Rivers Of Nihil are heading back to Australia this August for a massive co headline run with Tasmania’s own technical death metal legends Psycroptic, and this is one of those bills that just makes sense the second you see it.
Psycroptic and Rivers Of Nihil are two bands that have always operated at an elite level of modern extreme metal, both pushing death metal into different shapes while still keeping that savage live intensity right at the core. Add Melbourne’s Growth and Sydney’s Slaughtercult to all dates, plus the Brisbane stop landing as part of Necrosonic Festival at Mansfield Hotel, and you have a tour that is stacked from top to bottom.
Ahead of the run, I caught up with Adam Biggs from Rivers Of Nihil to talk about returning to Australia, sharing the stage with Psycroptic, the band’s huge 2025 self titled album, and why this era of Rivers Of Nihil feels like the band planting its flag again.
For Adam, getting back down here is still something that carries a bit of magic.
“It’s always an awesome pleasure and crazy mixed up thing to get all the way down there to play shows in Australia,” Adam says. “A place that, growing up, might as well have been fictional. But now it’ll be our third time there.”
This time around, Rivers Of Nihil are not just coming back as part of a package. They are stepping into a co headline position alongside one of Australia’s most respected death metal exports.
“It’ll be great to rip some gigs with Psycroptic,” Adam says. “We did a tour with them at the end of last year and we had a great time, so looking forward to jamming with those guys some more. No better place to do it than down under.”
That respect for Psycroptic came through strongly in our chat. Adam spoke about the Hobart crew as a band that has been carrying the Australian death metal flag around the world for decades, and there is clearly a sense of honour in sharing that stage here on Australian soil.
“It’ll be nice to be co headlining, so it’s a little higher on the bill than we’ve been the last few times we’ve been there,” he says. “To share it with Psycroptic is awesome. They’ve been carrying the Australian flag for death metal around the world for decades now, so that’s a big honour.”
The tour also gives Rivers Of Nihil the chance to finally bring the full version of their live show to Australia. For a band where atmosphere, texture and added instrumentation are such a big part of the emotional punch, that is a pretty major thing.
“We’ll actually have our live saxophone player with us this time around,” Adam says. “This will be the first time we’ve actually managed to do that, because you have to really lean up the operation when you come. It’s not cheap to get down to Australia and make the whole thing work, but for something like this, it’s definitely very important to bring the whole show with us.”
That is a huge win for Australian fans, because as much as Rivers Of Nihil are a death metal band first and foremost, the saxophone has become one of those instantly recognisable parts of their sound. I have always loved sax in metal when it is done right, and with Rivers Of Nihil it has never felt like something thrown in for novelty. It feels more like another emotional voice inside the music.
Adam admits the relationship between the band and that instrument has been an interesting one.
“Once we started incorporating it, the effect of it just seemed to snowball in people’s minds,” he says. “We put a lot of sax on Where Owls Know My Name, but we put a lot of other stuff on there too. It just became such a central focus that we’ve gone back and forth with how much to feature versus how much of other things we want to highlight before it does become a gimmick.”
Rather than fighting against it, Adam has found a way to step back and appreciate that people have connected so strongly with that part of the band.
“I love the instrument,” he says. “I’m a big 70s prog guy, and all the music from the 70s and 80s featured saxophone so prominently that people didn’t really think about it. That’s the vibe we wanted to evoke in the first place.”
And if people gravitate toward that?
“I’m glad somebody is gravitating towards something that we’re doing,” Adam says. “If it’s the saxophone solos, then great. We incorporated it as a thoughtful addition to our orchestration, so I can’t be too frustrated about it. I do get excited to incorporate it, so if people are enjoying it, the more the better.”
The Australian tour also comes off the back of Rivers Of Nihil’s self titled fifth album, released in 2025 through Metal Blade Records. The record feels like both a fresh start and a statement of intent. It is the first full length of this new era with Adam stepping fully into the lead vocalist and bassist role, and it also arrives after the band completed that massive four album seasonal cycle that ran through The Conscious Seed Of Light, Monarchy, Where Owls Know My Name and The Work.
For Adam, the self titled approach made complete sense.
“It had to feel like a fresh start in a lot of ways because of lineup changes and all of that wobbliness coming off the back of the previous album cycle and coming out of Covid,” he says. “Just kind of getting the band back on its wheels entirely.”
“It felt like the right time to make that declarative statement of, yeah, this is Rivers Of Nihil and this is where we’re at right now.”
Some people get funny about bands releasing a self titled album when it is not their debut, but Adam does not buy into that at all.
“I know a lot of people make a deal out of, if it’s not your first record you shouldn’t self title it or something like that,” he says. “But I disagree. When a band finds their footing and they want to put their stamp on the thing finally, I think that’s a fun way to revamp and re energize the idea of the band.”
That is exactly what the record does. It still has all the things that make Rivers Of Nihil who they are. The technicality, the atmosphere, the progressive edges, the sax, the big sweeping emotional movements. But it also hits with a directness that feels built for the stage.
Adam says that was absolutely intentional.
“That was definitely a focus, to make it more live friendly and maybe a little more upbeat than the previous record,” he says. “Every record you do is going to be kind of a response to the last thing you did.”
After the sprawling, cinematic weight of The Work, Rivers Of Nihil wanted to remember what it feels like to be a band on stage looking for impact.
“We feel kind of split sometimes between being this flowery prog thing in the studio and really getting a bunch of layers and tangential things,” Adam says. “Then we get on the stage and we’re like, where are all the circle pits?”
“So this time we wanted to rein that in a little bit and be like, let’s remember who we want to be on the stage while we’re in the studio.”
That mindset is already paying off live. Adam says the singles have naturally become fun songs to perform, but after playing the full record front to back on the last tour with Psycroptic, a few deeper favourites started to reveal themselves as well.
“Dustman is a favourite to play,” he says. “Criminals is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of crazy work for yours truly, but it’s a rewarding song to play.”
That line says a lot about the current Rivers Of Nihil era. Adam is not just fronting the band vocally now. He is doing it while still holding down bass in music that is rhythmically demanding, progressive, technical and emotionally layered. It is a lot of work, but it has also given the band a very clear new identity.
The result is a Rivers Of Nihil that feels refreshed, heavier in the right places, more focused on the live stage, but still unafraid to get weird, emotional and expansive. This is not the band trying to recreate Where Owls Know My Name. It is not the band running away from The Work either. It feels more like Rivers Of Nihil taking everything they have learned and sharpening it into something built for right now.
And this August, Australia gets to see that version of the band in full force.
Psycroptic + Rivers Of Nihil Australian Tour 2026
Presented by Destroy All Lines and Direct Merch
With special guests Growth and Slaughtercult
Thursday August 13
Magnet House, Perth
Friday August 14
Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Saturday August 15
Max Watts, Melbourne
Friday August 21
Manning Bar, Sydney
Saturday August 22
Necrosonic Festival, Mansfield Hotel, Brisbane
With Witchskull, Gravemind, Segression, Lynchmada, Helm and more
Tickets and info: https://daltours.cc/psycroptic-rivers
Listen to and order Rivers Of Nihil: https://metalblade.com/riversofnihil
