel to it (not to mention some killer drumming) Is it any good? This one is debatable, if you like Nile, you’ll love this song, if however, you find them to be a little hardcore, which I understand, their singer is utterly incomprehensible, you will not like this song. I am not a huge fan of Nile, but this is one of their songs that I actually think is very well done, the riff is in this song is great, and I’ve never downgraded a band just because their lyrics are hard to understand. This song is definitely the most extreme song on this list, but also the most historically accurate, Nile put painstaking amount of time into making sure that all their songs are historically accurate. Overall, these are 3 great songs on the subject of Ancient Egypt, I hope you enjoyed this journey back to the time of the pharaohs as much as I did. I hope to see you all for part 3!

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