Rivers of Nihil - "s/t"

The band's 2021 album 'The Work" found the band firmly planted on the progressive side of progressive death metal. This album finds them moving further in a melodic direction. It is not until the second song that it feels like death metal to my ears. There is still an atmosphere lurking under the more jagged attack. While the death metal vocals feel more garbled, the sung ones feel as self-indulgent as Opeth can get at times, rather than being a balanced approach. It sounds best when things slow to a more deliberate crunch and the growls get a layer of effects. 

The fact that there is more groove to "Criminals" is what makes it work. They keep the shredding to a very balanced dose, and their guitar solos are not the centerpiece of the song. There is a pretty catchy riff center stage on "Despair Church," but it sounds like a death metal band trying to be Mastodon. The more dramatic vocals on the chorus soar past Opeth toward Dream Theater. It's well done, the vocals are a little bright for me. I could stand for this song to be darker. But if you are a fan of prog metal, things being dark is not your priority. In fact, when it does get darker in the song's middle section, that might be as deep into the shadows as you normally go. The album is well produced and sounds great with guitar tones, a guitarist might idolize, but not really all that heavy. The end is the first time the sax has stepped into the spotlight thus far, at least that I have noticed. 

"Water and Time" has a more creeping groove and cooler vocal melody but feels like a mix of Incubus and Dillinger Escape Plan, some of the more jazzy exotic texture surfaces thanks to the sax, and a little growling. The solo section rips hard. "House of Light" goes from a jazz-tinged intro into a punchier death metal part that brings back some of the metal backbone to things. They go for a big soaring chorus, but it does not work as well as it did on the previous song. To their credit, the songs do not go over the six-minute mark, which his conservative for prog metal."Evidence" also starts off launching things in a more death metal direction. The song is broken up by a Faith No More-like vocal and huge anthemic gang vocals. Would not say this is the most focused song. It winds around to a jazz jam for the guitar solo. If the drummer is not playing triggers, he is impressive. 

"American Death" is a more blistering attack, with a big guitar sound that sonically feels like Dimmu Borgir without the orchestra. From the overall sound produced here, it sounds more like mainstream metal, along with the sung chorus. It's effective, but not the most original thing I've heard on this album. There is more of a groove to "The Logical End," which, along with the saxophone and solo section, leads things back in a more progressive direction. The last song is more melodic, almost like Dream Theater if they did not feel to need to fuck with time signatures. I'll give this album a 9, it's more accessible than I was expecting, but this is clearly the album they intended to make, for my tastes, I like prog to take more chances, but these guys took it in a more classic metal direction. 

 

pst210