Pretty awesome cover art by Dan Seagrave huh?
That's the first thing that grabbed me here about this new album from the latest darlings of Metal Blade Records, Pennsylvania's very own death metal brigade Rivers of Nihil. After ogling over the cover, I then half expected to be disappointed with another in a long line of generic deathcore acts, but lo and behold, Rivers of Nihil are no such beast, instead delivering some very solid old school styled death metal with a technical edge. Certainly Nile, Morbid Angel, Death, Decapitated, Spawn of Possession, Gorguts, and Cannibal Corpse most all be influences on this young band, so look for plenty of punishing riffs, sledgehammer rhythms, lethal growls, and complex arrangements every step of the way. The great thing is about songs like "Rain Eater", "Birth of the Omnisavior", and "Central Antheneum", is that, despite their intricate & technical nature, they don't bore with endless noodling, and are crushingly heavy. When the band wants to deliver a straightforward death metal masher, like "Soil & Seed", the results are punishing. And crap, these guys can freakin' play their asses off, as evident on the shredding tracks "Place of Serpents" and "Human Adaptation".
The Conscious Seed of Light is one of those Fall 2013 releases that I'm only just getting to very late in the year, so I might have to rethink my end of the year Best Of list to include this kick ass release. Great stuff for lovers of old school technical death metal.
Track Listing
1. Terrestria I: Thaw
2. Rain Eater
3. Birth of the Omnisavior
4. Soil & Seed
5. Central Antheneum
6. Mechanical Trees
7. Place of Serpents
8. Human Adaptation
9. A Fertile Altar
10. Airless
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