“At The Gate Of Sethu”, the seventh full-length album from South Carolina-based extreme technical death metallers NILE, sold 3,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 131 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD landed at position No. 2 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
NILE’s previous album, “Those Whom The Gods Detest”, opened with 3,500 units back in 2009 to enter The Billboard 200 chart at No. 160.
“At The Gate Of Sethu” was released in Europe on June 29 and in the U.S. on July 3 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2009’s “Those Whom The Gods Detest” was once again produced and mixed by Neil Kernon, who has previously worked with NEVERMORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, QUEENSRŸCHE and DEICIDE, among many others. The CD artwork was handled by a true genius of darkened visuals, Seth Siro Anton (SOILWORK, PARADISE LOST, SEPTICFLESH).
In a recent interview with CobraMetal.net, Sanders stated about “At The Gate Of Sethu”, “Well, we started [working on it] in May of last year (2011) after we finished our European tour. We worked on that fucking record for 10 months straight, to the exclusion of all else. (Laughs) Long hours, every day.”
Regarding the new album’s concept, Karl said, “It’s in similar territory to other NILE records in that a lot of it stems from Ancient Egyptology and sort of has underlying modern themes tied in. We haven’t abandoned our identity and I don’t believe you should fuck over your fans. If your fans like what you do, and you change too much of what you do, fans don’t like it. What matters to me is when I’m out on tour and I meet the actual fans and they share their thoughts…those are the people that I listen to. There’s a lot of new ideas within the realm of what we do that we tried to incorporate. We studied real hard on the guitar and have lots of new riffs and musical ideas. There are a lot of surprises on the record.”
When asked if fans can expect any guest appearances on the new NILE CD, Karl said, “Jon Vesano is all over this record. (Our former singer and bass guitarist who we’re still good friends with.) Jon did some guest vocals on “Those Whom The Gods Detest” and it made us realize all over again all the things we really liked about Jon’s vocals. We wanted to incorporate some of his insanity. [laughs] He’s wicked, man. He knows how to channel that inner possession. He finds a way to summon it. It’s great stuff.”
Source: www.blabbermouth.net