Review Friday - Rivers of Nihil

I've been an on and off fan of Rivers of Nihil for a few years; the Terrestrial series of songs were among my introduction to Death Metal, and the Monarchy album later interested me. However, I believe that The Work will be the album that hooks me on this band.

Right from the start of the record, you can tell this will be different from the previous three records, which were influenced by prog death, tech death, and melodic death without fully committing to any of them. The Tower is a perfect demonstration of the change in style, and is just a very energizing song.

Then Dreaming Black Clockwork has an eerie ending that leads to Wait having a guitar solo that feels more at home in a Classic Rock song. If you haven't been convinced of the genre bending by now, the jazzed up sections later in the album will convince you.

All leading to the excellent closer, Terrestria IV, which feels like it's own record by itself.

In The Work, Rivers of Nihil position themselves as a more radio friendly version of Between the Buried and Me's genre manipulating avant-garde death. If you don't think a slightly less harsh version of that sound wouldn't work, I challenge you to listen to this album. It literally says it works in the title.