rivers of nihil were quite unknown to me when i glimpsed the cover art for their new record "where owls know my name" over at emp mailorder. the band was founded in 2009 and two e.p.'s later they were signed to metal blade records in 2012. in the course of the coming three years rivers of nihil released two full lengths, both flew under my radar. nevertheless the artwork for their third record was intriguing and the term technical death metal made my heart beat faster.
i checked out one or two songs. my initial thought was: "not bad but do i really need that record?" well, the music was cool enough to convince me of buying the lp. i have listened to "where owls know my name" a few times and am still not sure what to think of it. on the one hand this album is a pandemonium of ideas and progression. a multi-layered piece that bursts with creativity. but on the other hand i feel it is sometimes too much of a good thing.
they seem to get lost in their own sound cosmos and overlook the easy, powerful riff that gives way to all the progressivity. maybe it will grow on me but when i imagine standing in front of my shelf in the need for a modern melodic tech death record, i think i rather pick a fallujah album. still, for fans of the genre this is a no-brainer. the presentation is well done by metal blade. gatefold sleeve with slick artwork and very nice mint and olive green merge with black splatter vinyl. limited and hand-numbered out of 100 copies. metal blade records. 2018.
