At times, music can be a highly formulaic. A band will find its sound, only to apply the same recipe over and over again, often to fans’ delight. We see it in every genre and Death Metal is unfortunately no stranger to that phenomenon. Rivers of Nihil stands as the antithesis of it. Strong off two very solid albums, their 2018 follow up, Where Owls Know My Name, shattered their bounderies, offering one of the year’s most intriguing album. While very much remaining a Technical Death Metal band, they now seemingly draw influences from anywhere they can find it. Electronica, Jazz, Prog are all tangible here: the band is not afraid of throwing surprises at us at every corner (blast beat followed by a melodic saxophone part anyone?)
This got us wondering what might be these musicians’ influences and so we met with their bassist, Adam Biggs, before their set at Heavy Montreal this summer.
Where Owls Know My Name, Rivers of Nihil’s third full length is out on Metal Blade Records.
Can you tell us a bit about five of your favorite albums of all time and what makes them so important to you?
I guess the obvious choice would be In The Court Of The Crimson King. KING CRIMSON is my favorite band of all time and I could pick many of their records as some of my favorites but if I had to whittle it down, obviously, I guess their debut is an unmitigated classic. I’d be very sad if it didn’t exist.
PINK FLOYD’s The Wall is a constant revisit for me. Just a beautiful accomplishment of musical storytelling and just detail so that’s a huge one for me.
There’s a couple other ones that come to mind. Let me think. MARILYN MANSON’s Antichrist Superstar is a constant in my life. It sounds dirty and just how uncomfortable that record is. It gets that late 90’s Nu Metal kind of stamp on it but you need to listen to that record if you’ve never listened to. It’s gross, it makes you need a shower.
Organic Hallucinosis by DECAPITATED is another really important one. I think if there’s any single Death Metal that I can think of, that would be the one. I think it is the closest thing to like, high art in the genre of Death Metal, in my opinion.
Is that four? Hum. I can probably squeeze one more out but I can’t think right now. It’d probably be a toss up between like, Abbey Road and The Bleeding. *Haha*
What have you been listening to the most lately?
I’ve been listening to lots of Rap lately. The new TYLER, THE CREATOR record, Igor, that’s been on constant repeat. I think people in the van are sick of hearing it but I just keep going over it. It’s really, really beautifully done and then great storytelling on the record too.
The new DENZEL CURRY record, Zuu. I’ve been on that a lot. Plus, you know, his whole discography too.
I listen to a lot of FAITH NO MORE lately too for some reason. That you really need a reason but it periodically pops back up in my life. I like to listen to Angel Dust and Album of the Year the most, out of all their stuff. Those are my two favorites. They’re probably the ones I’ve listened too over over again.
Who would be your top 5 favorite rappers?
Okay. It puts some pressure on ’cause then I gotta give props to the classics. If it’s my personal favorites, Tyler’s on my mind a lot lately. Denzel Curry is coming up on my list too. Always love KANYE. KENDRICK LAMAR. he’s put out some of the best Rap records ever in my opinion.
Which is your favorite?
It’s a dead heat between To Pimp A Butterfly and Good Kid, Bad City. Those two records are just sooo good that I can’t even believe the same guy put those out back to back. It’s amazing. It’s really inspiring, honestly.
How you can go in two different directions and still achieve perfection.
Yeah, right. And it’s all beautiful. You’ll see the theme is really masterful storytelling in the music, for that’s always really important for me. Yeah, so those guys, JAY-Z, you know.
You mention storytelling, Prog albums…are concept albums a big thing for you?
Huge thing, yeah. It informs a lot of what my band does. That’s always a goal I keep in mind, trying to make it feel like a complete experience. That’s always been a thing, musically for me. As a kid, I was really into movies and it took me a long time to get into music so when I did, things like Dark Side of the Moon really grabbed me because it felt like a complete experience rather than a fragment. Like, here’s a song, here’s a song, here’s a song. It felt like you were getting somewhere. I always really appreciate that package when an artist can pull that off.
What are some of the most memorable shows you’ve seen in your life?
The one that comes to mind the most, that I feel the most proud to have seen, I saw the RED CHORD and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME in some kid’s basement in 2002, when both of their first records had just come out. It was bonkers. You can’t see those bands in that setting ever again so I’m always really proud to have seen that.
I saw JUDAS PRIEST right when Helford rejoined the band, I think around the same time actually, 2002 or so. That had me really excited because I was too young when he was originally in the band to really appreciate it so when he came back, I was like, “wow, this is amazing!” Then they put out a new record and I got to go see Judas Priest, one of my favorite Heavy Metal bands ever. That was really exciting.
What’s your favorite Priest record?
Probably Painkiller. I mean, I like all of them to a certain degree, but if I need to turn somebody on to Priest, Painkiller is the one.
Do you have any unpopular music opinions that you would like to defend?
I’m about to make everybody real mad at me. I’ll take VAN HAGAR over VAN HALEN, 9 times out of 10. Those choruses are sooo boss, you can’t turn that down. I love DLR though but those Hagar choruses and some of those songs are so big and cheesy and I love it. So that’s definitely one for me.
I appreciate the honesty. *Hahaha*
Hey man, I’m not into this for the cool points! *Haha*
Can you name three songs that you consider perfect in every way and say why they’re so special to you?
Yeah, totally. Penny lane by The BEATLES. Me and my dad have actually been going back and forth lately about “what’s the greatest Pop song ever written?” and we keep ending up back at Penny lane. It’s just so relatable and charming and fun. It’s not obnoxious, like a lot of Pop songs are, you know? That one’s definitely up there.
Starless by KING CRIMSON, I think that’s my favorite song of all time. 11 minutes of beautiful ballad mixed with just the most avant-garde stuff on the back end and then it all works together in the end. It’s amazing.
I think I should probably throw a Death Metal song in here somewhere. To go back to Organic Hallucinosis by DECAPITATED, A poem about an old prison man, that song gets me going every time. Those lyrics are by Charles Manson and it’s just scary. It’s like, a really foreboding feeling. It’s everything that Death Metal needs to be, in my opinion.
You just talked about your dad so I guess music is something that your share a lot with him. Do you remember the first time music really had effect on you? I guess that was probably through him?
Yeah, my dad is sort of a self styled singer songwriter. He’s been a lyricist and writing songs his whole life and he would just play around the house all the time when I was growing up. I didn’t think much of it because that’s such a ubiquitous thing and I didn’t really think about music a whole lot until I was much older, probably 12 or 13, until I was like, “I want this record.” I was obviously rebelling against all of the stuff that my parents liked, which was all the stuff that I love the most now, oddly enough. I remember watching MTV when I was at that age and being like, I need KORN’s Follow The Leader, I need LIMP BIZKIT’s Significant Other, I need BLINK 182’s Enema of the State, I need all that stuff. It’s like 1998 era. So that was when I first started really getting into music, but then, little by little, me and my dad started connecting more about it, once I was actually into it and that’s when he started introducing me to PINK FLOYD. I remember one time he brought me in from hanging out with my friends and was just like, “you need to sit down and listen to Dark Side of the Moon from start to finish” and I was pissed! *Haha* I did not want to listen to my dad’s records but then I sat there and listened to it and it changed my life. It blew my mind forever. Then I never really looked back since so that’s a big thing. And you know, wanting to learn music after that and having him around, he taught me a lot about song structure and how to assign meaning to things and what makes music connect with you on a human level.
What’s the first thing that strikes you when you listen to new music? What are you looking for?
Usually, I’m just looking for something that…it’s hard to say really. I like formula as much as I like disorganization and experimentation. I feel like if somebody can put a new spin on the tried and true song construction formula and impress me with a good hook still? That’s what I really love. That’s what usually draw me into a record, a single with a nice hook. Something I want to hear again. Hats off to any bands that are playing a bajillion notes all the time but like if you don’t have that part that makes me want to listen to your record again, I’m probably gonna go “these guys are really good at their instruments but I’ll go and listen to the BEATLES again.”
Is there any up and coming bands that you’d like to recommend?
One that pops to mind is WARFORGED, friends of ours from Chicago. They just put out an amazing scary, like technical Black Metal record earlier this year on The Artisan Era and I recommend anybody who likes Heavy Metal and Death Metal to check it out. It’s a really amazing record.
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