Nightfly After releasing a promising if unspectacular debut, “The Concious Seed Of Light” in 2013 Rivers Of Nihil are back in 2015 with “Monarchy”. Whilst more of the same would have been acceptable I’m pleased to say the Pennsylvanian technical death metal band show considerable growth from their debut album all round.

Not only is the playing better, which let’s face it, you’d expect anyway from a newish band but there’s some big improvements in the songwriting. While Rivers Of Nihil sit at the more tech end of the death metal spectrum they don’t blind us with technique, though it’s there, at the expense of strong compositions which we get in spades here. There’s more progressive touches and some welcome changes of pace and not relentless blastbeats, but perhaps the biggest strength amongst the sometimes discordant (in a good way) riffing is out of the blue will come some truly beautiful melodies. The songs display plenty of brutal riffing but a mature use of dynamics really allows this album to shine and includes some stunning playing from all, highlighted by the clear and sympathetic production. A couple of instrumentals, the dark and ominous Heirless and Terrestria II:Thrive, add further depth and interest, the former setting the album up nicely and the latter really highlighting the inventive and progressive nature of this excellent band.

Monarchy is sure to raise Rivers Of Nihil’s profile amongst lovers of extreme tech death metal and have much to raise them above the simply average of which there are already plenty. If you like this sort of music you need to check these guys out.