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
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.
Relentless touring through the U.S. and Europe followed, and it would be two years before the band would return to work with Bob Moore at Soundlab Studios (with new vocalist & bassist Jon Vesano replacing Chief Spires and drummer Tony Laureano replacing Hammoura in tow) on In Their Darkened Shrines, enthusiastically commended by Terrorizer Magazine as “a hair’s breath from perfection” and giving us the live staple “Unas Slayer Of The Gods.” NILE joined road forces with Arch Enemy, Napalm Death, Voivod, Strapping Young Lad, Danzig, Opeth, and Superjoint Ritual, made renowned appearances at Italy’s Gods Of Metal and Fields Of Rock festivals, headlined in Japan for the first time, came back to the States to tour with Kreator and Vader, then returned to Europe for the X-Mass Festival.
Again, the band would rest before committing themselves to recording 2005’s Annihilation Of The Wicked with engineer Bob Moore and producer/mixer Neil Kernon (Judas Priest, Nevermore) at Soundlab. Incorporating African choirs and the exotic instrumentations from sitars, tables, tempuras, and kettle drums, the album was summed up best by Guitar World Magazine who branded it “the perfect soundtrack to a blinding, flesh-burning apocalypse.” Showcasing the drum talents of George Kollias, Annihilation validated every accolade heaped upon NILE. Tours with King Diamond, then Hypocrisy & Decapitated followed in the U.S.; with Unleashed, Hate Eternal, and Behemoth and later Incantation and Dying Fetus through Europe; and a festival appearance at Norway’s Hole In The Sky kept NILE on the road for over a year, leaving audiences in awe with their exhaustive work ethic, their tenacity & persistence, and their mind-numbing musicianship.
Two years and a new record label later, NILE return in the full glory of all their majestic malevolence. Clean, articulate, studied, and rooted in the algebraic drumming and incendiary blast-beats of George Kollias and the Mach-3 tandem guitar work and double-vocal assault of Sanders & Toler-Wade, Ithyphallic (referring to the ancient practice of portraying statues of gods with huge, mystically-proportioned phalluses as a sign of strength and fertility) continues to advance the scope and magnitude of death metal. A bold statement of ancient ferocity, NILE’s fifth album is resplendent with epic arrangements and savage extremity and is testimony to the band’s extreme range of expression manifested through a variety of tempos & time signatures and their intelligent subject matter, which – when combined – invokes an unmistakable power. Retaining the band’s exceptionally high standard of sound is long-time engineer Bob Moore; Ithyphallic’s sonic clarity comes courtesy of Neil Kernon’s painstaking production.
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 Magazine, “plays with one foot on the Great Pyramid, the other on Sirius B, and every atom of his considerable technique harnessed in the service of the Other.” Noted for their individuality, NILE inspire the exploration of new paradigms among their colleagues. ” Ithyphallic is doomy, twisted, and warped, yet intricately crafted with brutal and intense clarity and pronunciation,” writes Brave Words And Bloody Knuckles, “a scourge that proves NILE is one of the most important death metal bands today.”
If history is fundamentally a record of human interaction and if possessing knowledge of the past can grant us the key to our future, the question begs to be asked: are we doomed to live out the same horrors, the same curses, the same trappings of greed as have so many civilizations before us? Come. Your personal history lesson awaits you…
Suffocation
Few bands can be credited with creating a legacy, however, legendary New York based extreme metal outfit SUFFOCATION have done just that. For 20 years now SUFFOCATION have been creating music that has become the very standard by which we judge all things extreme.
Their fusion of technicality, groove and sheer unrelenting brutality has been imitated but never quite duplicated. Milestone records such as Effigy of the Forgotten, Pierced from Within, and Despise the Sun have influenced a wealth of today’s best musical talents. With the release of SUFFOCATION’s Nuclear Blast debut Blood Oath, their legacy of unrelenting and unique heaviness continues for perhaps the genres greatest band!
Formed in 1989, SUFFOCATION released their three-song demo, Re-incremation. Within weeks of its release came the interest of many record labels that wanted to claim stake to the first SUFFOCATION full-length album.
The band chose to release their follow-up, an EP entitled Human Waste, through Relapse Records in 1991. Human Waste saw SUFFOCATION bash out the beginnings of extreme metal’s most visible style, the New York combination of blasting grind-cord beats and metallic textures. But this was only the beginning.
In 1991, the now classic Effigy of the Forgotten (inducted into Decibel Magazine’s “Hall of Fame”) was released by Roadrunner Records. Effigy of the Forgotten brought SUFFOCATION and death metal to a new echelon, taking the multiple languages of music and unifying them in an evocative, thundering chorus of extreme metal.
In 1993, the band released their second full-length album, Breeding the Spawn, on Roadrunner Records. Breeding the Spawn surpassed expectations. This highly rhythmic album built on the legacy of their previous releases.
Following the release of 1995’s Pierced From Within on Roadrunner Records, SUFFOCATION embarked on massive tours of Europe, Canada, Mexico and the United States, playing to tens of thousands of fans.
In 1998, they released the EP Despise the Sun on Vulture Records and disbanded soon after. Extreme metal fans wept at the loss of one the genres greatest champions and pioneers. Eventually the EP was re-released in September 2000 and properly distributed by Relapse Records.
In 2003, SUFFOCATION reformed after a much needed break and in April 2004, Relapse Records released Souls to Deny. The group’s return was a truly devastating display of technical extreme metal. Over 400 shows and countless United States and European tours later (including the Wacken Festival in Germany, playing to over 33,000 fans), SUFFOCATION entered the studio to record the most mature and destructive album of their now legendary career. Suffocation, their 2006 self-titled release, again proved why they have solidly held their position as one of the most important and influential bands in the genre.
In 2008, the band signed a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast Records and began working on material for their label debut. By 2009, SUFFOCATION had entered Full Force Studios once again with Joe Cincotta (Internal Bleeding, Criminal Element), who the band had worked with to record their two previous efforts. Zack Ohren (All Shall Perish, Decrepit Birth) was enlisted this time around for his mixing and mastering capabilities to capture the band’s ever-elusive live sound and intensity. The collaboration between all the parties involved has resulted in what is without a doubt their finest production to date! Add in the artwork and sick visualization of the Blood Oath concept by cult artist Jon Zig (Gorgasm, Deeds of Flesh) and you have the bands most complete all-around release yet.
In 2012 SUFFOCATION will chosen to be inducted into the Long Island Hall of Fame. They will be celebrated alongside such Long Island Music Legends like Billy Joel, Joan Jett, Twisted Sister and more. This is a huge accomplishment for SUFFOCATION as well as the genre they helped formed.
SUFFOCATION are currently in the finishing stages of their upcoming new album entitled Pinnacle of Bedlam. The record was produced by the band and tracked at Full Force Studios in New York by longtime collaborator Joe Cincotta. The mixing and mastering of the album is set to be handled this time around by world renowned producer/engineer Zeuss (HATEBREED, ARSIS, SUICIDE SILENCE). Pinnacle of Bedlam will feature 10 genre-defining-bone-crushing tracks and also marks the return of drummer Dave Culross, who played with the band previously on their Despise The Sun EP.
Organised by Kulturno društvo Veseli dihurčki
