It's not often I hear about a local band from my hometown getting signed to a major label like Metal Blade. In fact, the last band to get signed to Metal Blade from my area was In Ruins, and they were soon more or less dropped for inactivity. That was over ten years ago or more.

So imagine my surprise when I see this announced:

http://www.metalblade.com/us/news/metal ... -of-nihil/

In my personal opinion, this couldn't have happened to a more deserving band. I think Rivers of Nihil is one of the most talented bands to come from Reading, PA. They play technical death metal with influences drawn from Meshuggah, Devourment, Decapitated and to a degree some black metal as well. That description is based on my own experience from seeing the band and not the description by Metal Blade. However, come to think of it, I do hear a considerable influence from Gojira, Suffocation and Dying Fetus.

Some of you might have heard of them, I've certainly seen their name pop up every now and then in the Rec forum. Sometimes I'm the one to recommend them.

Has anyone here heard of them before? What did you think?

For those who haven't heard them, here is a new song of theirs: https://soundcloud.com/rivers-of-nihil/rain-eater

It's supposedly unmastered, but I think this has excellent production!

Good, now maybe they can fix that shit production sound they had on Temporality Unbound. Awesome music, terrible mastering.

So, what do people think of the new song?

Also, to keep some conversation going, does anyone have similar stories where a local band from their area gets signed to a major label?

I've known the guys in Rivers of Nihil for many years, long before they even were Rivers of Nihil. They were once a band called Amongst Decay (or Amongst The Decay, though they dropped the 'the'). That band was similar in brutality but with much more emphasis on slams and breakdowns. Devourment worship to say the least, less technical too. They even played Babykiller live at the end of their set. I remember asking the guys in Rivers of Nihil if they would still do Babykiller when they first started playing - they don't, but that's no loss. I enjoy the song Babykiller, since it's heavy and I like the lyrics which are about killing babies (I fucking hate babies), however it wouldn't exactly fit with Rivers of Nihil, their style is quite a bit different from the sound of Amongst Decay.

I think in the future it is possible that Gloominous Doom might be signed to Relapse Records. I think Relapse had a look at them before, and several Relapse bands have both played in our area and toured with local bands (Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Jucifer, Hero Destroyed to name a couple off the top of my head). Gloominous Doom also recorded a split with Rumpelstiltskin Grinder. In March, they are playing a show with Nile in Philadelphia. Who knows what the future holds, but the signing of Rivers of Nihil to Metal Blade was a pleasant surprise that now makes sense when considering their rapid rise in the local music scene.

The last local band which got signed by a major label was grand supreme bloodcourt

As for bands with a previously unknown background. none that i know really. Not a lot is going in terms of new bands that seem set to get major attention. We have our retro dm bands but all the international focus is on already established acts like asphyx.

I couldn't check out the new song you linked cause my browser is lame and I'm too lazy to update now but I youtubed 'em and I liked what I heard. Nice to see local bands finally getting the attention they deserve.

Pretty great news for them. A few years back I ordered their EP since I was looking into local bands (like The Gloominous Doom; from the Macungie area myself) and I was pretty impressed bar the weak production. Metal Blade isn't known for getting heavy-hitting producers either but here's hoping for the best from these guys. They've got a lot of talent.

Dunno how I feel about the new logo though.

I think they are going for that whole symmetry thing with the logo. The R looks weird because of it though.

I like the logo they have on Temporality Unbound the best. I have that on a T shirt... which is a parody of Dark Throne's Transylvanian Hunger (it says Pennsylvanian Hunger instead)