Vile, 20 September 2023

Vile is an American death metal band, formed in 1996 in Concord, California by guitarist-producer Colin E. Davis (who is now the only original member in the line-up) and singer Juan Urteaga, recruiting the rest of the band from the ranks of disbanded groups such as Lords of Chaos, Entropy, Sporadic Psychosis and Thanatopsis. Vile toured the United States and Europe several times since their inception in 1996 including with Cannibal Corpse in 2004. Their most recent tour was of Japan in December 2013.

The band has released four studio albums between 1999 and 2011 and re-released their demos and some live material on Rare Tracks, distributed by Hammerheart Records. The band started recording of the fourth album Metamorphosis on January 25, 2009, which was released in late 2011 by Willowtip Records in North America and Hammerheart Records in Europe.

Vile found publicity in the late 1990s when members of the band Cannibal Corpse praised their sound and wore their T-shirts in publicity photos. Although Vile's sound has a wide variety of influences, their first album contained riffs clearly influenced by Cannibal Corpse and the name Vile itself is the title of an album by Cannibal Corpse. Founding member Davis has stated that these relations were unintentional and his biggest early influence was the Florida band Morbid Angel. Vile is known for high standards in musicianship and studio quality, and Davis produced and recorded their albums, sometimes in coordination with singer Juan Urteaga.

Several members of the band have held positions in other well known extreme metal bands including Mike Hruboccak and Michael Poggione (both Monstrosity), Mike Hamilton (Deeds of Flesh, Exhumed), Reno Kiilerich (Dimmu Borgir, Hate Eternal), J.J. Hrubovcak (Hate Eternal), James Lee (Origin).