NILE Drummer Talks About New Album 'Ithyphallic'

Aedan Siebert of Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with NILE drummer George Kollias. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the move from Relapse Records to Nuclear Blast:

"We've created a great team with Nuclear Blast. They showed a big interest in NILE before we signed and things are exactly the same now, which makes us really happy. They love our new album very much and they're doing their best to get us out there, doing our own thing. I strongly believe that we will do some great things together..."

On how the group's upcoming album, "Ithyphallic", compares to NILE's previous releases:

"Well, first, 'Ithyphallic' sounds really fresh and powerful since we finished it one month ago. I would say that it includes all our older elements — but even stronger this time — with the addition of new ideas which add into our music. 'Ithyphallic' is faster than any album we've done. It is way more powerful, more epic and more technical. We worked again as a team for it — even harder this time — paying so much attention to the actual 'songs.' We wanted to pass all the energy and feeling in there. In more musical terms, the time signatures are just crazy this time, with a big variety of tempos — so it's technical like never before, but well-constructed to give the actual feeling on each song. So there is quality in there — some insanely fast parts, some hugely epic parts… you know things that you could always find in NILE. This time they are just better done!"

On once again working with producer Neil Kernon and sound engineer Bob Moore:

"Bob Moore has worked with NILE on all our albums as a producer and a sound engineer so we knew Bob very well. Neil Kernon worked with us on 'Annihilation' and of course on the new album, so we feel like he's also part of the band. Neil is a legendary producer and we are extremely happy that he liked NILE from the beginning! He enjoys the whole process and will always add something here and there. Each time he had an opinion we usually went with it. After doing 'Annihilation' and getting to know the band more, he did an even better job this time! The new album sounds awesome!! He is definitely a big part of our sound — he knows what we want and helps us to get it the best way. Bob is also a big part of the process, he would also give solutions on any problem we had and was responsible for the recording setup and all the things a sound engineer must do! Bob is just 'the man' in the studio."

Read the entire interview at The Metal Forge.