Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil

My introduction to Rivers of Nihil was through ‘Where Owls Know My Name’, a very creative and fun song, blending the harsher sound with melodic saxophone parts. However, when I listened to the rest of the album, I found it too death metal and not very accessible to my taste.

So, as I was about to dive into the new self-titled album, my expectation was that the guys would carry me away from my comfort zone and I would be left alone with another very Prog Death metal record, with a lot of grit and brutality, with a hint of a saxophone, perhaps.

What I heard, however, subverted my expectations: the singles prior to release (‘House of Light’, ‘Water & Time’ and ‘American Death’) hinted at slight departure from the more “brutal” sound of “Where Owls Know My Name” and “The Work”, focusing on more melodic instrumentation and clean vocal parts..

While the departure of the frontman Jake Dieffenbach was unfortunate, ‘House of Light’ demonstrated how much more room was given to the variety of vocals: the harsh vocals were delivered by Adam Biggs (bass guitar), however, we got to hear much more fantastic cleans by Andy Thomas (rhythm guitar), which enhanced the sound of the band for me, as vocal melodies and variety are quite important when building a sound to remember.

The singles outlined the overall sound of the album quite well: There’s still a lot of death metal parts, but also there’s a lot of space for beautiful saxophone parts, like in the end of ‘Despair Church’. While it seems a little bit out of place, the sax provides a lovely outro for the song, as we think it’s already finished. Generally, while the saxophone parts are sometimes unexpected, they are the most welcome, and I would always advocate for more sax in metal.

I am a sucker for a good vocal hook in the chorus, and Rivers of Nihil really delivered here: Especially in ‘Criminals’, ‘Sub-Orbital Blues’ and the already mentioned ‘House of Light’, but at the same time, we still get all the insane blast beats and growls, but they all blend nicely with the softness of the saxophone and the mixture of the vocal performances, which is a Rivers of Nihil trademark at this point. I really appreciate how the band expanded on their composition and made their sound, dare I say, more progressive?

Before my first listen, I fully expected to not enjoy this release, as I am very selective with my harsher-side-of-metal. However, this album still lands well within my comfort zone, and maybe even expands it a little bit.

“Rivers of Nihil” is a great entry point for those who want to get into progressive death metal, but with a lot of melody and breathing space at the same time. This album got me interested until the very last track, by adding things I was not quite expecting, but still not departing from their sound, which should keep the old fans happy too. Lyrically, it dives into the topics of internal struggles, having to comply with the system and dealing with the feeling of hopelessness.

Overall, the record feels like an evolution of the band’s sound, composed masterfully to create the layers of emotions: from despair and anger to hope, without sounding too technical or “deathy” (sure, there are still machine gun-drums and heavy riffs, but there’s much more to it).

Also, if you have a chance, go and enjoy their live performance, as it’s an experience in itself.

Track List:

1. The Sub-Orbital Blues
2. Dustman
3. Criminals
4. Despair Church
5. Water & Time
6. Evidence
7. American Death
8. The Logical End
9. Rivers of Nihil