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RIVERS OF NIHIL
Rivers of Nihil
2025, Metal Blade

Self titling an album is a risky gamble. If you are an established act, the move can be seen as heralding a rebirth, a mission statement. If you are a new group, self titling is more or less introductory. So where does that find RIVERS OF NIHIL, on album number 5? More importantly, where does it leave me as a listener? A well publicized lineup makeover is the most prevalent feature of the new material. I won't get more into it than that since it has been covered extensively elsewhere, and you have Google. Musically, Rivers of Nihil flirts more with b>FEAR FACTORY-isms than ever before, to mixed results honestly. The guitars are all over as big as they can be, although the mix is absolutely sterile. There is no excitement to be found here. Everything is crushed.

Lead single "House of Light" should be a highlight, arriving smack in the middle of proceedings but something about it all seems... overwrought. And, as the album progresses, that's the best descriptor I can come up with. The saxophone is great but even its splendor gets destroyed in that mix. It's the new loudness wars, where nothing matters anyway and dynamics are merely a suggestion.

Compositionally, the band is as busy as ever. RIVERS OF NIHIL have always been exciting to listen to, until now. There is simply too much going on and I wish it were clearer, because with a little more brightness, Rivers of Nihil could easily be the rebirth its titling hints at. Instead, it simply is.

There is undoubtedly killer material here, and I admit to struggling because I love, for example, everything happening in "Evidence". "American Death" is likewise astonishingly good. The back half of the album is stacked and quickly falls under the weight of that damn mix.

Rebirth or mission statement? In my estimation, neither.P> 2.5 Out Of 5.0