NILE founder, guitarist and vocalist Karl Sanders is recovering from multilevel spinal fusion surgery on his neck, performed on October 1. He announced the news on social media on October 22 and said he expects to be back on the road when the band's "Underworld Europe 2026" tour opens in Athens, Greece, on November 29: eight weeks to the day after the operation.
Sanders explained that years of disc degeneration, "decades of headbanging," an old martial arts injury and long-term stress had caught up with him. Constant numbness in his right hand this year pushed him to act, and scans showed severe narrowing around his spinal cord. His doctors told him that without surgery he risked permanent damage, including paralysis.
Surgeons removed the damaged discs and the bone pressing on the cord, placed donor bone between several vertebrae and fixed them with a metal plate and screws. Sanders joked that there is now "officially a little more Metal in me."
He says the recovery is going well: the neck and shoulder pain is easing, he walks two to three miles a day, does occupational therapy for his right hand three times a week and is playing "LOTS of guitar." One thing is changing for good: there will be no more headbanging on stage. "I have done more than my share of headbanging during my career, and I am thankful that I can still actively tour and Make Metal for the fans," he wrote, adding that "metal doesn't come with paid medical leave."
NILE are also writing the follow-up to 2024's The Underworld Awaits Us All (Napalm Records). Last month Sanders said the band was working on the sixth song and praised the current lineup, which includes bassist and vocalist Adam Roethlisberger, who joined in September 2025. Next spring NILE head across the US with CORONER on the co-headlining "Underworld Dissonance" tour, which we covered in September.
We wish Karl a smooth recovery.