Rivers of Nihil’s Aggressive Progressive Tour Brought Up My Blood Pressure

By Chel Evah

June 10, 2025 - The mighty RIVERS OF NIHIL brought their AGGRESSIVE PROGRESSIVE tour to Goldfield's in Roseville last Friday night with support from Between Realms, Glacial Tomb, and Inter Arma.  I did not make it in time to see the first band so my review will not include them. :-(

GLACIAL TOMB came to the tour ready to show their metal chops off. Sometimes low and guttural, most of the time brutal, BEN HUTCHERSON'S vocals spin a web of death metal, black metal, sludge metal, and hardcore that made me dizzy. HUTCHERSON'S riffs were insane and the drums appropriately took center stage as the band's touring drummer JOEY SPATES passionately kept us head banging. After GLACIAL TOMB'S set, I was left with the haunting feeling that the Universe is large, we are but a speck of dust blowing around and we are all human. And we are all doomed. But in a good way. Yay. 

They're big. They're heavy. They're Richmond, Virginia's own black metal band INTER ARMA. Lead vocalist MIKE PAPARO's passion was evident in his performance. I looked up what their name means. It means amid arms, the laws are silent - a fitting name for the band that came out the gate ready to annihilate. As with most lineups of 4 or more bands, the stage was filled with instruments, chords, duct tape, water bottles, and beer cans. It didn't matter, PAPARO jumped, stomped, and pretty much floated over all of the jetsam. Yeah, PAPARO was pissed. About something. Everything. Nothing. And he channeled that caged-tiger energy and let the audience have it all. Drummer T.J. Childers is a hurricane - a storm unleashed on the masses. He drummed half the set with his eyes closed and head thrown back in the howling position. I hope all who were there understood the force that is INTER ARMA. Kicking arse since 2006.

Closing out the show was progressive death metal legends from Pennsylvania, RIVERS OF NIHIL. Bassist and lead vocalist ADAM BIGGS’ vocal styles are plentiful and they were all on display Friday night. His vocal range is insane. Guttural sounds so thick I had to clear my throat. Did I mention BIGGS lays down some of the sickest bass lines I've heard in a long time while singing and performing? I didn't? Oh, well, he does. And it is cool. BRODY UTTLEY and ANDY THOMAS on guitar and JARED KLEIN on the drums rounded out the band's crushing sound. It was a special treat when PATRICK CORONA burst onto the stage and made the Saxophone the nastiest, sludgiest death metal instrument of the night. His precision and passion during the instrumental sections of the performance made us sit on our heels for a second and contemplate life before resuming our amazement of CORONA. I fully believe CORONA opened a portal to a different dimension of death metal where we realize that everything we experience in life will always be reflected in music and music makes us feel that we are alive. While the lighting (blue lights, red lights, and strobe lights) and the fog machine were cool, it made it extremely difficult to catch a clear photo of the band. But I managed to get a few between strobes. 

Overall, I would rate (if I rated, which I don't cuz art is subjective) the AGGRESSIVE PROGRESSIVE Tour 4 out of 5 devil horns. 4 because I hate blue and red lights. Reminds me too much of that night I got arrested... LOL, just kididng. Maybe. Catch the tour if you can! Their last show is June 22, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario at Lee's Palace. Be there!

Ben Hutcherson of GLACIAL TOMB

Mike Paparo of INTER ARMA

Adam Biggs of RIVERS OF NIHIL