Interview with Nader Sadek

Interview with Nader Sadek

Nader Sadek is one of the craziest guys I did interview with. Coming from Egyptian desert, this death metal master surely have a story to tell! He worked with some of the finest metal musicians out there, such as Andreas Kisser, Bobby Koelble, Alex Webster, Alex Skolnick, Glen Benton, Travis Ryan, Steve Tucker, Attila Csihar and others. Of course, Nader Sadek's llineup is constantly changing which adds unique flavor to the final product.

Agoraphobic News: What is the current line up of Nader Sadek?
Nader Sadek: Nader Sadek, and only Nader Sadek.

Agoraphobic News: Did you change it because of disputes between past memebers or perhaps the whole idea behind Nader Sadek is to have numerous line up changes with every new release ?
Nader Sadek: To answer the first question, no, and second, yes, there was never one line-up intended. In the beginning it actually started with Trym (Emperor, Zyklon) on drums, Alex Skolnick on leads, Ralph Santolla, LironPeled , Miles Jay and Steve Tucker. That was the first recording, I never released it online, it was in a gallery alongside drawings I made for an exhibition.  After I performed it live with musicians in a museum, and then came the in the flesh line up. Then we did a show, again it was different, each time, and it’s intended. I don’t think that in my position I'm supposed to have one team of people, there are SO many talented musicians out there. Some of them are hungry for work and creating new art. And it’s always great to change things up, make it fresh and unpredictable.

Agoraphobic News: Do you play an instrument or you are some sort of a conductor within the band ?
Nader Sadek:  No, I don't play an instrument in the traditional sense. I never learned/practiced, but I can sit down and come up with melodies, if there’s a keyboard or a guitar, mostly I hum melodies and try to figure them out on whatever instrument is available at the moment, I then record it with my phone, and start realizing it later. I show it to the to the others and we work on making a completely arranged song.

Agoraphobic News:  What exactly was your job in Mayhem and Sunn O))) ?
Nader Sadek:  For Mayhem I made stage design,“ decorating “ their set so to speak, For Sunn , I provided Attila with masks/ and costume ideas, which sort of became expected at a Sunn show.

Agoraphobic News:  What was it like to grow up in a country like Egypt ?
Nader Sadek:  Hard, everything is censored, people live a hard life, having lived in the west as well, people are spoiled, in Egypt people are real, but don’tget me wrong, there are a lot of things wrong here, which is why I left.

Agoraphobic News: I guess you've seen the Pyramids or the temple at Abu Simbel, right?
Nader Sadek: I still do, I visit them everyonce in while. It can bring clarity being in the presence of something so powerful.

Agoraphobic News: Recently I've watched a documentary called Heavy metal in Baghdad and things  out there are pretty crazy when it comes to art and music. How do the Muslims from Egypt respond to metal music?
Nader Sadek: I think you might be confusing “Muslim” for “highly conservative“, people are people, no matter where u go, and people like metal so they listen to it. There is no conflict.

Agoraphobic News: Who are the leaders of the Egyptian metal scene ?
Nader Sadek: Honestly? Me. hahaha

Agoraphobic News: When did you move to New York?
Nader Sadek: I lived there from 2005 till 2014.

Agoraphobic News: Your two cents on destruction of historical sites such as Palmyra or Mosul. And what about the immigrant crisis?
Nader Sadek: All Very terrible things, but I don’t look at the world emotionally... more like objectively/logically. We are nothing but bacteria, one thing will try to take over the other, fight for land and space. It’s just a natural battle. Have you seen what the roots of trees do to each other? It may not seem so... but deep underground, Trees have epic battles with each other when there resources are scarce, and they try to choke each other. That’s nature, killing and surviving, or dying. It’s really your only two options of existence.

Agoraphobic News: Recently I saw Re: Mechanic video for the first time! It's pretty brutal! Is the whole lyrical concept of In the Flesh inspired by Huxley's Brave New World, or to be more precise, by Fordism? Like Tom Araya said: "it's all about the mother fucking oil". The idea behind songs like Mechanic Idolatry and Sulfferisis clear as day. Do you think that the Middle East will always be under siege as long as oil is one of the primary industrial resources ?
Nader Sadek: Thanks man! I think petroleum is interesting, it’s death and it fuels life, and its destroying everything around it by doing so, it’s like an addiction to a cancer-inducing drug. I actually didn’t read Brave New World, I’ve read 1984 which I always heard was similar. My inspiration comes simply from my observation of the modern world. Petroleum is a paradox. A death we are addicted to, in order to live.

Agoraphobic News: A great deal of your lyrics are against religion. How come that only a few bands openly criticize religions other than Christianity, such as Islam, Judaism or Buddhism? Petrophilia is kinda against all religions but I just want to hear your opinion on this topic...If you had a chance to make your own religious sect what would it be like?
Nader Sadek: It’s actually about the religion of petroleum, which is the world religion, and no one sees it. As long as petroleum is used, we are all worshipping the same devil.

Agoraphobic News: How come that the independently recorded EP ( Malefic:  Chapter III) sounds better production-wise than your debut album In The Fleshwhich was released under major record label such as Season of Mist?
 Is In the Flesh meant to be dirtier?
Nader Sadek: Because Season of Piss are a bunch of assholes, who couldn’t keep their end of the bargain. Their piece of shit CEO insulted me and basically ruined it , just like he did with ORDO AD CHAO by Mayhem, whose production was disastrous , caused by the Label for delivering a screwed up master to the printing press.

Agoraphobic News: Entropy Eternal and Descent feature Andreas Kisser on lead guitar. That was the fulfilment of your teenage dreams right?
Nader Sadek: Absolutely!! I like what Sepultura does now, but I feel that the solos he plays on my record have that super old school Sepultura  vibe that we all miss, I’m so grateful that such an iconic player would work with me in this capacity.

Agoraphobic News: It's also cool to see that Bobby Koelble, the guitarist that played on Death's Symbolic album was a guest musician on your latest EP. Did you enjoy working with him?
Nader Sadek: Bobby did some mind-blowingstuff , I love it, it’s a perfect contrast between Andreas' warm emotional style and his cold jazzy focused technyness ( if I may use a word like that?)

Agoraphobic News: Steve Tucker or Travis Ryan?
Nader Sadek: Their both assholes. I loved working with Glen Benton, Seth Van de Loo, Attila Csihar, and more...

Agoraphobic News: Vile or None So Vile?
Nader Sadek: Vile

Agoraphobic News: Can you name some of your favorite artists/albums ?
Nader Sadek: Deicide's first 4 albums, Necrophagist's Epitaph, The Ninth Gate - OST by Wojciech Kilar, Bram stokers Dracula OST by Wojciech Kilar, Death - Leprosy. The last thing i listened to was Carcass' Surgical Steel , I thought it was excellent!

Agoraphobic News: When are we going to hear a brand new Nader Sadek album?
Nader Sadek: 2016