Karl Sanders (born June 5, 1963) is an American vocalist and guitarist, most widely known as the founding member of the ancient Egyptian-themed technical death metal band Nile. Early life Before creating Nile, Sanders was in a thrash metal band during the late 1980s called Morriah and played local shows with the young Morbid Angel and other US death metal bands. Other projects Sanders began his own solo side project in 2004. Much of the music that he plays includes similar elements of his band Nile, however presented in an ambient/Egyptian folk format, rather than death metal. Sanders explained that "he got sick of hearing big loud death metal everyday after touring", and started writing quieter music to relax, and recorded them. His first solo full-length album, Saurian Meditation, was released in October 2004 under the Relapse record label. A second solo album, Saurian Exorcisms, was released in April 2009. In May 2022, he announced his third solo album, Saurian Apocalypse, would be released on July 22. Equipment According to Sanders in the official Nile forum and in an article on MetalSucks, the equipment he uses is: Guitars Dean V Nile Custom Dean 79 V Dean ML Dean VX KxK Spear V 1973 Fender Strat with Warmoth "Jackson" neck Natural finish KxK Double-Neck V - Top neck fretless 11 string, bottom neck in drop A Dark finish KxK Double-Neck V - Top neck in drop D, bottom neck in drop A (Was recently sold on eBay) KxK Seven string V Godin Glissentar Godin ACS Slim Solidbody Classical Dean 12-string acoustic Handmade Turkish bağlama saz Pickups Seymour Duncan Invader (Main bridge pickup) Seymour Duncan Distortion (Alternate bridge pickup) Seymour Duncan Full Shred (Neck pickup) Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (Neck pickup) Strings SIT .070 .050 .038 .017 .012 .010 Picks Dunlop Tortex Sharp 1.35 mm Amps ENGL Invader (Current main amplifier) Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 heads (Previous main amplifier, and backup for Engl) Marshall 1960 a/b cabs with Celestion 65 watt Creamback speakers Splawn Quickrod (Main amp used for recording At The Gates of Sethu) Other equipment Roland GP-8 Lexicon Digital Reverb Roland GR-1 Guitar synth Roland PK-5 Midi Pedals Customized Dell Vostro *Sonar and Kontact software M-audio Interface Glyph Porta Drive MOTU interface Radial Tonebone Plexi Pedal Radial Direct Boxes Radial JD-7 Monster Cable Guest appearances Sanders guested on Behemoth's 2004 CD release, Demigod, playing a guitar solo on the