Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Water

"Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Water" is Nile's first single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, originally released only as a music download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 through Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

's website. It contains the title-track, a rehearsal of "Laying Fire Upon Apep", and a video featuring a drum session from Ithyphallic.

In April 2008, Night of the Vinyl Dead Records announced the release of what they call as "the first-ever brutal death metal-shaped picture disc

Picture disc

Picture discs are gramophone records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or coloured vinyl.-Development:...

". The 7-inch version of "Papyrus..." features the title-track on the A-side, with "As He Creates So He Destroys" and an instrumental version of "Papyrus.." as B-sides. It was limited to 500 copies hand-numbered on backing card.

Track listing

Side A

1. "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Water"

Side B

1. "As He Creates So He Destroys"
2. "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Water" (Instrumental)

Historical and fictional references

• "As He Creates So He Destroys", "Eat of the Dead", "The Essential Salts", "The Language of the Shadows" and "What Can Be Safely Written" are taken from Canadian occultist Donald Tyson's Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred, itself a tribute to the fictional mythology of H.P. Lovecraft.
• "Ithyphallic" is a word that means "to have the penis
  Penis
  The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
  
   erect." This refers to many Egyptian gods of fertility, as this is how they were represented.
• "Laying Fire Upon Apep" is a reference to one of the methods described in the Books of Apophis that Ra
  Ra
  Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
  
   would use to overcome the Fiend Apep
  Apep
  In Egyptian mythology, Apep was an evil god, the deification of darkness and chaos , and thus opponent of light and Ma'at , whose existence was believed from the 8th Dynasty onwards...
  
   in their nightly duels.
• "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is in the Water" is a reference to a spell from The Book of the Dead
  Book of the Dead
  The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...
  
  . The spell is intended to protect those in the afterlife from being eaten by crocodiles.
• "The Essential Salts" is also a reference to the salts used to preserve the corpse of a Pharaoh in mummification, natron
  Natron
  Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate and about 17% sodium bicarbonate along with small quantities of household salt and sodium sulfate. Natron is white to colourless when pure, varying to gray or yellow with impurities...
  
  , although the term itself is from Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
  The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
  The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's liftetime...
  
  .

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
2007	Finnish Chart	#13
2007	German Charts Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	#76
2007	Billboard Top 200	#162
2007	Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...	#4

Personnel

• 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...
  
   – 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...
  
  , 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...
  
  
• Dallas Toler-Wade – 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...
  
  , bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• George Kollias
  George Kollias (drummer)
  George Kollias is a Greek heavy metal drummer best known for his work with American death metal band Nile. He is the first of their four drummers to perform every song on more than one full length album...
  
   – 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 ....
  
  
• Chris Lollis – additional vocals