“Water & Time” is the newest single from progressive death metal alchemists RIVERS OF NIHIL. The track comes off of the band‘s eponymous fifth full-length, set for release on May 30th via Metal Blade Records.
Comments founding guitarist Brody Uttley. “’Water & Time‘ is a song that we put together before most of the rest of this album. The working title on it was ’TFF‘ meaning ’Tears For Fears‘ because in a lot of ways I feel like it‘s our stab at writing a big chorus style synth laden song much like those kinds of bands. Initially it was a song that I wrote out totally on a synthesizer, just as an experiment really, not thinking it would be a RIVERS song. However, when I heard the main melody back, I knew we were on to something cool, so we filled out the song with ’metal band stuff‘ to get what you hear in the final version.”
Comments founding guitarist Brody Uttley. “’American Death‘ is a title that we‘ve been throwing around and printing on our T-shirts since 2013. We figured it was finally time to write a song with that title, and given the subject matter of the lyrics, it would only make sense for this song to be a true ass beater. It‘s definitely the most true form ’heavy‘ song of these singles, so we are very much looking forward to playing it live.”
Rivers Of Nihil was created in a very “rock n‘ roll” manner. “On 2021‘s The Work, I wrote a lot of the record on the piano and then the band filled in the gaps,” explains Uttley. “On this new record, I wanted to make sure that this stuff would hit hard live with just the four of us before adding in all of the sparkly auxiliary ’frosting‘ on top.”.
Rivers Of Nihil also showcases additional musicians, including Patrick Corona on alto saxophone, Stephan Lopez on banjo, McFarland on cello, and a slate of other guest vocalists. Despite the fresh approach on Rivers Of Nihil however, the album still fits neatly into the band‘s discography. With Where Owls Know My Name (2018), RIVERS OF NIHIL transcended all labels applied to them, and with its 2021 follow-up, The Work, they forged further into new territory with Metal Injection calling the latter album “the group‘s most cohesive, ambitious, meditative, and varied effort, with greater uses of philosophical significance and transcendental respites.”
Writes Revolver in an early preview of the record, “…their forthcoming self-titled album… specializes in metronome-exploding kick work, riffs brawnier than a full-grown Kodiak, and a vocal tandem of soaring highs (guitarist Andy Thomas) and demonic lows (bassist Adam Biggs).”
