No matter how much you think you know about metal, you're always going to meet someone who starts throwing out band names that you've never heard before. Which of course is great if you're open minded enough to start checking new stuff out. In an interview with Guitar World, Nile frontman Karl Sanders was asked if the sheer amount of metal bands these days makes it hard for new groups to find unique sounds, to which he basically replies "not even close."
"Certainly there is an amazing glut of so many new metal bands. But I don't think that's necessarily bad. I think in the last 10 years, we've seen an acceleration in the evolution of the art form – with people working really hard to bring in new ideas. So, I think yes and no.
"If you really want to, there's all kinds of things that you can bring into your music. Especially now, living in the digital age – we have access to so much guitar playing, it's mind-boggling.
"When I started playing, we had no internet. But nowadays, if you want to see how Steve Vai did something, boom, type in 'Steve Vai' in your YouTube search, and you'll get 150 videos of Steve Vai, and you can see how he's doing it. And that's extremely powerful from a learning context – you're not just hearing it, you're seeing it.
"And it's like that across the spectrum – for every single kind of music. If you're a young player now, you can see how it's done. And I think this has created an evolutionary up curve in the art form.
"People say, 'It's all shredding, blah, blah blah.' No. There's people doing stuff now that is mind-boggling, and we have access to all of it. So, is it harder to incorporate new stuff and do new things? Has it all been done? I don't think so. I think we've just blown open the box now in these times, and anything is possible."
Nile is currently working on a new album and is holding open auditions for their bassist position after bassist and vocalist Brad Parris left the band earlier this month.
