Forget everything you think you know about Rivers of Nihil. The Reading, PA quintet announced themselves as one of the most promising and forward-thinking metalbands in the world today with their first two releases, The Conscious Seed of Light (2013) and Monarchy (2015). But on March 16th, 2018, they will shatter all expectations with their third full-length, Where Owls Know My Name. Whereas Seed and Monarchy were thematically centered around spring and summer, respectively, Where Owls Know My Name represents the fall. And although that season is usually associated with death, for Rivers of Nihil, the autumn serves as a rebirth. Formed in 2009 by guitarist Brody Uttley, bassist/lyricist Adam Biggs, and vocalist Jake Dieffenbach, Rivers of Nihil quickly made a name for themselves in the death metal scene, attracting the attention of legendary DM titan Erik Rutan. Rutan, revered for his work as both a musician (Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel) and producer (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore), insisted on recording The Conscious Seed of Light. The results were, unsurprisingly, spectacular, with Heavy Blog Is Heavy going so far as to assert that the debut "rivals even the most legendary work of some of [Rivers of Nihil's] peers and influences." They continued along this trajectory with Monarchy, which Metal Injection praised as an "incredibly striking" demonstration of how "Rivers of Nihil have evolved into a monster." The group further cemented their reputation as a young band to watch by annihilating audiences with their live show, which Metal Wani called "a mind numbing force of modern death metal with a vivid darkness in the sound." To date, Rivers of Nihil have toured with such heavy hitters as Whitechapel, Obituary, Darkest Hour, Misery Index, and Cryptopsy. But Where Owls Know My Name represents a massive evolutionary leap for Rivers of Nihil, as different from its predecessors as Homo sapiens are from amoeba. The band - now rounded out by guitarist Jon Topore and drummer Jared Klein - has delivered an album which is often just as punishing as its predecessors while assimilating ingredients from musical genres as varied as electronica, jazz, alternative, folk, and the golden age of Shrapnel Records. The resulting music is indescribably progressive, a multifaceted soundscape that goes beyond the wildest dreams of even the group's most ardent admirers. All bets are off; listeners are simply not prepared for the magnum opus that is Where Owls Know My Name.

"The worst band from Richmond, VA...EVER." 2006-2008: Multiple demos (one live, one studio and a Macrock festival version), local and regional shows. 2009: "Sundown" CS (DIY), east coast tour w/Balaclava. 2010: "Sundown" LP/CD (Forcefield/Mirror Universe) and split 7" w/BATTLEMASTER (Mirror Universe) released, east coast/midwest touring, full U.S. tour #1 w/Bastard Sapling. 2011: More east coast/midwest touring. 2012:  "Destroyer" EP LP (Toxic Assets) released, Full U.S. tour #2. 2013:  "Sky Burial" 2xLP/CD (Relapse) and "Destroyer" EP CD (Gilead Media) released, full U.S./Mexico tour #3 w/Mutilation Rites, additional U.S. touring w/KEN Mode, Earthling, Woe and Black Tusk. 2014:  "The Cavern" LP/CD (Relapse) released, European tour #1 w/Windhand and Indian, Roadburn Festival, U.S. touring with Russian Circles, Ulcerate and KEN Mode. European tour #2 w/Mantar. 2015:  Sky Burial CS (Tartarus) released, full U.S tour #4 w/Yautja, Maryland Death Fest, additional U.S. touring with Kylesa, Indian Handcrafts and Set and Setting.  2016: Paradise Gallows LP/CD (Relapse) released, full U.S. tour #5 w/Withered. Additional U.S./Canadian touring with Carcass, Deafheaven and Call of the Void. 2017: Paradise Gallows CS (Tartarus) and The Cavern CS (Tartarus) released, European tour #3 with Celeste, Roadburn Festival, U.S. tour #6 with Pelican, Pyrrhon, Atriarch and Brain Tentacles. Additional U.S. touring with Pallbearer, Gatecreeper, Woe, The Holy Mountain Top Removers and Expander.  INTER ARMA‘s music resists generalization and categorization, but if there’s one thing that’s consistently true, it’s that the VA quintet possesses an unparalleled sense of scope. Few artists today accurately convey the complexity that INTER ARMA (Latin for “in times of war”) does – the band creates terrible and often hauntingly beautiful portraits of humanity through music that is deeply organic yet still mystical and modern. INTER ARMA are just as committed to the live circuit as they are to their records: the band has performed extensively throughout Europe and the US, sharing the stage with the likes of Kylesa, Baroness, Cough, Royal Thunder, Black Tusk, Ulcerate, Russian Circles, Windhand, and dozens of others. INTER ARMA‘s raw, uninhibited approach merges doom metal, psychedelic sludge, black metal, prog and more, and over the course of the last ten years, has established the band as a uniquely innovative force in contemporary extreme metal. Founded in Richmond in 2006, the versatile and genre-defying five-piece released their debut full-length Sundown via Forcefield Records in 2010, and like all great artists, had a well-defined sound right from the start. Sundown found INTER ARMA widespread critical acclaim, and, combined with the band’s relentless touring schedule and DIY grit, quickly helped INTER ARMA make a name for themselves in the underground. Following Sundown, the band released the 12″ EP Destroyer via Toxic Assets Records. That record was strong enough to catch the attention of Relapse Records, who signed INTER ARMA later in 2012, and in 2013, the band unleashed the monolithic Sky Burial, a doomy, hour-long excursion through unpredictable textures and timbres. Just two years later, the band followed Sky Burial with The Cavern, a 45+ minute, single-song EP. Originally written during the summer of 2009, then slowly reworked and perfected, The Cavern was recorded in 2013 during breaks from the band’s non-stop tours. Both The Cavern and Sky Burial were widely hailed as some of the best records of their respective years and garnered INTER ARMA accolades from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone, and many other publications worldwide. Two years after The Cavern, INTER ARMA are poised to return with their heaviest and most multifaceted work to date. Paradise Gallows is more than an hour of lush, colorful melodies and textures blended with the heaviness of the earth’s impending death. Like the band’s previous works, the new album Paradise Gallows is direct and foreboding while maintaining a nuanced, artful perspective. INTER ARMA‘s signature palette of dissonant high-end and abyssal low-end has been augmented with swathes of thick, impressionistic melody that lend Paradise Gallows a truly biblical sense of scale, both lyrically and in terms of the album’s sonic content. Harsh and acoustic passages (including the band’s first-ever foray into clean vocals) spar with complex rhythmic structures across nine sweeping tracks of expansive, progressive heaviness. The album was again recorded with Mikey Allred (Yautja, Hivelords) at Dark Art Audio in Nashville, and features gorgeous cover art by Orion Landau. Dense, funereal, and richly evocative, Paradise Gallows is a rich blend of doom, post-metal, sludge, and black and death metal, and is a singular and powerful new addition to the band’s already monumental discography.