i bought the latest rivers of nihil record just a few month ago. "where owls know my name" must have been quite a commercial success. the limited vinyl versions were gone pretty fast and are already subject to insane second-hand prices. if discogs is to be believed a copy of the version i have already sold for ninety five bucks. jesus, crazy that someone gives that much cash for a record shortly after release date. it seems that in the wake of these events, metal blade decided to give the band's second full length "monarchy"the vinyl treatment to cash in.
this strategy worked with me again. when pre-orders went up at emp mailorder, i did not need much time for consideration and bought a copy of the most limited european colour-way right away. musically "monarchy" is less experimental than "where owls know my name" and thus less unique. but when it comes to quality and coherent atmosphere, "monarchy" takes the cake. all in all rivers of nihil's second full length will get more spins on my turntable than its successor. really good prog/tech death metal album all around.
the presentation by the label is very neat. the album comes in a gatefold sleeve graced with artwork of the infamous dan seagrave. i love the art he contributed to albums of bands like the black dahlia murder, entombed or xibalba and this one looks ominous and epic in a way, only seagrave can pull it off. the vinyl colour is a beauty as well. bone/bronze merge makes me think of a good latte macchiato. this version is limited to 100 hand-numbered copies. funnily i got #80 again. metal blade records. 2015/2018.
