NILE Mainman: 'We Will Be The First Real Death Metal Band To Ever Play OZZFEST'

NILE mainman Karl Sanders has issued a statement explaining his band's decision to take part in the 2007 Ozzfest tour. LAMB OF GOD and LORDI will perform on the main stage with headliner OZZY OSBOURNE, while HATEBREED will headline the second stage, supported by MONDO GENERATOR, ANKLA, CIRCUS DIABLO, NILE and THE SHOWDOWN. The 24-city tour begins July 12 in Seattle.

Commented Sanders: "Been getting a lot of messages about Ozzfest, and the general concensus is, we are either giving a good reason for metalheads to go to the show, or we're going someplace we don't belong becuase we're 'too heavy for Ozzfest.'

"Well, here's how I see it: There is a brief scene in 'Saving Private Ryan', during the opening sequence on the Normandy Beach, where just for a few seconds the camera moves to a viewpoint of a German machine-gunner — looking over his machine-gun sights down onto the beach — who is laying waste to countless U.S. soldiers as the doors open up to their boats and they are all just helpless and vulnerable, in the water and struggling onto the beach, exposed to devastating machine gunfire — and from this vantage point, one can not help but get the feeling, if only for a moment, of what it must feel like to be that machine gunner, with so many helpless targets right in your sights to mow down at will. Of course, for that machine-gunner, you also feel that, however awesome it must be for those priceless few moments of godly slaughter, it will inevitably be short-lived, because he is soon to be roasted alive in his bunker as soon as Tom Hanks and friends make it up the hill. But for those few moments of unimpeded opportunity to mow down wave after wave of helpless targets, it had to be utterly godly.

"That's why we are doing Ozzfest. We will be the first real death metal band to ever play Ozzfest, and the chance to lay waste to thousands and thousands of mall metal posers is just too once-in-a-lifetime to pass up.

"In the words of Ross Dolan, 'Metal will take place.'

"I could care less about how much incredible exposure it will be to play Ozzfest; I am just thrilled at the possibility of metal carnage on a mass scale. Those venues will look like Omaha Beach when we are done."

NILE recently entered Sound Lab Studios in Columbia, South Carolina to begin recording the follow-up to 2005's "Annihilation of the Wicked", due later in the year via Nuclear Blast Records. The band is once again working with producer Neil Kernon (NEVERMORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, DEICIDE) and engineer Bob Moore.

NILE drummer George Kollias previously stated: "There is a lot of work to be done. The new songs sound REALLY great and tight. I can't wait to record!"

NILE's last album, "Annihilation of the Wicked" album, was released in May 2005 via Relapse Records. A video for the album track "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" was shot on location in Atlanta, GA by director Chad Rullman (MASTODON's "March of the Fire Ants", THE AGONY SCENE) for Supercollider Films.

NILE will embark on a headlining tour of Australia in May. Support at the shows will come from Polish technical death metal sensations DECAPITATED.

(Thanks: Bill a.k.a. 5142)