Hails & Horns: Karl, how long did it take to write the new NILE album [“At The Gate Of Sethu”]?
Sanders: I started in May [2011]. We finished our two-year touring cycle for “For Those Whom The Gods Detest” in April of last year. I took the rest of April and got over a case of severe bronchitis that I caught on tour in Europe that winter, then got to work in May and wrote all the way to November. Just an insane amount of hours put in. I really wanted to up the bar this time. In six months I wrote nine songs, seven of which we used on the record. Three more I co-wrote with Dallas [Toler-Wade, guitars, vocals].
Hails & Horns: NILE is a very technical, guitar-oriented band. Is recording the guitar parts the most frustrating aspect of the recording process?
Sanders: Absolutely. You said it. This album we quadruple-tracked the guitars and we took like a month to friggin’ do it. We were insane. We wanted to have the sharpest and cleanest and tightest guitar stacks that could be possibly imaginable. Because you know what? Goshdarnit, we want the fans to hear the fuckin’ riff. As long as it took to get those fuckin’ things razor sharp, that’s what the fuck we did. Because, man, it really makes a difference, when you take the time and the headache and go through the agony to get that shit clean and tight, it just makes the riff that much meaner and focused.
Hails & Horns: Have you ever thought of slowing it down? Making a “Black Album?”
Sanders: Oh, fuck no. But it’s an interesting tale along those lines. During the early part of envisioning this record, and wondering what sort of songs I was gonna write, we had some encouragement from folks within the label and management to experiment a little bit and bring in other elements and whatnot. I was in an experimental mood, so I had all these ideas about acoustic guitars and OPETH-like sections. But then as I started writing, and actually doing it, I didn’t write anything like that. It was all fuckin’ twice as heavy. I was scratching my head, wondering, “How am I supposed to explain this to the label and management?” They wanted us to experiment and hear I am doubling it up twice as brutal. Then the funniest thing happened. There was a video on YouTube that went around called, “Adolf Hitler Reacts to the New Morbid Angel Album.” It clicked in my head. I don’t have to explain myself to anybody. I’m not gonna fuckin’ experiment and fuck around and change our sound, except to go more extreme, more shredding, and more brutal. We’re into doing new things, but they’re in our own fuckin’ vein. We’re not jumping ship. Fuck no.
Read the entire interview from Hails & Horns.
Digipack:
Jewel case:
Source: Blabbermouth.net
In an April 2012 interview with Metal Blast, Nergal stated about BEHEMOTH‘s next album, “We want to take our time and not rush ourselves in any way. . . It looks like it might be the most important album in our career. I want to make the most honest record and I won’t be bending to anyone’s rules or expectations, including [BEHEMOTH‘s record labels] Metal Blade or Nuclear Blast. Every next BEHEMOTH album is a surprise and is never the same. . . We don’t want to stress ourselves because the music business and the direction it takes is not as I would like it to be. That means we will be going against the current again and just do as we will and please. Whatever we do is going to be BEHEMOTH, 100%. It is the state of our will and nobody can deny it. I can tell you that we aren’t going to come out with a reggae or country album; it’s going to be BEHEMOTH, it’s going to be extreme. But don’t be surprised if people listened to it and said, ‘Fuck, they did it. It’s so amazing.’ [Laughs] That’s what I like to say when I listen to my own music. I love to surprise myself. I hate things that are predictable. I want to surprise myself and surprise other people, as well. . . Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge AC/DC fan and I expect AC/DC to be AC/DC, but don’t expect BEHEMOTH to put out another ‘The Apostasy’, ‘Demigod’ or ‘Evangelion’ album, because that will not happen.”
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 