On August 21st, Rivers of Nihil will release their sophomore album, Monarchy. The Pennsylvania death metal band have already given fans a taste of the album via “Perpetual Growth Machine,” and now they’re back with the title track of the album, via No Clean Singing. Judging from the album’s first two songs out there, they’ve improved on the potential of their already excellent debut, The Conscious Seed of Light. Starting out a bit like Leviathan-era Mastodon with guitars and a fluid bass line, the song then turns into a shreddy multi-tempo masterpiece. Between these guys and Black Crown Initiate, there’s something going on in Reading, Pennsylvania when it comes to progressive metal.
Here’s what bassist Adam Briggs says about the album (and title track):
“The whole album is a concept piece, lyrically. It follows the struggles of a new breed of intelligent life on a planet earth that is now essentially a vast, oceanless desert. These beings, as humans did long before them, create a ruling class that dominates the masses through religious fear. By the time we reach the title track, this “Monarchy” is in full swing. Musically, the track expresses this dominant oppression via an exploration of our heavy, groove-oriented side. This one is a bruiser, but it doesn’t abandon our taste for blast beats, fierce riffs, lead work and an overall sense of shred.”
Monarchy will be released on August 21, and can be preoredered here.
