MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Nile’s Karl Sanders…

No one is saying Nile’s Egyptian themes are obscure or necessarily revolutionary: it’s a particularly brutal part of history taking place in an unforgiving environment, so it’s pretty easy to make something metal out of it (see also: vikings). But in a field as broad-yet-limited as death metal, even the smallest of tweaks or gimmicks can make you a visionary. When all your contemporaries are squabbling over whose dick is bigger, people will be more inclined to pay attention to an argument that your dick is more unique and interesting (note: not a great ice-breaker with women).

Of course, words like “gimmick” exist to demean what Karl Sanders does with Nile, and by no means is Nile worthy of being shrugged off. Playing ten-fingered riffs blisteringly fast? Karl Sanders is on that shit. Menacing, memorable slow parts that sound oppressively evil and evocative? Karl Sanders has that shit leased with an option to own. If he did none of that well, he and his band would be remembered as That Band That Wrote Songs About Mummies and Stuff. But Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka, Annihilation of the Wicked, Those Whom the Gods Detest, and the rest of Nile’s discography are masterful, epic, and brilliant death metal albums with interesting thematic elements. But while there are guys who can play faster and slam harder, none can do it with the soul Nile does. Karl Sanders is that soul, and his playing is much more than a focus on modal riffs in lieu of atonal chromatics. It’s crafting a world of brutal heat, oppressed millions slaving for the benefit of a chosen few, and a complex system of gods, religion, and politics so ancient that it’s completely foreign to us now, all before dropping a pen to a legal pad for lyrics. His dexterity makes him a solid death metal guitarist; his penchant for atmosphere in addition to brutality is what makes him great.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week’s query was suggested by a reader identifying himself simply as “Andy” –

WHICH MODEL OF GUITAR IS THE MOST METAL?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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For a hot minute my friend and I contemplated inviting Karl Sanders on our big trip to Egypt this past February. It had come to our attention that Nile’s guitarist had never been to the country all of his songs are about, and wouldn’t it be badass to take him around? But then we reconsidered; assuming he would ever even accept an invitation from us buffoons, what if we ruined Egypt for him? What if the mighty Karl Sanders was underwhelmed by the knowledge and ambition of us peons? Would we be embarrassed to jam Nile songs on our headphones whilst staring at the pyramids in awe? What if he got annoyed with our constant farting? Please Mr. Sanders, spare us for we must pass peacefully to the underworld! No, better not to take the risk; Mr. Sanders, you’ll have to make it to Egypt on your own time.

Nile have a new video for “Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld” which we’re premiering exclusively for you all below. They are about to embark on their second MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. tour in support of their recent album Those Whom the Gods Detest — with the incredibly awesome support bands Ex Deo, Psycroptic and Keep of Kalessin in tow — starting on Halloween. Get dates here. In the meantime, watch this video and ponder how we can get Karl Sanders a plane ticket to Egypt; think of the awesome music that would follow.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Musicians are strange creatures. Their work hours and habits are almost always odd, hygiene is often suspect, and sanity questionable.

If I had to point out one thing that ties all musicians together, it would be inspiration, often drawn from a simple but strong love for music. Inspiration comes from all varieties of thoughts and experiences though, and most will agree that it is a mystical and almost spiritual matter that is difficult to qualify. For me, personally, my inspiration is the most important thing I have in life because it guides all of my goals and efforts to blast through them. Although it may be oriented around music for whatever reason, the specifics of what I am inspired to do are not crystal clear. It is not instrument, genre, or socially based. It is just to create.

I have always been in awe of musicians that are able to look past the world’s conceptions of genre. For some bands, it is absolutely correct for them to do their thing 100% their way and use their tested process over and over, record after record. I don’t mean being stale, either… Development and growth between records is an assumed necessity for me to take a band seriously. Examples of bands that know their sound or process well and tend to stick to it (with great results) would include bands like Meshuggah, Megadeth, Behemoth, Muse, Deftones, and even more progressive bands like The Mars Volta, Opeth, and Dream Theater. But the musicians that REALLY get me thinking these days are ones who understand how to take a complete 180 degree turn: drop the world’s, or maybe just critics’, perception on its head, and use new influences from a completely different angle. It is almost as if they side-step into a bizarro dimension and are running two or more separate careers. Musicians that can accomplish this demonstrate a certain type of understanding and mental clarity that is all too rare. Here are some of my favorite examples:

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I guess yesterday’s story about Rose Funeral beating up on some concertgoers for playing Uno during a recent set in Tulsa has caused a stir – because people are still e-mailing us about it. Here are some tidbits from those e-mails, both directly and indirectly related to the incident:

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Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked was a high water mark in their discography: while surgically precise and blazingly technical, it also was remarkably substantive, full of quality riffs and textures, and, ultimately, the sound of a band growing into its own and getting to the point. But, like most high water marks, it was one Nile couldn’t approach again with Ithyphallic, their (admittedly somewhat underrated) follow-up. Despite only a one album lapse, rounding out the second decade of their career, one could have assumed that Annihilation was the band’s shot wad. And even if it was, it certainly was an impressive masterpiece. However, with Those Whom the Gods Detest, Nile’s latest album, they prove to still have a considerable amount of fight in them, still equipped with almost uncomfortably blistering speed alongside brilliantly crafted slow parts. With bands like Behemoth and Melechesh making serious plays for the history metal throne, Karl Sanders proves that Nile is still the one on it, making some of the most brutal and absurdly heavy metal even when the band’s Egyptian gimmick is put aside.

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A little birdy came and told me that Karl Sanders has never been to Egypt.

What what WHAT?!?!

This perplexing nugget of information came up in conversation because yours truly just booked a flight to Cairo in February. There will definitely be a serious Nile listening session in effect when I visit the pyramids, and, if Egypt’s mobile technology allows, blog and Twitter updates from The Middle East will be aplenty. Better yet, I’ll be traveling with someone who lived there for 2 years and speaks Arabic, and for at least part of the time I’ll be staying with a local metalhead. I’m really looking forward to exploring the underbelly of Egyptian metal culture, whatever that entails… I’ll probably get a lot of confused looks when I tell folks I run a website called “Metal Sucks.”

We’re trying mightily to get Mr. Sanders to accompany us on our journey. We’ll see how that pans out. In the meantime, Noisecreep is streaming Nile’s new track “Utterances of the Crawling Dead” which comes from Nile’s new album Those Whom the Gods Detest, out November 3rd. You should listen to it whilst imagining the hilarity of this Jewish metalhead traipsing around Egypt this coming Winter.

-VN

Nile’s new song, “Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld,” may have the longest title, like, ev-er, but that doesn’t make it any less stellar.

Back in May, the mighty Karl Sanders told me that the new Nile album, Those Whom the Gods Detest, would be “going in lots of different directions,” and would be less “straight ahead death metal.” This song is certainly heavy as a really heavy thing, but I can also definitely see what Sanders was getting at – it’s only just barely traditionalist American death metal.

Check the song out here. Those Whom the Gods Detest drops November 3 on Nuclear Blast.

Wow. For some reason I didn’t think we’d be getting a new Nile album ’til 2010, but their latest offering, Those Whom the Gods Detest, will be out November 3 on Nuclear Blast. Sweeeeet.

Here’s the cover art, which, natch, sticks to the whole Egyptian theme, but I think is still pretty cool:

And here’s what Karl Sanders told me about the new album a few months back:

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When news of Ex Deo, the new band featuring Kataklysm’s Maurizio Iacono, first began to bubble this winter, I yawned. I’ve always thought of Kataklysm as a solid, serviceable but not especially interesting group, so the prospect of a side-project of a band I’m not especially into in the first place wasn’t all that appealing. But now that new tracks from the Ex Deo debut Romulus are starting to surface I’m being forced to reconsider.

This shit is epic!

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When I went to the record release party for Karl Sanders’ new solo album, Saurian Exorcisms (read David Bee Roth’s review here), I was fairly nervous. For one thing, he’s KARL FUCKING SANDERS; as the mastermind behind Nile, he’s been making some of the heaviest, most revered death metal in the world for more than a decade. And for another thing, when I got there, the dude was holding court at the bar, and I didn’t wanna be the one to interrupt his good time so he could so some press (So I made The End Records’ publicist interrupt his good time. Thanks, Geoff!).

But Sanders turned out to be an incredibly nice guy, and, as you’ll read below, our interview really took the shape of an informal chat. After the jump, read Karl’s thoughts on the differences between a Sanders solo outing and Nile records, his relationship with the fan base, being the heaviest act ever to play Ozzfest, what fans can expect from the new Nile album, and more.

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I love the webernets. Our friends at The End Records put together a quick promo vid for Karl Sanders‘ (of Nile) new solo album using the nifty website Xtra Normal. My curiosity was peaked, so I tried my hand at making my very own Xtra Normal video, and this is what came out:

Make your own at Xtra Normal! It’s free and easy! Even your grandmother could do it! No, Xtra Normal aren’t paying us to say this! I just think they’re cool! Exclamation points!

-VN

You bitched and moaned about daylight savings time, even though you were asleep when the clocks changed and you get an extra hour of daylight every day until November. You are all retards.

Here’s what else happened this week:

• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima gave us another studio report (no naked Dr. Mikannibal pics, sorry), Early Man’s Mike Conte got his cheesesteak on, and Neuraxis’ Alexandre Leblanc gave us his final tour blog.
• We spoke with Darkane’s Christofer Malmstrom, Meshuggah’s Marten Hagstrom, Soilwork’s Peter Wichers and Ross the Boss (ex-Manowar)
• Our man-crush on Trent Reznor grew ever greater.
• You argued over who was the most important member of Metallica, past and present.
• We looked at new releases by Razor of Occam and Karl Sanders.
• It was a big week in the Norwegian courts… the Gorgoroth case was settled, and Varg was granted parole.
• Crazytown and Skunk Anansie are getting back together.

Next week Kip and I take off for Austin, TX on Wednesday. We’ll be live-blogging whenever possible. To everyone else, have fun not being there, suckazzz!!

-VN

Q: What’s the heaviest part about Nile?
A: Karl Sanders

Now that’s only half a fat joke. Anybody could be the fat guitarist in Nile compared to Dallas Toller-Wade’s scrawny guns, but my main point is that Sander’s has a beastly metal persona to match his physical presence: from being a roadie for Morbid Angel to masterminding one of the heaviest bands ever (fact), the dude is a true metal lifer and the world is a heavier place with him on it. The guy just has great enthusiasm for the genre; in interviews he never hesitates for a second to throw the horns in any situation where it’s even mildly necessary. His fanatic endorsement of guitar companies (usually based on how metal the headstock looks) is probably one of the greatest testaments to career satisfaction I’ve seen. This motherfucker loves doing what he does.

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What’s better than music? FREE MUSIC! Here’s some shit people are currently giving away for the price of air.

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