For nigh-on 20 years, South Carolina’s Egypt-obsessed originators of ‘Ithyphallic metal’, Nile, have marked themselves out as overlords of epic death metal, channelling the darkest forces of history into spectacular displays of dexterity that are still dripping red in tooth and claw.
With Nile founder Karl Sanders having twice moved into solo territory for more soundtrack-based excursions, drummer extraordinaire, George Kollias has decided to flex some new musical muscles with a new solo album of his own, Invictus, due to be heaved up from the churning cauldron of Season Of Mist Records and unleashed upon the earth on May 18.
Proving that he’s just as deft and hefty a hand on a whole range of instruments, George’s forthcoming missive looks set to be another towering and timeless testimony to the undying power of death metal, and we know this because we have an exclusive track to unveil, in the blistering form of Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead. Five and a half minutes of imperiously apocalyptic blasting, it proves not only that George Kollias is more than capable of trading blows with Nile’s only known peers, Behemoth, but that his songwriting prowess and command of tension/total-devastation dynamics are every bit as pitiless as his regular berth.
“Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead is a fast song at the 260bpm range,” says George himself. “It is not to easy, but a lot of fun to play and one of my favourites from my album. I really like that tempo range, which I always thought fits my drumming style well, but I also love the aggression that comes out of this song. It is not just the drumming that does it, but the riffs… the vocals… or all as one. The percussion is really important for Shall Rise… and the rest of album as well. I spent plenty of time to find exactly what fits each composition. For this song, I went with big war drums to make it as epic as possible! I am very happy how this song turned out exactly how I envisioned it while writing. Yet having George Emmanuel from Rotting Christ adding a guitar solo made this one of my personal highlights. George nailed it!”
Stand in the path of Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead below and prepare to be thrown from this world to the feet of Osiris!
Prostrate yourself before George Kollias’s Facebook page here!
And make your offering to the gods by pre-ordering Invictus here!
