Riff Of The Week: Lunar Edition
Brought to you by Prescriptions® – “Collect ’em all!”
As you can see below, things got rill fucking hot last week for our Solar Edition. By Sunday night true-blue Ted’s Nechochwen riff had all but irradiated the competition completely. Quality band, quality riff, quality win. That’s how it’s done folks. Just goes to show, if there’s one thing we Australians know about, it’s the bloody sun. After all, you don’t consistently rank #1 in melanoma deaths per capita without knowing what you’re doing.
This week, in an attempt to bring us back to an earthly equilibrium, we asked for Moon riffs. Now I’m not some entry-level galactic guru, for instance, unlike those tumblr thots I am woke enough to know it’s a total scam spending all that money on activated almonds from the organic health market. Especially when you can buy your own authentic amethyst crystal candle holder and extract the same non-GMO essential oils at home for half the price, but I still think it would be wise for us to balance our celestial chakras and listen to some lush lunar licks. Remember to use the PROMO CODE PARABOLOID after voting to go into the draw to become an extra on the set of next week’s Riff Of The Week.
Vegglampe
In Flames – “Moonshield” (Riff @ 0:49)
Remember when In Flames were good? Those were good times. The main riff first heard at 0:49 carries a lot of the essence of melo-death with different voicings and melodies played over it throughout the enitierty of the song.
(Not)Fun-fact: This is propably the song that has attracted the most weebs to metal, simply because Tit Kobe named this song the theme song for one of his most edgy characters, which the weeebsters love to post all over every comment section related to the song. At least it proved he had somewhat good taste in music.
Gorak
Kalmah – “Moon Of My Nights” (Riff @ 0:20)
RIFFTASTIC GUITAR PART START AT 0:20 & MAKE GORAK HOWL AT MOON!!!
GoatForest
Mayhem – “Freezing Moon” (Riff @ 0:00)
Starts at 0:00.
You know what to do.
TheGranulatingDarkSatanicMilfs
Incantation – “The Ibex Moon” (Riff @ 1:33)
A barrage of power chords and double kicks open this track to welcome you into the eternal night. Longanimously, you bear the slow churning first verse, the low grunts compressing you skull. Then, at your weakest, the decorticating tremolo picked riff at 1:33 comes, abrading your puny self as you scream in agony, for the night is dark and full of terrors
Wessel Broekhuis
In Flames – “Moonshield” (Riff @ 0:56)
My favorite moon-related song/riff is Moonshield by In Flames. I think this song captures the melancholic side of (Scandinavian) metal in the greatest way possible and this song also makes me hate what In Flames has become even more, considering how great of an album The Jester Race is!
GrumpDumpus
Birdflesh – “Moonwalk Massacre” (Riff @ 0:13)
I CONDUCTED EXTENSIVE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FROM THE OBJECTIVE VANTAGE POINT OF THIS SWIVEL CHAIR I SKIMMED SEVERAL FAKED MOON LANDING DOCUMENTARIES ON YOUTUBE I ATE A MOON-PIE I LISTENED TO SAMAEL AND WEPT AT LENGTH AND I HAVE CONCLUDE THAT BIRDFLESH IS THE GOLD STANDARD OF MOON EXPERIENCE
TICKLE YOUR MASSACRE AT 0:13
Dundermantis
Type O Negative – “Wolf Moon” (Riff @ 0:58)
We couldn’t have a riff of the week focusing on the moon without a werewolf song, could we? This lycanthropic track is nestled near the end of Type O Negative’s greatest album and is an unholy banger that features a great crunchy guitar line throughout. R.I.P. Peter Steele, we need you now more than ever.
Howard Dean
Alcest – “Écailles de Lune (Pt.2)” (Riff @ 3:12)
In my clutch of favored albums, this one is a definitely an outlier. Like a six sigma, once in the history of natural time outlier. Mandelbrot would call this a fat tail; Taleb would stamp this my black swan. I love nothing else like this album, yet it’s one of my faves. I can’t explain that, and neither can you [billoreillymeme.jpg]. I blindly bought Ecailles de Lune (“Moon Scales”) one day back in 2010 and was immediately floored. There’s a lot of emotion in here. This entire album sounds like the nostalgia and self-reflection brought on by the death of a soulmate (or something equally significant, you fill in the details). The opening suite–“Ecailles de Lune Parts 1 & 2”–is my favorite, and I recommend you listen to both tracks for full effect. However, if you are in a hurry skip to 3:12 for the riffs. Enjoy.
Ted Nu-Djent
Dead Kennedys – “Moon Over Marin” (Riff 0:08)
As much as I love Dead Kennedys, I have always been a big fan of when they slowed the tempo down on such songs as Cesspools In Eden and my submission this week ‘Moon Over Marin’ (coincidentally both are environmentally themed songs). The riff starts at about 0.08 and transitions into a bit of a Holidays In The Sun intro type melody before setting up for the main riff of the song at 0.34. Bonus part of the song is that Jello’s lyrics are as topical today as they were 30 years ago, which is a bit of a bummer. You might here fancier riffs this week but sometimes the simpler things in life are often the best.
Lacertilian
Lunar Mantra – “Stellar Catacombs” (Riff @ 2:22)
The way this tremolo take of the alluring intro riff plays out from 2:22 onwards has that kind of gradual rocking libration that’ll get you one of them inconvenient travel boners you definitely didn’t get riding the school bus as a kid on that bumpy road 3 stops from your street after sport that time.
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Next week we’re gonna do something a little different. Send in a riff featuring a technique love/you wanna see more of in metal. Maybe you’re mad about bar dives, have a penchant for pull-offs, tickled by tapping, love legato, or there’s a certain twang that fills yer wang, whatever gets you going really. Send in your riff to toiletovhellriff@gmail.com by Friday, along with your screen-name and short description which includes a time-stamp of when the riffs starts and the technique you chose.
(Header image = Titan, Rhea, and Mimas via)
