Streamers of Nihil: Stream the New Rivers of Nihil Album Monarchy in Full

Back in 2011 I arrived early at one of Curran Reynolds’ Monday night “Precious Metal” shows at NYC’s Lit Lounge, a weekly institution for six fucking years. Guitarist Jesse Zuretti of The Binary Code, the night’s headliners, had advised I do so to check out a death metal band from Reading, PA called Rivers of Nihil. They blew the decrepit, rusty doors off the place and shook the centuries-old mold from the basement’s brick and stone-lined walls like I’d rarely seen any band do in that venue, let alone one that was completely unknown (read the review I wrote of that first show right here). We spoke briefly after their set, one thing led to another and months later I decided I’d take them under my wing to manage them.

I share all this not as a self-congratulatory paean but as a way of expressing how fucking proud I am of these dudes and how far they’ve come in the nearly four years I’ve known them, from dingy Manhattan basements to tours with Dying Fetus, Death to All, Whitechapel and more. Monarchy, their second full-length album for Metal Blade Records, comes out this coming Friday and it’s streaming in full right now at Metal Blade’s Rivers of Nihil page, where you can also pre-order it.

The cast of characters has changed since 2011 and the band’s sound has evolved since the early demos they had out at the time (let alone 2013’s The Conscious Seed of Light), but everyone involved has been an important part of that journey, and I couldn’t be more delighted to see these guys achieve the success they have so far (inb4 “your wallet must be delighted too!” No one is getting rich off of brutal death metal, lol). Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland knocked it out of the park production-wise, bringing an absolutely massive sound this time around. Everyone in the band delivered top-notch performances. The songs are even tighter than those on the last album. In short, I love it, but obviously I think that, and you probably won’t believe me anyway because I’m biased. So stream it for yourself below and see what you think.

Monarchy comes out this Friday, August 21st. Order it here. Look out for a big fall tour to be announced very soon.