RIVERS OF NIHIL’s BRODY UTTLEY Reflects On Changing Sound & The Underwhelming Monarchy Album Cycle

The Rivers Of Nihil that produced tech death corkers like The Conscious Seed of Light and Monarchy; and the Rivers Of Nihil that are ushering in their self-titled fifth studio effort on May 30, are different beasts entirely.

Embracing tripped-out prog and dynamic layers and textures that have bordered on the beautiful and the grotesque, Rivers Of Nihil has evolved time and again over the years. To ask founding guitarist Brody Uttley, the shift into a more prog-metal leaning style on Where Owls Know My Name was a game-changer for the band, who were experiencing their share of challenges on the album cycle for their sophomore record, Monarchy.

“I think before Owls, I always felt like we’re a death metal band, a technical death metal band, even, and this is the confines that we can operate within to remain that and then for whatever reason between Monarchy and Owls, I just kind of stopped caring about that and ended up just trying all kinds of different things.

“Sections that were when we were writing those songs, sections that were open, you know, where maybe beforehand, I would have put a guitar solo, like, I was like, what if we try a saxophone,” said Uttley during an expansive breakdown of the Rivers Of Nihil discography with Metal Injection.

“And we just happened to be friends with a really talented saxophone player, who was just, I was like, hey, if you ever want to try something different, let me know. And we were like, let’s try it. We were just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what happened, basically, seeing what was sticking. And yeah, that’s really what the Owls thing was. It was just us kind of doing whatever we wanted.”

“Cause you know, as much as Monarchy, nowadays, by some of our fans is kind of looked at with these rose-tinted glasses, when it came out, it wasn’t a super talked-about album. And the album cycle on Monarchy was pretty underwhelming. Most of the shows we played on that album cycle were poorly attended. A couple of tours got cancelled. It was a rough run on that album, and like, I think coming off of that, we were just like, well fuck it. Maybe no one’s gonna care about this album at all, so like we’re just gonna do whatever we want, you know? Fuck it.

“And that’s literally how we arrived at Owls, and then when we started putting the songs out, people were paying attention, and then we started playing shows, and more people than we had ever seen at any shows we played were coming to see us. And we were just like, what?”

Pre-orders for Rivers Of Nihil are available here. Rivers Of Nihil will also hit the road this May with Holy Fawn, Inter Arma, and Glacial Tomb as support for their Aggressive Progressive Tour. The tour runs from May 22 in Philadelphia, PA at Underground Arts through June 22 in Toronto, ON at Lees Palace. Get your tickets here.

5/22 Underground Arts Philadelphia, PA
5/23 The Palladium (Upstairs) Worcester, MA
5/24 Rec Room Buffalo, NY
5/25 The King Of Clubs Columbus, OH
5/27 Pike Room @ Crofoot Pontiac, MI
5/28 Reggies Chicago, IL
5/29 The Cabooze Minneapolis, MN
5/30 Bourbon Theater Lincoln, NE
5/31 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
6/1 Metro Music Hall Salt Lake City, UT
6/3 Rickshaw Theatre Vancouver, BC
6/4 El Corazon Seattle, WA
6/5 Dante’s Portland, OR
6/6 Goldfield Trading Post Roseville, CA
6/7 Teragram Ballroom Los Angeles, CA
6/8 Brick By Brick San Diego, CA
6/10 Nile Mesa, AZ
6/11 Launchpad Albuquerque, NM
6/12 Jake’s Lubbock, TX
6/13 The Rail Ft. Worth, TX
6/14 Come And Take It Live Austin, TX
6/15 Scout Bar Houston, TX
6/17 Basement East Nashville, TN
6/18 Eulogy Asheville, NC
6/19 The Canal Club Richmond, VA
6/20 The Meadows Brooklyn, NY
6/21 Fairmount Theatre Montreal, QC
6/22 Lees Palace Toronto, ON