– June 12th, 2026 –
Band posts live performance video for “Hellbirds” – Watch HERE!
Photo by Mike Trueheart
Today officially kicks off the start of RIVERS OF NIHIL‘s 2026 European summer dates including shows in support of Queensrÿche along with headline and festival dates – the first being tonight in Köln, Germany with Queensrÿche at Essigfabrik and concluding on July 2 in Lindau, Germany at Club Vaudeville. The run also sees RIVERS OF NIHIL performing on stages at Into The Grave Fest (NL), Hellfest Fest (FR), Graspop Fest (BE), and Tuska Fest (FI). Full list of dates below.
In honor of this tour, RIVERS OF NIHIL have posted a live video performance of “Hellbirds” shot at a sold-out Tavastia in Helsinki, Finland, March 16, 2025 from the band’s headline run. Watch HERE!
The band comments; “This live version of ‘Hellbirds’ comes from our 2025 EU headlining tour with Cynic, Beyond Creation, and Daath. We had a blast headlining in Helsinki for the first time and we are looking forward to playing for all of you again in a few weeks at Tuska!“
RIVERS OF NIHIL Europe Summer 2026:
06-12-26 DE Köln Essigfabrik w/ Queensrÿche
06-13-26 DE Vechta Gulfhaus Headline Show
06-14-26 NL Leeuwbergen Into The Grave Fest
06-16-26 DE Hamburg Markthalle w/ Queensrÿche
06-17-26 DE Frankfurt Batschkapp w/ Queensrÿche
06-18-26 FR Clisson Hellfest Fest
06-20-26 BE Dessel Graspop Fest
06-22-26 GB Manchester Club Academy w/ Queensrÿche
06-23-26 GB London Islington Assembly Hall w/ Queensrÿche
06-25-26 PL Warsaw Hybrydy Headline Show
06-26-26 LV Riga Melna Piektdiena Headline Show
06-27-26 FI Helsinki Tuska Fest
06-29-26 SE Gothenburg Monument Headline Show
06-30-26 SE Lund Mejeriet w/ Queensrÿche
07-01-26 DE Hannover Pavillon w/ Queensrÿche
07-02-26 DE Lindau Club Vaudeville w/ Queensrÿche
RIVERS OF NIHIL‘s eponymous fifth full-length, released on May 30th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records, reaped 2.8 million Spotify streams globally and toppled Billboard charts upon its first week of release earning the band’s self-titled release charting positions worldwide, along with plenty of accolades from press and influencers, which can be seen below.
European Chart Entries from release day/week:
#60 Official Top 100 Albums DE weekly
#21 Official Top 100 Albums Downloaded DE weekly
#22 Official Top 100 Albums Midweek DE weekly
#9 iTunes Top 10 Albums AT daily
#33 iTunes Top 100 Albums DE daily
#87 Official Top 100 Albums CH weekly
#12 Official Top 20 Rock/Metal Albums DE weekly
#44 Official Top 75 Albums AT weekly
USA – Billboard:
#2 Current Hard Music Albums
#7 Current Rock Albums
#7 Independent Label Albums
#9 Current Digital Albums
#23 Current Album Sales
Canada – Billboard:
#1 Hard Music Albums
#7 Current Digital Albums
#8 Top Current Albums
#23 LP Vinyl Sales
Australian iTunes Entries from release day:
#1 Metal Chart
#7 Rock Chart
#28 ALL Chart
“It’s not just album marketing speak to say that this genuinely feels like a new era for the band,” wrote Decibel Magazine. Blabbermouth concurred crowning the offering, “one of this year’s most unmissable metal (and prog) records… RIVERS OF NIHIL are beginning to sound unstoppable,” while Metal Injection lauded a record that’s, “sonically sound, emotionally poignant, experimental in the right places.”
The praise didn’t stop here with outlets across the globe chiming in with their take on the band’s self-titled release. “RIVERS OF NIHIL dare to experiment, and it pays off” says Deaf Forever (Germany) who gave the release an 8/10 while Arrow Lords of Metal (Netherlands) gave the album a 9.5/10 stating “This is progressive death metal of the highest level!” FUZE (Germany) said “For several years now, RIVERS OF NIHIL have stood for more than just progressive death metal, and with their self-titled album, they are pushing this development even further. Thus, this work perhaps lays the perfect foundation for what may yet come in the band’s hopefully long career.”
Watch RIVERS OF NIHIL‘s videos for “House Of Light,” “American Death,” and “Water & Time” HERE.
Find Rivers Of Nihil self-titled album at: metalblade.com/riversofnihil
“Monstrously beautiful, just like the cover of Dan Seagrave.” — 9/10 Rock Tribune (Belgium)
“…the foursome has revamped its concept: the vocals are more of a focus than on its direct predecessor, The Work. Biggs fires his brutal growls into the ether with even more power than Dieffenbach, but it is especially in the use of guitarist Andy Thomas’s clean vocals that Rivers Of Nihil surpasses all previous works… anthemic passages now form the highlights of the songs instead of being whispered timidly into the background… RIVERS OF NIHIL exchanges quiet moments for powerful sing-along elements, something rare in progressive music. The fifth album is therefore less complicated than its previous ones, even if the band by no means abandons technical death metal, but simply rethinks it – and successfully.” — Metal Hammer Germany
“The songs hit the mark relatively straight, with the pleasantly natural production potentially making the quartet’s actually quite new-school sound palatable to more traditional minds for the first time ever.” — Rock Hard Germany
“…this borders on the unbelievable! It is amazing how this album has grown over the last while here, from a puzzle to be solved to a picturesque sound palette where the weather changes every minute. It is as if every song passes by on a cloud, flowing, floating, but elusive. I can only recommend everyone to give this gem the time to discover the true masterful nature of this band, step by step and again and again. This is progressive death metal of the highest level!” — 9.5/10 Arrow Lords of Metal (Netherlands)
“This album isn’t a rebrand. It’s a reaffirmation. Of purpose. Of evolution. Of sheer goddamned power.” — Joedaly.com
“…since the band already stretched the innovative framework on ‘Where Owls Know My Name’ (2018), I am well prepared for what awaits. Then came ‘The Work’ (2021), which is the most solid offering of their career, where progressive courage met genre-defying integrity. What the Americans now present is enormously well-played and sophisticatedly seamless, but as a whole more of a competent effort… even the band’s lowest level is far above their colleagues in the same field.” — Sweden Rock Magazine
RIVERS OF NIHIL:
Adam Biggs – bass guitar, vocals
Andy Thomas – guitar, vocals
Brody Uttley – guitar, piano, keys, programming
Jared Klein – drums, vocals
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