History Music / RiversOfNihil

* SingingVoiceDissonance: Jake's surprisingly clear and intelligible Canadian accent stands in stark contrast to his ''heavily'' US American speaking voice.

* "The Sub-Orbital Blues" (2023) (single)

+ Music/{{Decapitated}}, Music/MorbidAngel, Music/CannibalCorpse, Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder, Music/{{Necrophagist}}, Music/TheFaceless, Soreption, Music/TheRedChord, Music/BeneathTheMassacre, Music/{{Opeth}}, Music/{{Gojira}}, Music/{{Slipknot}}, Music/{{Mudvayne}}, Music/NineInchNails, Music/{{Meshuggah}}, Music/PorcupineTree, Music/BetweenTheBuriedAndMe, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Yes}}, Music/{{Genesis|Band}}, Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, Music/GentleGiant, Music/TheMoodyBlues, Music/TheBeatles, Music/ExplosionsInTheSky, Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor, Music/SigurRos, Music/{{Swans}}, This Will Destroy You
]

Formed in Reading, Pennsylvania in 2009 by Jake Dieffenbach (vocals), Jonathan Kunz (guitar), and Ron Nelson (drums), the band quickly welcomed in Brody Uttley (guitar) and Adam Biggs (bass, vocals) after their own band fell apart and then proceeded to build up a live reputation that helped make ''Hierarchy'', their debut EP, an underground hit in 2010. Shows throughout the Northeast helped continue the momentum, as did their second EP, ''Temporality Unbound'', which came out in late 2011. It was sometime around this period that [[Music/HateEternal Erik Rutan]] discovered them on [=MySpace=] and left them a message praising them and informing them of his desire to work with them someday. This, along with a successful tour with their buddies in Kamikabe, only served to further embolden them; when offered a deal with Metal Blade Records in 2012, it became apparent that their hard work had paid off. Recording for their full-length began in March of 2013; come that October, ''The Conscious Seed of Light'' was released and met with much fanfare and critical acclaim. Various tours followed; additionally, 2014 brought the band's first hiccup, as Ron Nelson decided to leave and was replaced by Alan Balamut. Additionally, their first major tour of that year with Oceano, Broken Hope, Fallujah, and Kublai Khan ended early due to a string of ill fortune that struck every band on the bill except them and resulted in the cancellation of the tour; thankfully, another tour with Whitechapel and [=DevilDriver=] was just around the corner and went fine, so it's likely that that was just a bump in the road. Kunz later quit in September and was replaced by Jon Topore, and the band is currently preparing to embark on the "Swamp Leper Stomp" tour with the newest [[Music/{{Death}} Death to All]] lineup, Obituary, and Massacre. Their second album, ''Monarchy'', is slated for a late summer 2015 release. Around the end of 2015, Alan Balamut left due to a mix of a rough financial situation and a desire to finally finish school; Dylan Potts was brought on as a live fill-in and was inducted as a full-time member sometime after. He did not work out and was gone by the end of 2016, however, and Jared Klein was brought in as a fill-in before being made full-time himself in 2017.

* ''The Sub-Orbital Blues'' (2023) (single)

* SingingVoiceDissonance: Jake's surprisingly clear and intelligible mid-ranged roar stands in stark contrast to his ''heavily'' lisped speaking voice.

+ Music/{{Decapitated}}, Music/MorbidAngel, Music/CannibalCorpse, Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder, Music/{{Necrophagist}}, Music/TheFaceless, Soreption, Music/TheRedChord, Music/BeneathTheMassacre, Music/{{Opeth}}, Music/{{Gojira}}, Music/{{Slipknot}}, Music/{{Mudvayne}}, Music/NineInchNails, Music/{{Meshuggah}}, Music/PorcupineTree, Music/BetweenTheBuriedAndMe, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Yes}}, Music/{{Genesis}}, Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, Music/GentleGiant, Music/TheMoodyBlues, Music/TheBeatles, Music/ExplosionsInTheSky, Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor, Music/SigurRos, Music/{{Swans}}, This Will Destroy You

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Moderate 10.

* VocalEvolution: Jake Dieffenbach has gradually started to incorporate highs into live versions of their songs as of the late 2010s.

* BadassBeard: Jake and Brody.

* PrecisionFStrike: "More?" contains their first instance of profanity in their lyrics.
-->"I hope it fuckin' kills you."

** Zigzagged with ''The Conscious Seed of Light'': it's not a full concept album, but it is thematically based around spring and has several songs ("Mechanical Trees" and "Airless") that set up ''Monarchy''.
** ''Monarchy'': the world of "Mechanical Trees" and "Airless" has become a sun-bleached desert and civilization is mostly restricted to a sun-worshiping theocracy that has started to look more and more like a dictatorship with each passing day. [[spoiler:Then a mass die-off occurs]].

* PrecisionFStrike: "More?" contains their sole instance of profanity in their lyrics.

** ''The Work'' completely sheds whatever tech elements remained, with extremely prominent post-metal and industrial metal elements, an increased clean vocal presence, and an overall singular focus on prog.

* SpecialGuest: Zach Strouse (Burial in the Sky) tracked saxophone on multiple songs on ''Where Owls Know My Name'', while [[Music/BlackCrownInitiate Andy Thomas]] tracked guest cleans on the aforementioned album's title track and [[Music/TheFaceless Justin McKinney]] laid down a lead on "Old Nothing". On the live front, Dylan Potts and Jared Klein both started out as this, while Darren Liwen (The Kennedy Veil, Dismal) was strictly a one-time fill-in. Patrick Corona (Cyborg Octopus) has also become their on-call live saxophonist as of 2019 whenever their tour budgets allow for them to bring him out and they want to play songs that prominently feature saxophone.

* NewSoundAlbum: Both releases since ''The Conscious Seed of Light'' have involved major stylistic shifts.

* ProgressiveMetal: Particularly circa ''Where Owls Know My Name''.

* EpicRocking: "Subtle Change" (8:34), "Capricorn/Agoratopia" (7:50), "Suntold" (7:23), "Where Owls Know My Name" (6:42), "The Silent Life" (6:34), "Circles in the Sky" (6:27), and "Death Is Real" (6:09).

* TrueCompanions: With Music/{{Revocation}}.

* MetalScream: Type 1 for Jake, Type 3 for Adam.

* SpecialGuest: Zach Strouse (Burial in the Sky) tracked saxophone on multiple songs on ''Where Owls Know My Name'', while [[Music/BlackCrownInitiate Andy Thomas]] tracked guest cleans on the aforementioned album's title track and [[Music/TheFaceless Justin McKinney]] laid down a lead on "Old Nothing". On the live front, Dylan Potts and Jared Klein both started out as this, while Darren Liwen (The Kennedy Veil, Dismal) was strictly a one-time fill-in.

* TrueCompanions: With Music/{{Revocation}}.

!!The band contains examples of the following tropes:

* PerishingAltRockVoice: Biggs' cleans circa ''Where Owls Know My Name''.

* SpecialGuest: Zach Strouse tracked saxophone on multiple songs on ''Where Owls Know My Name'', while [[Music/BlackCrownInitiate Andy Thomas]] tracked guest cleans on the aforementioned album's title track and [[Music/TheFaceless Justin McKinney]] laid down a lead on "Old Nothing". On the live front, Dylan Potts and Jared Klein both started out as this, while Darren Liwen (The Kennedy Veil, Dismal) was strictly a one-time fill-in.

* SignatureStyle: Lots of odd-timed riffs, atmospheric tremolo riffing, quiet, post-rock-influenced sections, the occasional full-speed blasting portion, and darkly melodic soloing. Best described as an intersection of Morbid Angel, Gojira, Krallice, and Sigur Ros.

* TechnicalDeathMetal

* SpecialGuest: Zach Strouse tracked saxophone on multiple songs on ''Where Owls Know My Name'', while [[Music/BlackCrownInitiate Andy Thomas]] tracked guest cleans on the aforementioned album's title track. On the live front, Dylan Potts and Jared Klein both started out as this, while Darren Liwen (The Kennedy Veil, Dismal) was strictly a one-time fill-in.