Riff Of The Week: Solar Edition
Brought to you by Melanomas® – “Look on the bright side!”
Shit got real last week in our Nuclear Edition. The vying participants took up the arms race challenge with a concerning degree of zeal. After a week we were left with one of the closest all-round results in recent memory. Fittingly, Nuclear Assault (via Richter) were the first to reach critical mass and take out those who opposed. Had Lord Borkington and Ted Nüsevelt combined forces with their identical Megadeth riff submissions they could have shared the victory, but as I am a bastard who kept them seperate they opted for mutually assured destruction instead, it was not to be.
This week, in honour of the recent solar eclipse we asked for sun themed riffs and you brought the fucking heat with some big names. This one could even outshine last week’s immense isotopic glow. Make sure you use the PROMO CODE GLINT after voting to get a free trial tube of PileCo’s new and improved Carpet Fibre Regrowth Cream™ (the only textile treatment no longer tested on animals). Time to riff!
Positronic Brain
Goatwhore – “Apocalyptic Havoc” (Riff @ 0:00)
The lyrics to this song describe the events of Revelation 6, mentioning specifically the opening of the 4th seal from Rev. 6:7-8 (“Watch the skies as hell comes riding in on a horse of pale to name this wrath”) and alluding to the opening of the 6th seal in Rev. 6:12 where the Sun becomes “black as sackcloth” (“a timeless torture foretold in a sky of black”). The opening riff is one of the baddest motherfuckin’ riffs ever written, and this is probably the most creative I’ll ever get with a RotW submission.
TheGranulatingDarkSatanicMilfs
Immortal – “Solarfall” (Riff @ 0:35)
SHUT UP!!! SOLARFALL!!!
Ted Nü-Djent
Nechochwen – “Lost On The Trail Of The Setting Sun” (Riff @ 0:36)
The riff at 0.36 and 4.23 in Nechochwen’s Lost On The Trail Of The Setting Sun is just one of many stellar riffs on 2015’s Heart of Akamon. I’ve seen Nechochwen show up in a few haul posts lately which made me revisit this album. If you have slept on this, wake up and grab yourself a copy.
tigeraid
Dio – “Sunset Superman” (Riff @ 0:45)
In case you need a reminder that the greatest vocalist of all-time also had some pretty killer riffs in his tunes: a perfect driving riff starts at 0:45 and continues throughout.
Hans
Flourishing – “A Living Sundial” (Riff @ 3:37)
Flourishing got more bonkers with every release in their woefully short discography, and their final EP has some properly unsettling skronkiness. This song is full of swirling, mesmerizingly chaotic guitar work, but due to being a simpleton, the riff that starts at 3:02 (but the iteration at 3:37 is a wee bit cooler) is the one that always sticks in my mind. Do yourself a favour though and listen to the opening of the song. In fact, listen to the whole EP, all of which is conveniently linked here.
GrumpDumpus
Blood Incantation – “Starspawn” (Riff @ 1:35)
BLOOD INCANTATION’S STARSPAWN SCORCHES MY CATARACT-RIDDEN RETINAS INTO SMOLDERING CRISPS WITH THE ULTRAVIOLET RIFF AT 1:35….THOUGH REALISTICALLY I COULD ALSO SUBMIT THE OTHER 1,746,702 RIFFS ON THE ALBUM WHICH ALSO CAUSE A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF MY PACEMAKER
xtuffxghostx
Sleep – “Inside the Sun” (Riff @ 1:07)
What’s more appropriate for a sun riff than one that sounds like being crushed within the sun itself? While the main riff rips as well, at 1:07 when Sleep slows it down you can feel the energy contained within the nuclear furnace of our star, as well as the crushing weight of 99.8% of the solar system’s mass.
inrigg266
Suffocation – “Despise The Sun” (Riff @ 1:58)
The riff that starts at the 1:58 minute mark is a gnarly one. It starts out pretty clean then around 2:20 it builds into the storm of chaos that Suffocation does so well. Not bad for 1998.
HD
Immortal – “Solarfall” (Riff @ 0:00)
Mid-era Immortal brought the traditional heavy metal riffing like it was going out of style (it actually was going out of style at the time, but I’m not going to let that get in the way of using this cliché simile). At The Heart of Winter is a huge, epic, triumphant, [insert gratuitous modifier]-beast of album, and this track is a perfect example of what makes it so good. There’s pretty much never a moment without a killer riff (apart from a stretch with a dreamy little interlude a few minutes in). But the intro riffs are particularly killer. Press play and enjoy.”
Megadead
Down – “3 Suns And 1 Star” (Riff @ 2:52)
My first contribution to the Riff of the Week, and the obvious winner (I mean the title contains the word ‘sun’ in it!!! What do you want from me?).
Lacertilian
Meshuggah – “Behind The Sun” (Riff @ 0:20)
Seeing as though everyone’s pulled out the big names today, I’ve swapped out some niche selection for a fucking monster from messrs Thordendal & Hagström. The slowly morphing corona surrounding the ominous orb eventually bursts open, forming an arching prominence that bends back on itself, its gravitational lens distorting both time and space. Get bent @ 0:20.
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Next week, in the interests oflazinesscelestial balance, we’re going to be doing lunar riffs. The theme is MOON. Send your entries to toiletovhellriff@gmail.com by Friday, being sure to include your screen-name and a short description with a time-stamp of when the riff starts.
(Image via)
