Blast from the past albums #4: KARL SANDERS - Saurian Exorcisms (2009, The End Records)

In this series of posts I'll discuss an album I picked up as a teenager or my early 20s and haven't listened to in a very long time.

Well, I remember exactly when I picked this one up. It was when I saw Nile in Wolverhampton - almost exactly 16 years ago (16th December 2009 to be precise). The gig was awesome. 5 bands; Nile headlining of course, with both Grave and Krisiun supporting. We also got Ulcerate - these guys only had 2 albums out at the time, now they seem to have a devoted cult following (for good reason, and they were even my band of the night at the concert). Oh, and there was Hackneyed too, but I don't remember much of them. Anyway, since Nile were touring for their then latest album, Those Whom the Gods Detest, they were selling copies of said record at the merch stall. They were also selling Karl Sanders' solo CD, Saurian Exorcisms, Karl being Nile's lead guitarist of course. Saurian Exorcisms was selling for something like £5, while Those Whom the Gods Detest cost more than double that price if I remember correctly. Since I wanted both a Nile tour shirt and a CD, but was only 17 and couldn't afford the Nile album on top of the t-shirt, I went with Karl Sanders' album instead. And I know for a fact I'd made the wrong choice because I genuinely don't think I've heard this album since 2009!!

I've lived in 6 different houses in my lifetime. This CD has has lived in 4 of them, yet has only ever been spun in 2! The reason? Because as it turns out, Karl Sanders' solo work is not just Nile 2.0, which is effectively what I was expecting to hear when I was 17 and bought this disc home with me from the gig. No, Saurian Exorcisms is essentially an entirely instrumental ancient Egypt-inspired ambient record! Think of it as a full-length album of those little ancient Egyptian-styled interludes found on any Nile record, minus the technical death metal of course! Obviously I assumed this album would be death metal too. Or at least heavy metal/rock in some form, with that same ancient Egypt influence of Nile. But it's not. So naturally, I listened to it once and shelved it until I was nearly twice as old as I was when I bought it. 

Truth be told, this album is not bad at what it sets out to do - like, at all. In fact, if you're open-minded or just curious about instrumental/ambient music, then you're probably gonna love this. The album really does sound like the score to The Mummy, or some other ancient Egypt/Arabian-themed movie! Or even video game for that matter. Hell, did anyone play the game Exhumed (or PowerSlave as it was called in the US) on the original PlayStation/Sega Saturn back in the day?! You know, that awesome first-person shooter set in Egyptian Karnak ruins with all the platforming and secret areas? Anybody?! Nope, just me then! Either way, Saurian Exorcisms would make for perfect accompanying music to that game!!

If you were to blindfold me and play this album, I'd have guessed it was the soundtrack to a film. It totally nails that very specific niche sound that it's trying to pull off. And Karl even manages to impress me with his fretwork here too; in fact, it's not just acoustic guitars he plays, he's also playing the bağlama, glissentar (I had to look these up), synths and keyboards as well as all the percussion. That's pretty damn impressive for a bloke from South Carolina who normally brings the brutal riffage on his Dean ML!! Of course, you won't find any electric guitars, riffs, guttural vocals (just monk-like chants at times) or blast beat drumming on this album. Like I said, considering the whole point of this album is to expand on any of the brief ancient Egypt-inspired interludes you heard on Nile's records, it absolutely achieves this goal. And it does it really well.

I've been struggling to find any real negative reviews online regarding the album, so clearly people feel strongly about it. I just don't have much use for it myself. I don't really do the whole 'ambient' thing. I don't mind the odd ambient track within an album - it's fairly commonplace in black metal for example, and helps set the mood/tone for a record. But even when I just want to mellow out to something, I don't listen to ambient albums. I'll just stick some form of soft/folk rock on, like one of Neil Young's acoustic albums. Ambient instrumental music though, no thanks. I like Nine Inch Nails too, but I could never get on board with any of those Ghosts albums Trent Reznor put out. Same thing here too - well, 'sorta. I like Nile, but I don't know if I really need to listen to any of Karl's solo stuff at the end of the day.

So I guess this disc will remain on my CD shelves, but won't be spun again for god knows how long. Maybe forever. But if you have any sort of interest in ambient/instrumental/atmospheric kinds of music, then by all means check out Saurian Exorcisms. You're probably gonna love it.
Adam's rating: Not my cup of tea so I'm not sure!  

P.S. - Me and my friend actually met Karl Sanders at the end of that gig in 2009. Nice chap! He signed both our tickets and was happy to chat and meet fans. I played a lot of guitar when I was younger, and I owned a Dean MLX - basically a cheaper, entry-level version of what Karl plays (and Dimebag of course). I couldn't think of anything good to say to him other than "You were awesome and you play a Dean ML!", as if I had lots in common with the guy. I remember him simply replying "I do!". Oh how I cringe at 17 year old me!