The Terrestria World Tour 2022 Beautifully Captivates Los Angeles

May 25th, 2022

            The journey of hearing, and watching a band make continual progression, is for me personally, one of the most enriching and rewarding aspects, a fan and musical individual can experience.  Sometimes, finding that accelerating, profound sound can take that band a while to create, and find.  For Rivers of Nihil, the absolute leap in Progressive elements, combining with further, sheer intensity, and creating something of their own, in The Work.  Keeping their thundering distortion, technical abilities, and also experimenting and performing absolute Progressive works of art, this beautiful combination displays Rivers of Nihil’s new type of sound, and for this writer, their best work to date.  For the first time performing off their newest album, Rivers of Nihil brought forth a Technical Death Metal type tour, alongside Fallujah, The Zenith Passage, Alluvial and Warforged, the astounding level of melody, talent, musical landscapes, and brutality for tonight, was to not be missed.

Post pinnacle pandemic or not, I would have a feeling this particular tour package would do quite well, and right before Warforged opened the show, the 1720 club was already swarmed with an elated crowd, positively packing the venue so early.  It’s something we want for all the bands out there, and you simply love to see it.

            Warforged started off this festive Metal Wednesday with some gorgeous lead guitar tones, techniques and sonic soundwaves.  Jace Kiburz’s melodic-tapping solos and space-sounding riff structures, created for a nebula-like atmosphere.  The blast beasts, hard-hitting fills, relentless energy and pace, from Jason Nitts, created this chaotic desire of structure between the ‘gentle’ lead passages, as well as it was hilarious to see the chummy humour he made with his faces throughout the set.  Lately, the bands I haven’t heard at any point, have been pleasantly surprising, and Warforged’s continual methods of showing their complete Progressive/Blackened Death Metal brand, was displayed further with bassist Alex Damske providing somber singing during the clean-picked riffing, between transitions and the interludes.  It’s a sight to behold, when bands can be multi-layered in their songwriting, sound, and approach.  And relating to their horror-like sound at times, I could have sworn the band just played Returnal, with how some of those soundtrack intros felt like in-between songs.  If there was a list of bands that could perform on an Aliens soundtrack, Warforged would be one of them.  A positively startling surprise.  

            With quite a few of this packed house moving closer to Alluvial, as well as Kevin Muller demanding the audience do the same, this Death Metal frenzy was about to get underway.  Formerly the frontman taking over for Frank Mullen in Suffocation, I felt Kevin was the heir to that ridiculous standard to take over from.  Not only possessing a delightful growl with punishing diction, his overall energy on-stage and commanding the audience, helped make him an especially fan-favourite.  “Sarcoma” demonstrated his demon-possessed sounding vocals, as well as showing Alluvial’s groovy breakdowns, at times Thrash-like downbeats and crushing double-bass triplet riffs from Brody Smith.  Although I wouldn’t describe Alluvial as Progressive metal at all, and for their style they don’t need to be, but I really enjoyed the clean-tone chords and ascending tempo riffs from Wes Hauch.  They had a Pantera feel to them.  The sneaky left hook from Alluvial, was eventful and fun to watch.      

1.  Ulysses

2.  Thy Underling

3.  Sarcoma

4.  Sleepers Become Giants

5.  Exponent

6.  40 Stories

            Only performing a few dates on this tour, and this were to be one of them:  The Zenith Passage.  The conceptual theme tonight of Progressive style of Death Metal continued with their set, as the Technical Death Metal aspects of The Zenith Passage, were filled with atmospheric musical textures during slower passages, trading off with their swifter parts.  Guitar effects are essential with the right band and player, as Justin McKinney’s solos felt, and sounded, cosmic and uplifting.  It creates a unique vibe for the rest of the band either matching the said performance, or playing with distortion, combining for a yin/yang element.  I can’t remember the last time I saw Derek Rydquist sing, but it was nostalgic to hear those memorable harsh growls live, and to see him gel with the rest of the group, furiously headbanging, and getting the crowd to launch several pits during their set.  Probably more than the rest of the acts, but seeing Brandon Giffin’s bass parts match the importance of the guitars, as well as hearing it firmly in the mix; we have a phalera of quality, talented bass players, and it can be frustrating to only see the magic of it, and not hear it quite as loud as it should be.  The Zenith Passage performed their less than month old single, “Synaptic Depravation”, having a beautiful interlude proceeded with a space horror backtrack, followed by a gorgeous solo, matching the haunting vibes.  The Zenith Passage only has one album thus far, and doesn’t perform live too often, but when they do, they’re a blast to absorb and watch.      

            Truly making a name for themselves performing fantastic Progressive Death Metal with remarkable colourful contextures, Fallujah’s presence in the last near decade, have seen them perform with the likes of Beyond Creation, Archspire, and many others.  “Carved from Stone”, from what I believe to be their glowing magnum opus, The Flesh Prevails, opening their set with that 4-note setup, ascending higher in the note range, and the flourishing, supersonic effects that Scott Carstairs uses, showed with the fans too.  Engaged, moshing, singing along, tonight’s crowd by the way, absolutely showed up, and then some.  In contrast to the mesmerizing colourful sounds, “Radiant Ascension” from their soon to be released record, Empyrean, broke open the room with a furious intro of blasting, string-skipping riffs, followed with a twisted octave chord, accentuating Kyle Schaefer’s sustaining barks and yells.  Immediately after, while continuing that vocal intensity, an uplifting chorus with the high-melody notes swelling up to the max, invoking a crushing wave of headbanging upon impact.  Lately, their vocalist lineup hasn’t been quite sustainable, and I hope Kyle can stay around a whole lot longer.  I’ve shown some friends who are heavy into EDM, and found themselves enjoying Fallujah’s massive palette of melody, sound, enticing musical textures, all wrapped up into a formidable Progressive Death Metal act, that can be appreciated and seen, on nearly any kind of tour.  Fallujah’s delicate and signature music ability, imaginative, soaring melodies, create for a firework-like hypnosis, and another outstanding performance again tonight.

1.  Carved from Stone

2.  Radiant Ascension

3.  Amber Gaze

4.  Sanctuary

5.  Cerebral Hybridization

6.  Eden's Lament

7.  Soulbreaker

8.  Sapphire

9.  Ritual of Godflesh

10.  The Void Alone

            A tough act to follow, but the thundering presence and performance from Rivers of Nihil, blasting the audience with a joust of inclusive, eclectic Technical Death Metal.  Not only in the band’s Drop F# tuning, you can hear just how massively impactful the music sounded, and not once muddy, or plastic sounding.  The intro to “MORE?”, demonstrated the fury, brutal side, and menacing nature of Rivers of Nihil.  I love how the density of their low tuning is used into effect during the chord sustaining moments, found in the middle of the track, with the pummeling tone of Adam Biggs’s bass notes shake the core of the listener, and still hear each note proper.  Filling in for the band, Andy Thomas of Black Crown Initiate didn’t miss a beat on-stage, as would be expected from a guitar player the level that he is.  Complimenting Brody Uttley’s leads and various breakdowns in “The Silent Life”, both guitarists skill, technical riffing, as well as pounding the listener with bass-heavy notes, and leaving room for the Progressive aspects, showed the diversity within themselves, and the band.

            Adding an important element, instrument, and new sound to Rivers of Nihil, from the band’s latest records, Where Owls Know My Name and The Work, both consist of adding the saxophone.  And, with tonight’s set consisting of only those albums, that added instrument truly showed the vast amount of progression, beauty, and wonder.  From the walking downtown through the city-like ending to “Episode”, and heard in the outstanding intro to the 11-minute Bahamut of a track from “Terrestria IV: Work”, live saxophonist Patrick Corona key moments, flowing notes, and stopping the Death Metal aspects on a dime, left the crowd completely in awe.  Not only did it feel original and not gimmicky, but it absolutely added to Rivers of Nihil’s new level of excellence, and ascending songwriting.  I’m quite thankful for the band to perform from these albums only, as I’ve stated previously, playing from your newest material, especially if it’s strong in quality, only helps and will be better than “playing just the hits.” 

Playing from by far, their most resounding albums from Rivers of Nihil, and their live show hitting in a multitude of positive ways, Rivers of Nihil’s continual climb of writing expansive and heavy Progressive/Technical Death Metal, shows no derailing detours, or potholes on the road.  Seeing the band last perform in 2014, it’s like two completely different artists.  I’m thankful Rivers of Nihil have taken their sound to new heights, and I feel it’s only just beginning, from here on out.          

1.  MORE?

2.  A Home

3.  The Void from Which No Sound Escapes

4.  Dreaming Black Clockwork

5.  The Silent Life

6.  Clean

7.  Episode

8.  Subtle Change (Including the Forest of Transition and Dissatisfaction Dance)

9.  Terrestria IV: Work

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10.  Where Owls Know My Name