Rivers of Nihil is a record packed full of stories soaked with feelings of frustration within the hopelessness and helplessness sensations that run rampant. Yet, despite the desperation engrained in their words, there is anger and within that anger, and Rivers of Nihil’s sound bubbles and boils, bringing a full-throttled battle-call to life. Rivers of Nihil screams of a rally cry to those around us, a plea of desperation, to no longer live this way.
Without a doubt, the record investigates the idea of sociopolitical criticism, using charged language and religious imagery to emphasize a critique of the state in which we live in and the people who control it, thanks to tracks like "The Sub-Orbital Blues," "Dustman," "Criminals," and as, when you dive deeper, it becomes a further evaluation of the roles we play as constituents in society and the people we allow to be in power.
We as people are responsible for what we allow to happen – we were not barbarians over the last few hundred years, we as people, fought for what was right – and where is that now? Rivers of Nihil declares that spirit, that American spirit, dead. "American Death," "The Logical End," and "Rivers of Nihil"
The record is linear, following a path of storytelling of a society falling to its knees at the hands of people who do not care about it. Surrounded by industrial and electronic elements, Rivers of Nihil’s instrumentals roar to life with rigorous riffs and tumultuous melodies, drums booming across the entire soundscape. The sound borders cinematic – whether intentional or not – it works for the story the band is trying to tell.
Sonically sound, emotionally poignant, experimental in the right places – Rivers of Nihil are relentless in their journey of both honoring their history as a metal band and their determination to call attention to our own humanity and to recognize what we must do as people to preserve that humanity. Fight.
