Friday, February 5, 2016

Rivers Of Nihil - Monarchy (2015)

Imbolc greets Lughnasadh across the Wheel Of The Year. Spring-In-Winter greets Fall-In-Summer. Rivers Of Nihil are somewhat 'local' to 'here', here being South-Central Pennsylvania, as they are from Reading, Pennsylvania, and have decided to make a tech-death album cycle about the Seasons, Monarchy being Summer's entry, the apex of the year. It was released in August, 2015. This album sounds like the First Fruits Of The Harvest, the initial threshing of the grain and the baking of the first loaf, which can then be used in magickal acts. Monarchy in its tone is both sad and relentless, as if carried by forces beyond its control into an outcome it could not forsee, or forsee only too well. This is an album which opens up and lets in more light and air as it goes along, so as to give a feeling of narrative or progression from one place in time to another. It is not just about blasting or shredding, but about evoking a world under certain conditions. To make a tech-death-prog album which asks to be lived with, and listened to on its own terms as an artwork made from whole cloth, which provokes a varied emotional response, is something delightful to me. Also, Dan Seagrave is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this cover is one of his best.

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