Metal Monday: Riff Fest 2011

posted in: Reviews & Playlists • Rock

Over the years, the cornerstone of many great metal songs has been the almighty riff. Think of just about any legendary metal song, and there’s a pretty fair chance it also features a great riff. Slayer’s “Raining Blood”? Check. Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”? Check. Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”? Check. The list goes on, and on, and on. We here at OurStage believe in the power of the almighty riff. So, to help honor it’s greatness, we’ve found eight killer OurStage metal tracks that riff, and riff hard. Everything from super heavy riffs to blisteringly fast thrash riffs to hyper-technical death metal riffs”we’ve got you covered.

First, we have the straight-forward “Psycho Intentions” by Reign of Fury (above). Riffs fast, riffs hard and melts faces. No more, no less. Well, except the ludicrous guitar shredding and slight acoustic break in the middle, but we’re cool with that.

Next up is “Parting From The Shade” by Atlanta’s Dead To The World. These boys play straight-up metal with loads of fury and riffs that really pack a punch. Completely unrelenting, they’re really just looking to bludgeon you with riffs until you can’t take any more. Good thing we can handle riffs with the best of them.

Third on the list is Bay Area metal machines AETHERE with the eponymous track from their latest album, Wave Existence. AETHERE play some of the most technical music around, and with such machine-like precision we’re not totally positive that they’re 100% human. They could be androids. Or cyborgs. Either way, they have some really great riffs throughout the new album and “Wave Existence” is a prime example.

Following the extra brutal AETHERE track is The Doomsday Prophecy with “Long Lost Friend”. While the track may be less brutal than “Wave Existence”, it certainly isn’t any less badass. Taking cues from many different styles of metal, “Long Longs Friends” features great riffs to do any of the following things to: yell, scream, circle pit, headbang, mosh, fist pump, throw the devil horns or just be awesome.

The fifth spot on this list belongs to Judgement, featuring their song “Distort”. Like Dead To The World’s track, this song is just as unrelenting. Between calculated, angry riffs are grinding sections of tremolo picking, followed by more angry riffs and some fantastically dissonant chords. This one will get your blood pumping for sure.

Six spots in and the riffs aren’t getting any worse. Somewhere between Reign of Fury and Judgement in terms of speed, Desire Before Death delivers just as much fury with their track “Burn In Me””mostly helped by really cool bridge before closing with the same righteous riff that opens the track.

With speed not at a premium here, And All Was Lost come blistering through at spot number seven with “Murder Suicide”. From the very first second of the song, And All Was Lost viciously riff for the entire 3:21 of the song. There’s approximately three seconds of the song that they’re not riffing, and it’s just to catch your breath (literally, just as the vocalist does), and they come right back with the most grinding section of the song.

Last but not least are Archaic with their metal thrashing mad track “True Death Of Life”. These Hungarian metallers like their to be at maximum energy at just about every possible moment. Pure adrenaline, start to finish. Bang your head.

Have a favorite riff or style of metal that you think riffs better than the others? Let us know in the comment section!