Riff Of The Week: Best ov 2019 – First Quarter Edition
With 1/4 of 2019 down, what’s been your favourite riff of the year so far?
Before we get to this week’s riffening, let’s take a look at the results from last week’s 1999 Edition. Abbath and the Immortalz just took down Kyuss and Opeth in a fairly evenly spread comp. Congrats to Megachiles and corpsepainted cheeseballs all around the globe.
This week we asked for your favourite riffs released in 2019 so far.
Here’s what you sent in…
Positronic Brain
Venom Prison – ‘Sadistic Ritual’ (Riff @ 0:00)
What a fucked up, catchy riff. It FEELS like it’s in an odd time signature or something, but it’s all 4/4 (I think). The part at the beginning (0:00 – 0:03) that just sounds like throwaway intro chords are actually part of the riff because they’re repeated (with variation) after the first appearance of the part with the ringing arpeggios. After twelve bars of Morbid Angel sickness, the verse starts and we’re onto something different. Best album of Q1 for me personally.
GoatForest
A Novelist – “His Kingdom Is Vast” (Riff @ 3:28)
I gotta nominate my boys on this one. The writing in this piece is fucking masterful.
McNulty
Plague Throat – ‘The Epoch Of Catastrophe I’ (Riff @ 0:44)
I’ve heard magic…magic I tell ya! (Please read in the voice of Paulie Walnuts.) Two years ago Moshito sang the praises* of India’s Plague Throat and I still really dig those dudes. They released an EP this year that somehow bests their kick-butt 2017 album “The Human Paradox”! The Epoch of Catastrophe I contains one competition killing riff, heard at 0:44. For maximum context (and enjoyment), listen to the whole track; these guys are riff maniacs
Volarus
Akasha – ‘Enthroned in Catacombs’ (Riff @ 2:39)
I have plenty of standouts from this year, but for riffs, this song is nigh unbeatable. Both the linked and the main riffs are candidates for Riff Ov The Year, but 2:40 marks one of my favorite metal moments this year so far. I recommend listening through the whole thing to appreciate the buildup to it, and also the hear the aforementioned main riff, but it slaps nearly as hard on its own.
tigeraid
Sanhedrin – ‘Meditation’ (Riff @ 0:48)
This one’s slipping under a lot of radars, and that’s a shame. Trad AF. Riff begins at 0:48 and repeats throughout.
Yarnhawk
Wounds – ‘Light Eater’ (Riff @ 0:00)
If this don’t get yer head boppin, then I’ve got no hope for you, pal. Some nice start-stops, fast sections, variations in the repeats, and a bass tone that’s just sublime.
vanNeun
Embrional – ‘Damned by Dogmas’ (Riff @ 3:40)
Album is called “Evil Dead” – so shout-out to tigeraid.
Iron Goddess of Mercy
Ossuarium – “End of Life Dreams and Visions Pt. 2” (Riff @ 4:25)
Swift, palm-muted, and circular this riff just swirls around and around and around and around until 4:53 when all pretense is shed and heads bang. Somehow they use this riff to build back into the opening/main killer. What a way to end an album. <3 Dan
Lacertilian
Ceremony Of Silence – ‘Ceremony Of A Thousand Stars’ (Riff @ 4:22)
Since Suffering Hour’s enthralling track Dwell isn’t out yet, I’m falling back to the other record that’s blown away the competition this year from Slovakian duo Ceremony Of Silence. The stellar lick that comes in @ 4:20 offers the perfect contrast to the maelstrom from which it is borne.
Next week we’re getting regional again.
Send in riffs from Iceland.
Anyone can enter.
Submission details below.
