Rivers of Nihil "Where Owls Know My Name" Review

          Rivers of Nihil are back following the incredible 2015 release "Monarchy", with a new album and a much more lengthy title in "Wheres Know My Name". For anyone who has been following Rivers of Nihil since their inception, following the concept they've been pushing along, this album continues to raise the bar for what this band can do and what's possible in Death Metal.

          Much like with the previous two albums from Rivers of Nihil, "The Conscious Seed of Light" and "Monarchy", this album continues to follow the flow of seasons. "The Conscious Seed of Light" kicked everything off with Spring time, much like the band everything is essentially new, new life grows and shapes the world as we know it, following Spring we have "Monarchy" which symbolises Summer. Summer is an interesting one, it's a season that can shift from peaceful times to a destructive force and the album symbolised this perfectly. The big thing is "Monarchy" put the bands talent as a Technical Death Metal band in the forefront and got them a ton of recognition. Now, we are in the Fall season with "Where Owls Know My Name", Fall is a season progressing towards a much darker emotion and ultimately death and this gleams through in the dark and eerie atmosphere of the saxophone and keyboard parts playing and progressing the albums story.

          One of the biggest draws to me for "Where Owls Know My Name" is not only the fact that Rivers Of Nihil know how to take everything they perfected in their previous releases and continue to add to it, but outside of the eerie atmosphere they added with the inclusion of the keyboard and saxophone parts, they took a note from Melodic Death Metal. This is especially prevalent in the lead single "The Silent Life" as well as the more intricate and expansive "Single Change (Including the Forest of Transition)". The ladder of which is the longest track on the album, clocking in at 8:34, which is quite impressive considering it doesn't feel like a song that drags out at all. Mixed in with the melodic tone, Rivers of Nihil almost decide to take on a DragonForce approach just after the 2 minute mark, transitioning from an intense keyboard solo into guitar solo. From this point the songs tone shifts, becoming move more hectic and sporadic, with the intensity of the instruments pushing the narrative along and you become more and more engrossed by the song, it pulls away with another saxophone section only to lead into the most impressive and technically implemented solo on the album if not Rivers of Nihil's entire discography.

          Front to back, Rivers of Nihil have expanded on everything they've done in the past. "Where Owls Know My Name" is by far the strongest release Rivers of Nihil have released since their strong beginnings more than 5 years ago and there's really no better label for this Death Metal gem to be released through than the renowned Metal Blade Records. "Where Owls Know My Name" will be out March 16th, pick up the album as soon as you can and catch the band on tour with Death Metal tyrants Dying Fetus!

Beware The Light's "The Light, The Hope, The Very End" EP Review

     5 Piece German Melodic Death Metal/Deathcore band Beware the Light have released their new EP "The Light, The Hope, The Very End" through Bandcamp on April 21st, 2014. The EP consists of 5 incredibly writen songs (4 new and one remastered) that keep you glued to the music from front to back. With different sounds from different bands all the way through the album like The Black Dahlia Murder, Job For A Cowboy and Cannibal Corpse it is near impossible for any Death Metal fan not to enjoy at least part of this album!

     "The Reaping" kicks off the album with a very "out at sea" sounding intro (seriously listen to the song to understand what the hell im talking about). Not to mention the incredible bas during the intro. As soon as the vocals and instrumentals begin you cant help but headbang after a perfectly timed "LET THE REAPING BEGIN." After vocal changes from low to high growls almost as often as Trevor from The Black Dahlia Muder, the band goes into an incredibly heavy "breakdown" part (I know what people thing of breakdowns but trust me, this is some Sepultura shit right here). After some incredibly heavy instrumentals and a bit of vocals the song finishs, fastest 3:30 minutes you'll sit through. Not a whole lot to say about this besides the fact that it's perfect for fronting this album.

     "Psychosis" jumps right into it, with blistering dual guitars that gradually get slower and heavier as the vocals kick in, just to jump back into the blistering part they started with. after about 40 seconds of the song the guitars jump into a sweet guitar part not many bands use, just to be followed by a soft melodic section with more cool bass (props for giving the bass attention). The bridge comes just soon enough for you to not get bored with the slow part followed by a "uhhaa" that many death metal bands use. The vocals go to a higher deathcore vocal style and drop back into a low growl, very Job For A Cowboy-ish. The song outs with a 5 second "breakdown" section that lead to a squeeling guitar and jump right into the next song.

     "Misanthropic Traits" prepare, Dying Fetus have entered the building with this awesome heavy squeely into, that surprisingly ends with a sweet 2 second bass solo before jumping back into the chaos. With incredible (incredible to someone who likes death metal) vocals over blistering guitar parts leading to a slower galopping part with more killer vocals then blends in one of the guitars doing alternatting high notes that are audioble but not the centre of attention really helps keep you glued to this song. The song leads to an insanely heavy breakdown section, but not before to long before jumping in and out from breakdown to their main riff of the song and back into breakdown thats just gonna make you wanna punch shit its so heavy! and with this the song closes out. I must add I love the title of the song.

     "Regret Nothing" is the remastered song of the album that was released originally back in July of 2013 through Bandcamp. the intro vocals show a very deathcore side to the vocalist while the instrumentals sound like their own version of Cannibal Corpse's "Evisceration Plague." This section slows down for the majority of the song but makes the riff itself feel so much heavier. At about 1:30 the band guitars go into a tapping "Death In Fire" riff before going into a small clean vocal section and jumping back into the earsplitting death metal vocals. With the vocals clear intention that you SHOULD BE MOSHING NOW by yelling "GO!" and some incredibly killer instrumentals that make you want to mosh anyways before jumping back into the tapping riff this song is clear it would be a killer song to be in the pit for! After some more clean vocals there is a "this is how we do.." and queue the Chris Barnes style pig squeel "...IIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" to close out the song.

     "The Light, The Hope, The Very End" the title track is set to close out the album and with another slow introduction you start to question whats coming. With a clean tapping riff over a distorted rythem section the song gradually gets more and more heavy before the vocals kick in and both guitars end up being distorded again. If the album has held your attention this far you're gonna be here until the end because this song jumps around enough to keep you guessing but not so much that it gets annoying like some bands tend to do. Being a deathcore band this track clearly will have breakdowns still but they are so short that by the time they bug you (if you don't like them that is) they're over. jumping back into a standerd riff for a few bars prepare yourself for the killer drumming you may have been waiting for with vocals over top, followed by the vocalist growling "REPENT!" that drops into a section that i have no idea what to classify it as, is it a breakdown? Or is it just a normal section? I have no idea but it closes out the album pretty damn well nonetheless!

     overall 20 minues of pure death metal/deathcore ecstasy any true melo death or deathcore fan can benefit from listening to this. Absolutely killer overall 9/10 and i cant wait to see what else comes from this band!

P.S. Sorry for any mistake!! Plus i know i normall post on Thursdays but there has been so much this week with a new album that im reviewing tomorrow (Saturday April 26th) and brand new Slayer FINALLY! this is late but still its done so i hope you enjoyed it!