Nile & Coroner

It's been said that one of humanity's greatest attributes is our desire to remember. In light of the ancient world's epic tales of invasion, occupation, conquest, enslavement, domination, and all-out war, situating history against the equally violent passages of death metal music in such a thorough and reverent way had yet to be achieved until the birth of NILE. Formed in 1993 by Sanders, bassist / vocalist Chief Spires, and drummer Pete Hammoura, then later augmented in 1996 by second guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade, NILE's symphonic arrangements unleashed a unique approach to their uncompromising technicality and Middle Eastern-tinged songwriting with their two EPs, Festivals Of Atonement (1995), Ramses Bringer Of War (1997), and their first full-length, 1998's Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka. Rightfully earning themselves a world tour with Morbid Angel and a festival debut at Dynamo Open Air in 1999, NILE were quickly gaining an onslaught of new fans that revered them as one of metal's most devastating new bands. Once home (and with the assistance of drummer Derek Roddy after Hammoura tore his shoulder), Sanders and company began work assembling and arranging the song fragments and ideas that were fermenting while on the road. Every night was spent obsessively researching (the lyrics alone took a year to finalize!), composing, arranging and re-arranging before entering Soundlab Studios in Columbia, South Carolina with producer/engineer Bob Moore to record the result of their meticulous labor: the masterfully grandiose and cinematic Black Seeds Of Vengeance, Terrorizer Magazine's coveted "Album Of The Year" for the year 2000. No band has ever committed themselves so deeply within a subject matter as has NILE, as demonstrated by the tracks "Ithyphallic," "What Can Safely Be Written," "The Essential Salts," and the ravaging "Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water." "Karl Sanders," observes Decibel…