Karl Sanders

Karl Sanders (born June 5, 1963) is an American musician, most widely known as the founding member of the American ancient Egyptian-themed technical death metal band Nile. He was born in California, and lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Sanders is endorsed by Dean Guitars, and currently has a signature guitar with the company.

Early life

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.^[1]

Other projects

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. Karl 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.^[1]

His first solo full-length album, Saurian Meditation, was released on October 26, 2004 under the Relapse record label. A second solo album, Saurian Exorcisms, was released on April 14, 2009.

Equipment

According to Karl Sanders himself in the official Nile forum and in a "Rigged" article on metalsucks,^[2] the following is the equipment Sanders uses to perform. He currently owns 19 instruments.

Guitars

• Dean V Nile Custom
• Dean 79 V
• Dean ML
• KxK Spear V
• 1973 Fender Strat with Warmoth "Jackson" neck
• Natural finish KxK Double-Neck V - Top neck fretless 11 string, bottom neck in drop A
• Dark finish KxK Double-Neck V - Top neck in drop D, bottom neck in drop A
• KxK Seven string V
• Godin Glissentar
• Godin ACS Slim Solidbody Classical
• Dean 12-string acoustic
• Handmade Turkish bağlama saz

Pickups

• Seymour Duncan Invader (Main bridge pickup)
• Seymour Duncan Distortion (Alternate bridge pickup)
• Seymour Duncan Full Shred (Neck pickup)
• Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (Neck pickup)

Strings

• SIT .070 .050 .038 .017 .012 .010

Picks

• Dunlop Tortex Sharp 1.35 mm

Amps

• ENGL Invader (Current main amplifier)
• Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 heads (Previous main amplifier, and backup for Engl)
• Marshall 1960 a/b cabs with Celestion G12K-100 speakers
• Splawn Quickrod (Main amp used for recording At The Gates of Sethu)

Other equipment

• Roland GP-8
• Lexicon Digital Reverb
• Roland GR-1 Guitar synth
• Roland PK-5 Midi Pedals
• Customized Dell Vostro *Sonar and Kontact software
• M-audio Interface
• Glyph Porta Drive
• MOTU interface
• Radial Tonebone Plexi Pedal
• Radial Direct Boxes
• Radial JD-7
• Monster Cable

Guest appearances

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.^[3] Karl also played on Grave's 2010 album Burial Ground on the tracks "Bloodtrail" and "Naafa",and provided guest vocals for Nervecell's song "Shunq (To the Despaired... King of Darkness)" on their 2011 album Psychogenocide. On Tourniquet's 2012 album Antiseptic Bloodbath, Karl contributed a guitar solo on the track "Chamunda Temple Stampede".

Discography

With Nile

References