nile2017

Nile Part Ways With Dallas Toler-Wade

Nile, the long running Egyptian themed death metal, announced on Facebook that guitarist and vocalist Dallas Toler-Wade has left and has subsequently been replaced by guitarist Brian Kingsland of Enthean. Toler-Wade has yet to make a statement about why he left the band, and Nile’s own statement is vague, claiming that Toler-Wade intends to “focus on his own plans and recordings.”

This departure is a surprising one, as Toler-Wade has been a rock solid part of Nile’s lineup for nearly twenty years and has played on every Nile record since Black Seeds Of Vengence through 2015’s What Should Not Be Unearthed. Toler-Wade and fellow guitarist/vocalist Karl Sanders have been the backbone of the Nile sound for as long as Nile have been a household name in metal. Sanders and Toler-Wade would operate as bad cop, even worse cop, trading vocals and light speed guitar solos. It will be difficult to image Nile without Toler-Wade towering over the crowd and bellowing Sanders’s notoriously wordy lyrics against Nile’s signature sound.

Kingsland undoubtably has big shoes to fill, although his own multi-instrumental work with Enthean suggests that he’s up for the challenge. His new bandmates seem to share in that optimism. In his official statement Sanders claims that he hasn’t felt this encouraged by Nile’s lineup since drummer George Kollias joined for 2005’s Annihilation Of The Wicked. Obviously Sanders is going to be have a positive spin on the news, so its smart to take that statement with a grain of salt, but given how luke warm the reaction has been to Nile lately, maybe moving some pieces around will help the band recapture their mojo. After all, Annihilation Of The Wicked remains one of the band’s best records. Stream that album below. You can also listen to Enthean on Bandcamp, and read Nile’s statement here.

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