Karl Sanders

Sanders started playing guitar when he was nine years old.{{Cite web |last=Naylor |first=Alexander |date=2015-09-11 |title=Nile's Karl Sanders Interviewed August 2015 |url=https://www.rocksins.com/2015/09/an-interview-with-karl-sanders-of-nile-none-of-the-old-rules-were-allowed-to-apply-this-time-25646/#:~:text=So%20you%E2%80%99re%20not%20only%20a%20vocalist,%20you%E2%80%99re%20a%20guitarist%20as%20well.%20When%20did%20you%20start%20playing%20guitar? |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Rock Sins |language=en-GB}} Before creating Nile, Sanders was in a thrash metal band during the late 1980s called Morriah and played local shows with the young Morbid Angel and other US death metal bands.{{cite web| author=Metalship |date=February 12, 2013 |url=http://en.metalship.org/interviews/258-Nile |title=Interview with Karl Sanders of Nile |publisher=Metalship}} He said, "The 80s were a lot of fun. It was a time where everybody had disposable income so everybody was always going out. There were half a dozen places to play in my home town. You could have quite the life playing four nights a week, even as a cover band, but after a while we wanted to write our own songs."{{Cite web |title=Karl Sanders - Wikiquote |url=https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Sanders |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=en.wikiquote.org |language=en}}

Sanders began his own solo side project in 2004. Much of the music that he plays includes similar elements of his band Nile, however presented in an ambient/Egyptian folk format, rather than death metal. Sanders explained that "he got sick of hearing big loud death metal everyday after touring", and started writing quieter music to relax, and recorded them.

His first solo full-length album, Saurian Meditation, was released in October 2004 under the Relapse record label. A second solo album, Saurian Exorcisms, was released in April 2009. In May 2022, he announced his third solo album, Saurian Apocalypse, would be released on July 22.{{cite web|author=Greg Kennelty|url=https://metalinjection.net/av/new-music/karl-sanders-recruits-original-nile-drummer-for-first-new-solo-album-in-13-years-streams-new-single|title=KARL SANDERS Recruits Original NILE Drummer For First New Solo Album In 13 Years, Streams New Single|website=Metal Injection|access-date=July 20, 2022|date=May 25, 2022}}

Sanders guested on Behemoth's 2004 CD release, Demigod, playing a guitar solo on the track "XUL". He also performed a guitar solo at the end of the track "God of Our Own Divinity" by Morbid Angel, on their 2003 album Heretic, as well as a solo on the song "The Final War (Battle of Actium)" on Ex Deo's 2009 album Romulus.[http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=61622744&blogId=488786244 Karl Sanders' Special Guest Appearance on new EX DEO album!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207065936/http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view |date=February 7, 2009 }} blogs.myspace.com. May 12, 2009. Retrieved on 2010-03-16.

Sanders also played on Grave's 2010 album Burial Ground on the tracks "Bloodtrail" and "Naafa". Sanders traveled to Dubai to collaborate on guest vocals for Nervecell's song "Shunq (To the Despaired... King of Darkness)" on their 2011 album Psychogenocide.{{cite web |last1=aliblackdiamond |title=NERVECELL Release New Video Featuring Karl Sanders Of Nile |url=https://metalshockfinland.com/2012/05/14/nervecell-release-new-video-featuring-karl-sanders-of-nile-2/ |website=Metal Shock Finland |date=May 14, 2012 |access-date=March 31, 2022}} On Tourniquet's 2012 album Antiseptic Bloodbath, Sanders contributed a guitar solo to the track "Chamunda Temple Stampede". Sanders was also featured in episode one of Rusty Cooley's and Zachary Adkins' podcast "Guitar Autopsy" available on YouTube.

In 2017 Sanders traveled to Egypt to collaborate with Nader Sadek, Derek Roddy, and Mahmud Gecekusu on The Serapeum EP{{cite web |last1=Pearce |first1=Dutch |title=Video Premiere: Nader Sadek – "The Serapeum (Polluted Waters)" |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2020/10/21/video-premiere-nader-sadek-the-serapeum-polluted-waters/ |website=Decibel Magazine |date=October 21, 2020 |access-date=March 31, 2022}}

In 2018 Sanders did a guest solo on the song "Sacred War of Lawlessness" for Polish Blackened Death Metal Band Veld {{cite web |last1=Iskander |title=AN NCS PREMIERE: VELD – "GRAND DAY OF DEMISE" |url=https://www.nocleansinging.com/2018/05/10/an-ncs-premiere-veld-grand-day-of-demise/#more-141252 |website=No Clean Singing |date=May 10, 2018 |access-date=March 31, 2022}}

Sanders provided lead guitars for THŪN's self-titled EP in 2021.{{cite web |last1=Reeder |title=THŪN Releasing Debut Album In June; NILE's KARL SANDERS On Lead Guitar |url=https://metaladdicts.com/thun-releasing-debut-album-in-june-niles-karl-sanders-on-lead-guitar/ |website=Metal Addicts |date=May 18, 2021 |publisher=Metal Addicts.net |access-date=March 31, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Super Metal |title=Eat Lead and die Music |url=http://www.supermetal.net/thun/ |website=Super Metal.net |publisher=EAT LEAD AND DIE MUSIC |access-date=March 31, 2022}}

Sanders is widely recognized as a pioneering figure in technical death metal. In 1998, Nile’s breakout album Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka blended Middle Eastern influences with extreme metal, helping revive interest in the genre during a period of decline.{{cite web |date=October 17, 2024 |title=Nile’s Karl Sanders: The Underworld Awaits Us All |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/nile-karl-sanders-the-underworld-awaits-us-all |website=Guitar World}}

He is often credited, alongside bands like Cryptopsy and Origin, with pushing the boundaries of speed, complexity, and conceptual storytelling in death metal.{{cite web |date=October 2024 |title=Interview: Karl Sanders on Nile's influence and songwriting discipline |url=https://www.wallofsoundau.com/news/karl-sanders-nile-people-radically-underestimate-what-it-takes-to-turn-that-sonic-abuse-into-something-that-you-can-listen-to |website=Wall of Sound}}

Sanders assessed his creative process and mindset: "Basically, if you’re a guitar player, there’s riffs that are going to come out. It just happens. It’s part of it. [...] It’s [just] not necessarily an endless well, and not every riff that we come up with manages to make its way into a song. That is where it comes from; we love to play music, so we’re always riffing. But, as soon as you try to dictate to the muse, it goes away. You can’t force yourself to be creative. You can be disciplined and work on your craft every day. [...] Not always is gold just gonna fall out of the sky, like when you hear a Nile record. [...] No, those songs took years to put together. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into taking the inspiration that we had and crafting it into something."{{Cite web |last=Helyespublished |first=Perran |date=2024-11-11 |title="I'm talking about people doing some despicable stuff...I'm also talking about my first ex-wife." Nile leader Karl Sanders on the fun of the 80s, being a black belt badass and how to stay authentic while writing death metal about ancient Egypt |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/karl-sanders-life-lessons |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=louder |language=en}}

Sanders has said, “I am playing guitar all fucking day long, practicing my ass off all the time,” underscoring a routine of high-volume, focused practice to build both stamina and precision in his picking and riffing.{{Cite web |title=Nile’s Karl Sanders talks new guitar partnerships, the key to heaviness and what all tech-metal bands can learn from The Beatles |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/niles-karl-sanders-talks-new-guitar-partnerships-the-key-to-heaviness-and-what-all-tech-metal-bands-can-learn-from-the-beatles}}

He has a son named Kael who appeared as a guest vocalist on Nile's 2019 album Vile Nilotic Rites.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Karl Sanders used to play tennis regularly with original Nile drummer Pete Hammoura, and is now avid pickleball player.{{cite web|url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/niles-karl-sanders-pickleball-has-restored-my-faith-in-humanity|title=NILE's KARL SANDERS: 'Pickleball Has Restored My Faith In Humanity'|website=Blabbermouth.net|date=27 December 2024|accessdate=22 January 2025}}

While not widely documented with public sources, Sanders is known in fan circles and interviews to mentor younger musicians and offer guitar lessons, sometimes free or at low cost, helping upcoming artists develop their skills and confidence.https://www.guitarworld.com/features/nile-karl-sanders-the-underworld-awaits-us-all

Sanders fascination with ancient history began in fourth grade with a book report on Alexander the Great, further fueled by watching epic films like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments with his father. {{Cite web |last=Helyespublished |first=Perran |date=2024-11-11 |title="I'm talking about people doing some despicable stuff...I’m also talking about my first ex-wife." Nile leader Karl Sanders on the fun of the 80s, being a black belt badass and how to stay authentic while writing death metal about ancient Egypt |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/karl-sanders-life-lessons |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=Louder |language=en}}

{{Main|Nile discography}}

{{reflist}}

• {{commonscatinline}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{Nile}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Karl}}

Category:Living people

Category:American lead guitarists

Category:American heavy metal guitarists

Category:American heavy metal keyboardists

Category:American heavy metal singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:21st-century American singers

Category:1963 births

Category:American multi-instrumentalists

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:American death metal musicians