Premiere: Affliktor Portend Galactic Destruction on “Planet Rogue”
Let’s dispense with any sort of pretense or posturing; today I’ve got a brand new, absolutely kickass ripper from the deranged mind of Toby Knapp. “Planet Rogue,” today’s premiere from Knapp’s all new band Affliktor is an interdimensional riff comet hurtling toward Earth with a Nibiru bloodlust. Bang your head, for the end is nigh.
Do you like riffs? Well, buddy, “Planet Rogue,” the seventh track from Affliktor’s forthcoming self-titled debut, has riffs. How many? An entire cosmos worth of razor sharp, black metal-inspired, infectiously melodic, thrashing mad riffs. Some of the riffs cut and scorch. Others groove and pummel. But they’re all killer, and they’ll all induce the kind of whiplash you can only get plowing your Plymouth at 75 mph while jamming your old Forbidden tapes into the side of an extinction level meteorite that just crashed into Earth.
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My favorite riff is the first verse call-and-response style melodic riff that jumps up the register and throttles the song into breakneck speed. Or maybe it’s the other verse riff with that nasty little lick that follows Knapp’s vocal lines like a fiery little bit of space dust burning up on re-entry. Or maybe it’s that spellbinding, oddly jarring bridge riff that leads into the wonderfully melodic solos. With so many killer riffs available, it’s impossible to choose!
That’s not to snub the rest of Knapp’s performance on this track either. The vocals are suitably gritty, ominously croaking about death and destruction with a nasty little sneer that would make the corner of Tom G. Warrior’s perpetual frown turn upward, ever so slightly. The drum work is suitably tactile; Knapp forgoes flashiness in favor of a rock-solid backbeat for the guitar work, and the song is all the better for it. The riffs are the central focus of the song, and rightly so. It doesn’t hurt that the production is dry and crisp without sounding artificial. There’s a heat and sharpness to every note while remaining suitably underground-sounding intensity.
Knapp’s work with Fetid Zombie and Waxen have already cemented the guitar maestro as a workhorse and phenom, and Affliktor looks to only solidify his legacy. “Planet Rogue” rips, and there are enough riffs across the rest of this album to put any jaded hesher into a neck injury-induced coma.
Bang your head until you’re dead.
Did I forget to mention Mark Riddick did the cover?
Many thanks to Transcending Obscurity for the premiere. Affliktor drops October 20th. Pre-order it here and swing by Facebook to show Knapp your best windmill video.
