Riff Of The Week: Morbid Angel Edition
Blessed Are The Siqqq Riffffffffffffs
Last week we had a big ol’ Free For All. Unsurprisingly, Khemmis‘ appearance spelled the doom of all other riffs on the day. Just so happens that tigeraid selected a cut from what is probably my fave track of theirs too, so I was going to award him victory no matter what the numbers indicated.
This week we asked for your favourite Morbid Angel riffs, and one thing I noticed was the tight cluster of submissions from the middle albums. Not a single riff from Altars, Blessed, Heretic, Illud, or Kingdoms. Make of that what you will. Also, if you somehow missed the recent Toilet ov Hell Radio episode with returning frontman Steve Tucker, make sure you rectify that shit this weekend.
Don’t forget to use the PROMO CODE PELT after voting to get a free downgrading of your next cataclysmic weather event.
EGG
‘Covenant Of Death’ (Riff @ 2:56)
2:56 ish till the end of the song
Nipplelator
‘God Of Emptiness’ (Riff @ 0:00)
The riff at the start is by far my favorite from Morbid Angel and probably in all of death metal. Be like me, in emptiness, free and nippley.
Positronic Brain
‘Dawn of the Angry’ (Riff @ 1:15)
While this isn’t my favorite MA album, it’s the first one I bought as a new release, and this is my favorite song by them. It has slow bits, fast bits, one of those start-and-stop bits where you can hear Trey’s line noise (a human touch missing from most modern metal), a fucked up solo, and this awesome doodly-doodly riff that gives one of the fast parts an insane sense of velocity that makes you forget that Trey was just as responsible for Illud Divinum Insanus as was DV (seriously, go read the press he did back then, he was legit excited for that album to come out).
Howard Dean
‘God Of Emptiness’ (Riff @ 0:00)
There are no losers this week. This one band has wrought dozens of excellent and worthy riffs that would make excellent choices for this contest. However, the main riff in God of Emptiness is basically the heaviest and most evil riff ever written.
DrummerNard
‘Summoning Redemption’ (Riff @ 0:00)
Yes, I know there are far better riffs than this on far better MA albums.
But this is the riff that has always stuck out to me. As soon as the frogs finish, this riff kicks in. Imagine two massive robots or big fuck off dinosaurs walking through a city smashing buildings to face off for a fight. This riff would be the theme. Riff starts at the very beginning of the track.
Araghast
‘Prayer Of Hatred’ (Riff @ 1:22)
Riff is at 1:22, that shit always manages to tear my face off.
Ian Rigg
‘This Means War’ (Riff @ 1:40)
This riff starts around the 1: 40 mark then there’s a short solo and it ramps up to a fury at 2:08. I like my Morbid Angel groovy and this is about as groovy as it gets. This Means War is off the Domination alnum whicj is my personal favorite. The combo of Trey Azagoth and Eric Rutan on guitar is simply amazing. This is the first Death Metal album I ever listened to and I always go back to it.
TheGranulatingDarkSatanicRiffs
‘Invocation Of The Continual One’ (Riff @ 1:34)
This song (one of the greatest of MA’s catalog) is supposedly made of leftover riffs that Mr George Emmanuel III had from the pre Abominations/Altars era. It only goes to show that Morbid Angel was destined to greatness from day one. A mighty riff that disregards all the conventional musical theory dreamed up by puny humans and embraces nothing but pure mind warping chaos. The Ancient Ones are pleased.
Azagthot’s Pillow Dungeon
‘God Of Emptiness’ (Riff @ 0:01)
This film clip has played on loop in my basement since 1997. Enjoy it, forever!
Tom Warrior’s Beanie
‘Rapture’ (Riff @ 0:00)
As much as I want to use the Dawn of the Angry I’m going with this because it was not only the first Morbid Angel song I ever heard but the first death metal song I ever heard. Thanks for ruining my life guys. Riff at 0:00
Next week we’re getting icy. Send me riffs from songs that feature the word “ice” in their title. Email your entries to toiletovhellriff@gmail.com by Friday, including a screen-name, a link to the song (don’t send a fucking Spotify link), and a short description w/ time-stamp of when your chosen riff begins.
