Rivers Of Nihil - "Monarchy" (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/08/2015

Label: Metal Blade Records

Tech death is a taste you develop over time, I reckon, as few would start with such a sub genre without a grounding in something at least similar. That said, for those people who wished to get into the genre, and who wanted to sample the best of what the genre has to offer, well, this record along with an early Atheist album would be a fine, fine place to start. High praise, but this record deserves it. It has everything which makes tech death great and offers a total listening experience to the casual or dedicated fan. A musical tour de force.

‘Monarch’ CD//DD track listing:

01 – “Heriless”
02 – “Perpetual Growth Machine”
03 – “Reign Of Dreams”
04 – “Sand Baptism”
05 – “Ancestral, I”
06 – “Dehydrate”
07 – “Monarchy”
08 – “Terrestria II: Thrive”
09 – “Circles In The Sky”
10 – “Suntold”

Rivers of Nihil is

Adam Biggs | Bass, vocals

Brody Uttley | guitars

Jake Dieffenbach | vocals

Alan Balamutt | Drums

Jon Topore | guitars

The Review:

US tech death: a genre that I have listened to a lot of recently. For some reason, its measured brutality has sound tracked many a commute as I have stared into the abyss of modern life. I am pleased to report that Rivers of Nihil's latest opus is another worthy entry into this particular sub genre's canon. After a nice musical intro, things kick off proper with “Perpetual Growth Machine” running interesting variations of tempos, time feels and solos. The bass work of Adam Biggs is quite rampantly all over the fret board, while the synths add interesting texture to the record. 

The vocals are surprisingly discernible and this is an added bonus to what is a very strong offering. “Reign Of Dreams” offers up some very fast blasting indeed (kudos to Alan Balamut- I know how much practice this took bro!). Although this and other tracks are not massively lengthy (naturally, the closing track bucks this overall trend), the record fees progressive. The synths really do add something and lift the band to a more interesting sonic plain than some of their genre compatriots.

“Sand Baptism” has a superb opening and runs through all manner of riffs and tempos (the guitars are beastly, by the way). Conceptually, I think that there is a story being told here- or at least a theme. It appears to be in the art work also (which looks great) and is perhaps akin to something like “The Book Of Souls” Mayan obsession. To be honest, I don't have the lyrics and haven't listened enough to work out the exact story- but the imagery used and the lyrics I make out seem to point towards some kind of Mayan-esque society which deify the sun/and or their rulers as gods. Regardless, it is great that a sub genre band bother to do this. They have made a complete work and run a theme through its centre to unify it as one.

“Ancestral, I” is an exercise in brutal riffs and drums and features some crazed changes and lovely guitar interplay. “Dehydrate”, meanwhile, has an acoustic opening (and I love an acoustic opening!) before really blasting off. Again, background synths create a feeling of foreboding as the vocals arrive. Jake Dieffenbach's vocals again stand out as he enunciates well and creates some catchy lyrics here and there.

The title track's opening is positively dreamy and the drums take on a jazz (fusion, not trad) feel while the guitars of Brody Uttley and Jon cut with razor precision. This track is a tech death joy- taking you back to the feel of Atheist and Cynic in their prime. Fantastic stuff. Similarly “Terrestria II: Thrive” has a mellow and jazzy start before the band launch into an instrumental of pure musicality. The band are excellent players and show here that they can use dynamics, tempos, textures, solos and power to their advantage whenever it suits them. A great track.

“Circles In The Sky” is just as jazz infused and just as techy. Acoustics mix with chugging electric guitars here and the whole effect is fantastic. Again, the blasting sections here are very quick indeed, but they are used appropriately and the record never relies on pure brutality to get their point across.

“Suntold” closes this grand and ambitious record. Tech death is a taste you develop over time, I reckon, as few would start with such a sub genre without a grounding in something at least similar. That said, for those people who wished to get into the genre, and who wanted to sample the best of what the genre has to offer, well, this record along with an early Atheist album would be a fine, fine place to start. High praise, but this record deserves it. It has everything which makes tech death great and offers a total listening experience to the casual or dedicated fan. A musical tour de force.

‘Monarchy’ is available now

FFO: Fallujah, Decrepit Birth, Job For A Cowboy, Psycroptic

Band info: bandcamp | facebook

Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater (Album Review)

Album Type: Full-length

Date Released: 11/11/2014

Label: Metal Blade Records

‘Sun Eater’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

01). Eating the Visions of God

02). Sun of Nihility

03). The Stone Cross

04). The Synthetic Sea

05). A Global Shift

06). The Celestial Antidote

07). Encircled by Mirrors

08). Buried Monuments

09). Worming Nightfall

Job For A Cowboy is:

Jonny Davy | Vocals

Al Glassman | Guitar

Tony Sannicandro | Guitar

Nick Schendzielos | Bass

Review:

It only takes a few seconds of listening to ‘Sun Eater’ to realize that Job For A Cowboy have undergone drastic changes in recent years. To be honest, I hadn’t listened to them much prior to this as I was greeted with the kind of numbing deathcore—albeit paying closer homage to death metal’s history than most—when I first heard their 2005 EP ‘Doom’. Nothing released in that style has ever really appealed to me, so I never really felt a need to check them out beyond that. Imagine my surprise when I first heard ‘Sun of Nihility’ from ‘Sun Eater’, when it was first released as part of the album’s announcement. The song is highly musical, heavily prog-influenced, and in many ways a welcome antidote to so much of the tech-death and shred-obsessed metal coming out these days.

Take the aforementioned ‘Sun Nihility’ for instance. This is very much informed by Cynic, and ‘Focus’ in particular, right down to the bass tone, which sticks out for being mixed so loudly compared to ninety-nine percent of metal albums. In fact, it’s really only Cynic and Spiral Architect that spring to mind for having a production that is this bass guitar-centric. In many ways bassist Nick Schendzielos is the star of ‘Sun Eater’. He excels with a very acrobatic style, but smartly knows when to pull back and simply fill out the bottom end of a section of a song so that the guitars and in particular the excellent leads can shine.

While there is plenty of positive to say about ‘Sun Eater’, there are still issues to address, even if the bulk of the work is already done. The strong suit of this album is in riffs based around both melodic and dissonant open chords using palm muting to break things up rhythmically. The vocal style doesn’t really sit well with the music, to the point where they’re almost a distraction and hinderance rather than helpful even in a percussive or layering context. Jonny Davy’s delivery is a little on the cartoony side (see: Dani Filth) in higher registers and the deeper, guttural style is generally going to sound out of place no matter what with the band pursuing this musical direction. I’m not making a case for switching to purely melodic singing or anything like that. It just needs to feel a bit more human or natural, rather than being such a stark contrast.

There’s no doubt that this stylistic shift will have cost the band a few fans from their earlier albums, but paying that price may prove to be worth it. This newer style lends itself to greater longevity and gives Job For A Cowboy a shot at being more than another entry into an over worn, dead-end subgenre. That’s not to say that they’ve abandoned extremity entirely, or that they even should. Some of the blast-focused moments on the album offer some of its best material. What that has done is made some big strides toward being something unique and exciting, which is a rarity in prog-related music. It’s also a lot more than could ever have been said about them early in their discography. Now: the future looks bright.

Words by: Daniel Jackson

You can pick up a digital copy here and a CD/LP copy here.

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