Live Review : Rivers Of Nihil + Cynic + Beyond Creation + Dååth @ Club Academy, Manchester on March 8th 2025

Never has a tour title been so fitting and accurate in its description. Aggressive progressive ‘25 brings together four of the scene leaders in pushing the envelope of death metal. Dååth, Beyond Creation, Cynic and nominal headliners Rivers of Nihil, in their own unique ways each retain that brutish aggression that gives Death Metal its potent uncompromising force, but each band splices it with a spellbindingly intricate slice of progressive opulence. Basically, this is victory parade for the innovators that have evolved Death Metal into the complex and undefinable beast that it is today.

Dååth are probably the closest to old school minimal death metal that we get this evening. You could also argue that they are the only act on the bill that is still actively building on their legacy as opposed to cruising on their reputation. They have a meaty, anthemic feel. Sean Zatorsky’s vocal delivery is archetypally corrosive and blood curdling but is backed by a musical pallet that is rich in detail and distinction. The on-tape symphonic elements give volume to their music but is sparingly used and often down in the mix. Instead, it is the widescreen guitar work that pushes the tracks forward, cutting and concise but still containing an inherent melodic nature that makes the songs swell with stirring beauty. 

Given that this is a meeting of the tribes as opposed to a triumphant headliner with a make-do undercard, the room is full from the get go and the crowd are more than ready to participate even if it is yet to strike seven. Sean keeps demanding a pit and who are we to deny him. The bodies start to fly, synching into the old skool aesthetic of the music. The progressive elements are there but in the main what makes Dååth so enticing is the tightness and blazon forthrightness of their performance. It is pulsatingly heavy and captures the imagination of everyone present, even those whose colours are steadfastly tied to the masts of the other acts. A blisteringly impressive start. 

Beyond Creation’s drum kit dominates the stage space. The rest of the band fit around it, stood in a static straight line. The kit’s inhabitant, French powerhouse Clément Denys, might be on fill in duties but his complex cacophony of beats is at the heart of their appeal. If Dååth offered an entry point to progressive intricacies, then Beyond Creation take us by the hand and plunge into the deep end. The contrast between the textured technicality of the music and Simon Girard’s gruff vocal delivery is tantalisingly evocative. Everything is immaculately layered and peppered with dense levels of technical detail. It is a hive of interlinking notes and time signatures, each pristinely delivered and knotted together to create a labyrinthic kaleidoscope of sound. 

With nothing new seemly on offer (their last record was in 2018) they diligently mine the past. The length of their tracks and the paltry nature of their set times means we only get four tracks. They choose to take us on a reverse journey through time opening with the title tracks of their last two records. However, the concluding half of the set is reserved for a doublehanded visit to their astonishing debut “The Aura”. Fourteen years on the scale of the ambition is still breathtaking. In fact the intervening time has made the audacity of their creative vision even more awe-inspiring. Individual musical dexterity combine to create a grand cathedral of spiralling sound that towers over the audience. Audacious and stunningly beautiful, this is death metal evolved and reconfigured. Absolutely astounding.

Our world is filled with cult deities, unknown by the mainstream but fervently worshipped by an evangelical minority. Cynic are one of the bands and there is a palpable level of excitement in regard to their rare reappearance on this bill. Aside from a one-off London show in 2011 this is their first sizable incursion into this country for seventeen years and a bevy of men of a certain age are spread across the venue sporting faded and ill-fitting items of their merch ready to stand in reverential worship.

Due to the tragic passings of both Sean Reinhert and Sean Malone in 2020, the responsibility for upholding the Cynic legacy now sits solely on the slight shoulders of Paul Masvidal. He is currently facing his own challenges as it becomes abundantly clear that this is not going to be the imperious return for Cynic show that most of us envisaged. After an opening salvo of an instrumental incarnation of ‘Nunc Fluens’,  Paul reveals that his voice has failed him and he is unable to supply his usual vocal dexterity. Making the best of a difficult situation he promises a unique opportunity to witness Cynic’s back catalogue in an instrumental setting. 

Whilst he is reduced vocally to a croak it is obvious that his cold hasn’t dented Paul’s virtuoso efforts on the guitar. He is extraordinary, conjuring up ridiculously complex riff after ridiculously complex riff. During ‘In a Multiverse Where Atoms Sing’ he falls to his knees slowly teasing out the immaculate sounds from his instrument as his band mates surround him. It is an remarkably humbling experience to watch him as he diligently build these all-encompassing sounds.

Shawn of their vocals (especially the more guttural refrains) Cynic’s songs lose their last remaining teethers to death metal. They instead become masterly exercises in universe-building progressive metal, a fog of ever-shifting time signatures and right-angled riffs. It is a stunning spectacle but one you watch with reverence rather than physically react to. The pits that had emerged for the previous two acts are extinguished and instead, the audience stand stock still, communally blown away by the level of musicality being dispensed.

The difference between Cynic and the many bands that they have influenced is brevity. Whilst drenched in high convoluted musical brilliance, Cynic tracks have always been short and the nine-song set is dispensed with in what feels like a nano second. At Paul’s request and insistence the audience seize hold of the vocal duties for closing number ‘The Space For This’ and the room metamorphosizes into a cauldron of communal bounding as every Cynic devotee present lets rip in ecstatic adulation. What could have been a damp squib is instead converted into a euphoric celebration of a band that to a small group of forty-somethings means the utter world.

Rivers of Nihil have been teasing the follow up to 2019’s emphatic “The Work” for a number of years now. Songs from the forthcoming self-titled release have been protruding onto their set list since 2023, but its release has always felt just out of reach. However a May 30th release date has been set and these European and UK shows provide a pre-emptive opportunity to build up some of the momentum that have slipped away. Rivers Of Nihil are an astonishing live proposition. Heavy and all-consuming but also gloriously progressive and transgressive. There is less gratuitous technicality at play than with the previous two acts, instead, this is a marvellous maelstrom of searing emotion. Rivers of Nihil build tracks that connect with your soul and make you feel. 

As ever their calling card is the luscious lashings of Patrick Corona’s sax. The saxophone is usually considered a mainstay of the jazz and r’n’b worlds. However, Rivers of Nihil brazenly reclaim it as a metal instrument. Its inclusion is revelational.  It gives their brand of anthemic death metal additional dimensions that transform the context of their songs. It isn’t just a gimmick or a conversational anomaly, Patrick’s rich but delicate sax tones complement the soaring guitars and just lift each and every track into a different class.

You can tell the relief that the now reanimated crowd remember them and they plough through a short but perfectly formed set that balances new stuff with more familiar material from the already mentioned “The Work” and the break through, “Where Owls Know my name”. In fact it is the tracks from the latter album that most enliven the crowd, with the pit back in operation and emphatic voices raised in recognition.

Tonight has very much been about quality over quantity and Rivers of Nihil don’t out stay their welcome. Whether planned or not, the emphatic cries “one more song” summon them back for a final furlong. Like every other track, closer ‘Clean’ is an incredible treaty on scale and scope. It is outwardly coarse and jagged but consists of infinite depths and hidden beauties. It captures you in its gravitational pull and entwines in its alluring beauty, brutal but simultaneously bewitching it demonstrates the sheer brilliance of the contrasts at the heart of Rivers of Nihil.

It also perfectly crowns a highly impressive evening demonstrating the fascinating diversity and potential of death metal. A music misconstrued as crass and unruly, the aggressive progressive tour sees through the ill-gotten bad press and shines a light on its evolutionary forces. And by doing so it creates a quadropable coupling not to be forgotten.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Rivers Of Nihil + Cynic + Beyond Creation + Dååth