Best Guitar Solo: DEATH vs. THE ABSENCE
Today in RIFF or RAFF, we’re looking for the sweetest solo of all. Two contestants have come forward with guitar solos from Death and The Absence. It’s time to pit them against each other and see which solo rips hardest. One solo will riff. One solo will raff. LET’S GET IT ON.
LAST WEEK we were looking for the “darkest” riff of all (i.e. Riffs from songs with the word “Dark” in the title). Lacertilian and I came armed with our very best. Unfortunately, the lamestream media put a hit out on me at the last minute and my final vote tally suffered. Damn you, media!!!!
NEXT WEEK I wanna hear the best riff to ever come from the country of Greece. We’re gonna have an ode to a Grecian riff and the winner will get a prize of my choosing. To submit:
-Write 100-500 words about why your riff rules
-Include a link to stream your selection, the timestamp for your riff, and your screen name
-Email me at toiletovhell@gmail.com
THIS WEEK we’re gonna widdly. We’re gonna diddly. We’re gonna divebomb. We’re gonna sweep. We’re gonna hit some dang pinch harmonics and we’re gonna shred the gnar because it’s all about sweet guitar solos. Let’s do this.
This solo starts at about 2:00 and is 3 fire emoji’s or something of equal value. You could also say the entire song basically exists only because this solo was written and Chuck was like “fuck better throw some of the riffs around these sweet twiddlies and widdlies” (probably not an actual quote). If this song was a sandwich, the main song portion is the alright but boring bread, it’s the solo you came for and this sandwich does not disappoint. What makes this solo pop is the three major parts because solos with multiple sections are solos done right. The first part is a slow ascending part leading into widdly-diddly stuff, then the second part comes in with Gene Hoglan’s sustained double bass more tweedly and diddly than widdly, the final portion comes in with a focus on the very highest registers of the guitar, which just caps off the previous minute and 11 seconds of fantastic guitar. Then it goes back to the bread part of this song which is still in the form of a sandwich metaphor. So get a sandwich and crank this. –EsusMoose
For certain categories, there are bands that stand out as obvious choices. When it comes to solos, I usually have a hard time to beyond The Absence, especially their “Riders of Plague” album. I could link the entire album and throw a dart at a timeline and find a solo fulfilling all the requirements to count as a great solo. Joes list consists of dive-bombs, widdly-diddlies, sweeps and SKREEEEE’s. Check all of all them of because The Absence pass with flying colours. The solo of choice this time is the main one from the song The Murder. It starts building up at 2:52 before kicking in at about 3:30 with the widdly-diddlies into a technical mesh of musical goodness. –Vegglampe
The time has come. You must choose.
