Old Composer REACTS to Rivers of Nihil Where Owls Know My Name 

Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to this one! The follow up record is currently in the works and we are EXTREMELY excited about the future for this band.

The saxophonist was a guest on several tracks on this album. Also this album was widely considered the best metal album of 2018.

A little fact about Rivers Of Nihil: when I saw them live I found out thay their lead singer, the growly one, has a serious hearing disability and is mostly deaf. Yet he fronts one of the most exciting bands in modern Death Metal. Incredible

This whole album is absolutely incredible by the way. And there is saxophone all over it, not just this song!

If there is one music video in the history of music to watch then it is the music video of this song.

Fun fact: they actually didnt originally intend to have saxophone on the album. Allegedly they sent the unfinished tracks to a friend for him to listen to, but he ended up recording his sax over top and sent it back to them. They loved it so much, it became the staple of the album

jazzcore needs to be more of a thing. I instantly fell in love with this band. too underrated

It’s so atmospheric, I feel like I was listening to a story.

I had the dumbest grin on my face the whole time. So happy to see such an open-minded man dive deep.

This album is a masterpiece.

That’s the same “wait... is that a saxophone” face I made!

The Contortionist - Language I and II The Contortionist - Primordial Sound

"Be'lakor - The Smoke of Many Fires" - I think you might like this - it's heavy and death metal vocals but melodic as well. Very interesting band!

BLACK CROWN INITATE.. THE GREATEST MISTAKE ...PLEASE ..Kind of an obscure band ..the drummer on this track is JESSE BEAHLER...amazing heel technique on the double bass .

Holy Shit! Rivers of Nihil!!! Never thought a RU-vid reaction would happen for these guys. So glad you did buddy. The entire album is mind blowing.

And here I thought only boiling water could harden me.

There's 3 different singers on this one. The intro is a guest singer. The bass player does the main clean singing for the band normally, he's on harmonies, but he also does some screaming(the higher gnarly stuff). The main screamer does that exclusively. Great pick!

I've been playing Bass for 30 yrs. now. The bass player Adam Biggs is my new spirit animal. The kid is a freakin' beast!!

Was lucky to see this album performed in it's entirety with the saxophone

Leprous - slave Death - voice of the soul and spirit crusher Opeth - ghost of perdition Riverside - the depth of self-delusion Please trust me, they will blow your head

You really should liste to "Subtle Changes" from Rivers of Nihil. This song just blew my mind the first time I heard it !

Leprous- slave live, is quite the sonic journey

The entire album is a master piece. When it came out I had it on repeat for weeks on end.

I think that 50% of the fun of this channel is sifting through the comments for music recommendations

Please do Mastodon - The czar

There's not a sax player in the band but they did have a friend join them for this particular album, which has loads of tasteful sax features

Think you'd really like obscura. I would check out their song akroasis.

I had the pleasure of seeing them last year in Sydney at the manning bar. They're some seriously talented musicians. The technicality of the bassist is incredible, playing extremely technical lines with finger tapping and screaming at the same time just blew me away.

Absolute masterpiece. I've heard this song at least 50x and my brain still isn't quite used to whats going on here.

У самого мурашки по коже от этой песни!

More Gojira please! And more Devin Townsend as well! Recommended from Devin: Deadhead (also: Funeral, Bastard, & Death of Music) live at Royal Albert Hall, Higher live at Plovdiv ...How about more Dream Theater too? They have many many insane songs with instrumental virtuosity, Also: Liquid Tension Experiment's version of Rhapsody in Blue (members are from Dream Theater)

These dudes are from my hometown of Reading Pennsylvania. Fuck yeah

Would highly recommend checking out the music video for this one too if you get a chance! One of my absolute favorites

This whole album is incredible. One of the best and most creative prog/death metal albums to come out in a long while. You gotta check out Hessian Peel by Opeth! The song goes so many places and is just immaculately produced. I'd love to hear your take on it. It's a legit masterpiece! 🤘

This album, along with Zeal & Ardor’s “Stranger Fruit”, were tied for my favorite albums of 2018. So great.

Nice! you should do "The Silent life" next Great band!

Great video as usual. I'd love to see you break down 2 songs: The Art Of Dying by Gojira, and Earthborn Evolution by Beyond Creation.

You will absolutely love the song 'Cockroach King' by the prog metal band Haken!

YEEEEESSSSS. I'll watch every reaction to this lol.

Beyond Creation - Fundamental Process is an obvious pick

Absolutely masterfully written song. Just genius. And the video is a vibe

1st time listening to Rivers of Nihil, but OMG, what a beaaautiful surprise!

I watched an interview where the lead songwriter (Brody Uttley) said that he wanted to throw in a little bit of prog rock/psychedelic influence when he was writing this album in particular and you can really hear it. He said that he was listening to a lot of his father's music at that time. He did a good job, too.

If you do another rivers song, you have GOT TO do subtle change (including the forest of transition and the dissatisfaction dance). So beautifully composed and is the definition of how a song can take you on a journey.

Man, this channel is so good. We can see that you're having fun while discovering some of our favourite metal. And you do this while educating us on music. Cheers from Brasil

BRAZIL HERE! Leprous - Castway Angels / Steven Wilson - Routine ( the most sad song i ever hear in my life ) Keep Going ! Love you ! S2

Geebz you should react to some Camel songs. Imo they are one of the most underrated prog rock bands of all time. Lady Fantasy and Nimrodel are masterpieces. They are from the same album (Mirage 1974) and it's without a doubt one of the best albums in this genre. Criminally underrated when you consider how much more famous King Crimson is and they are both from the 70s.

king crimson was a huge influence in their music. this album was a departure of sound for them as their previous 2 albums were pretty much straight forward death metal. they killed it with this release.

This album is an absolute masterpiece from start to finish.

This song so quickly slipped into my top 5 fav songs of all time the first time I heard it. Gorgeous peice of music

It's a great reaction for a truly great band. You hit the nail on the head for how I describe most music I like: It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Meaning just like you said, just because you can shred a guitar, doesn't mean there isn't room for simplicity and effectiveness. Keep the reactions coming! Since you got to The Contortionist, I highly recommend Morning Song by King Buffalo, and Higher by Sleep Token.

Fun fact; the saxophone was basically added to this album at the absolute last second. The album was nearly released when a friend of the band gave a final listen to it, and offered his services as another layer to the album. The rest, as they say, is history. The album goes down as one of the very best in metal history.

I'm friends with the drummer. I will share this with him! He will be happy a clam!

I don't think these guys will ever be able to write such a great tune as this one again!

How can you not love this guy?

I love how passionate he seems to be about music. I'm really hopeful i don't lose my edge as i grow older.

Stoked that you're covering this band. You've been knocking these picks out of the park!

Amazing video as always! Some suggestions: Unexpect - The Quantum Symphony Between the Buried and Me - Extremophile Elite Mastodon - The Motherload Beyond Creation - Omnipresent Perception Maybe I'll be one of those people persistent enough to have all my wishes granted! :D

where owls know my name is a really great example of how to interweave progressive bits with some exotic instrumentation and progressive song structures. The predecessor "Monarchy" was a lot more straight, but had also some really great melodies as well. I recommend either Circles in the Sky or Sand Baptism.

Liked before even watching , this’ll be great😁

The faceless-Autotheist movement part 3 has a great mix of saxophone and prog death metal, give it a shot, great song!

Just stumbled onto your page today. Love what I'm seeing so far! Love that there are bands I've been enjoying for a while now. Hope all these awesome tracks are turning you into a metal head!

You are covering all of my favorite songs!!! Finding lots of new music through you also - never heard Opeth harlequin forest and now I can't stop listening to it. Thanks man.

I'm so glad you reacted to this song, this band is incredible. The lyrics of this song in particular are very well written, definitely worth reading along during one of your re-listens.

6:27 "the doodies of the bass"

Good gravy, I've been hoping for this one!!!

This is where I come to check out great new music, thanks brother!!!

Dude i saw these guys live and they fucking killed. The sax player was vibing so hard

I litterally just listened to this song randomly on my playlist today.

I was listening to this today. So cool. Cheers.

This song always gives me goosebumps man. That sax solo is something else. Awesome reaction and insight. I dig ur channel

Another killer suggestion and you nailed the analysis too. Creative, layered, dynamic, the dissonance, the list goes on. One of the best.

I love this album so much, thanks for doing this reaction, really enjoyed it. Your channel and videos are superb man, I learn something new from each video. Best music reaction channel on RU-vid :)

This album is a masterpiece in many ways. Excellent video by Geebz, as usual! Keep it up good sir!

I really enjoy your reactions mate. Keep em coming. Big love from Australia

instantly fell in love with this band. the bass note in this brings tears and eargasms my way

man I've listened to this record many many times and you're pointing out things I hadn't noticed. Thankful people with your skills and knowledge are out here making me a better, more active listener. Best subscription I've made this year.

I get to see them live for the first time at the end of May and I'm so excited. Great breakdown!

thanks and great job as always dude.

This is the first time I've watched a reaction video and DIDN'T get the impression that the person reacting was already familiar with the subject matter. Awesome content, man. You have my subscription.

I'm really loving experiencing music with you man, even if it's songs I've already heard before hahah! I love your energy and I love the looks you give when something in the music makes you feel something, or you hear something unexpected or something beautiful that catches you off surprise. It's really a trip. I think I subbed to you 2 weeks or so ago when I saw one of your videos pop up on my feed (thank you RU-vid algorithm), and I've been loving listening to music with you. The insight you give is really cool, and although I know a lot about music myself and know a lot about what you talk about , I'm not a producer by any means, and that stuff that you point out is very interesting to me. Anyway, I watched your reaction to your newest reaction to Opeth - Isolation Years when I woke up today, and I'm stoked your listening to them, they're my absolute favorite band, so it's fun watching you dissect them. I should probably comment on that video, but this song (great band by the way, and the rest of the album is killer too), made me think about a couple other Opeth songs you definitely need to check out! The song Deliverance from the album Deliverance, and The Moor from the album Still Life. Speaking of Still Life, Serenity Painted Death would be great too actually, it has an absolutely beautiful guitar solos near the end of it that's one of my favorites of all time, or even Moonlapse Vertigo would be a great one too. It would absolutely make my day if you reacted to a couple of those songs. I hope you see this comment, and cheers from Canada Eh! Hahaha Keep em' coming man!

Commented before as a Tool fan, this was a band that had passed me by, thanks for the introduction....my reaction was the same as yours, incredible track. Thank you

This band rules, man. I'm glad you took the time to offer your expertise as to why! It was a very enlightening video about a truly great album!

This album is absolutely amazing.

I was just about to suggest this, the I saw the video! Haha! Great reaction video!

Saw these guys live in October 2019, they played the hell out of this song and their stage presence was so good

The look on his face when the sax enters is so good! A genuine "wait, what?" moment. Great song!

Never heard of this band, but I'm loving it. Thank you!

Got to see them with Ne Obliviscaris and Caligula's Horse when they came to Australia was such a great concert and cheap as hell for the quality of bands on the lineup

I've seen these guys about four times. Great group of guys and so much talent!

I love this album and I really love the work its so different I'm glad to see them expand upon their sound I can't wait to see what the next album is going to be

Holy crap, how have i not heard this before? This is sweet! Ty :D

Physical Education by Animals as Leaders is an absolute must! Such cool / funky use of time.

It's really great to see more musicians and composers recognizing just how much talent and dynamic writing goes into a lot of metal these days, instead of disregarding it out of hand. Really enjoy your videos man.

I've been listening to rivers of nhil since their first record. And this particular track was the first time I ever heard them use the sax. They just did it, low key and everything and I was mind blown.

That's interesting. Shocked by how much i haven't heard before on your channel! I consider myself a learned fellow when it comes to music. Much respect, sir!

I just came on to RU-vid after hearing this band and this track for this first time ever. I was totally enthralled when I heard it. I needed to know if it was as surprisingly brilliant and as brilliantly surprising as I thought it was. Thanks for the expert and informed opinion in confirming what I thought and hoped was the case. Incredible track and thank you so much for your informed and expert analysis - As you mention at the end, we all need to hear more and more of these guys

Never clicked so fast on a video!

I just heard this album (and this band) earlier this year. When the sax came in on "The Silent Life" I had the exact same reaction as you. I stopped what I was doing, and I had a few seconds where I thought "what is that?!...is that a sax????...no way!!!". I'm an 80s so I love a sax solo, but this band was the only time I even thought of it in a metal song. I love it!!! I want every metal song to have a saxophone now. Forget 4 cellos, I want 4 saxophones metal covers :D

I can't beleive you did this song! Unbelievable.