Riff Of The Week: Place Name Edition

May 11, 2019

1885

Where in the world are your riffs?

Last week we went shred-fi for our Alien Edition. The interdimensional boys in Gigan infiltrated our smearspace and took control of the bowlosphere with ease. Evidently we owe them a spaceship for their troubles.

This week we asked for riffs from songs/albums/bands featuring a place name in their title.
Here’s what you sent in…

Hans
Alabama Thunderpussy – ‘The Cleansing’ (Riff @ 0:32)

Great opening for the album, which then quickly turns only sorta okay. The whole intro is fun, but the impatient may wanna jump right to the start-stop riff at 0:32 that kicks off the song proper.

The Unicorn
Incantation – “The Horns of Gefrin” (Riff @ 0:00)

Its Incantation, crusty as fuck and OG’s of NYC among Suffo, Immolation etc. No reason to introduce this band, they are legends.

tigeraid
Hail Of Bullets – ‘The Muckden Incident’ (Riff @ 0:25)

It may bring up Shenyang when you google it today, but in 1931 members of the Japanese army conspired to blow up a railway line in Mukden as a pretext to their invasion of Manchuria. And Hail of Bullets wrote a thing about it.

Positronic Brain
Bloodwork – “Your Dildo is a Piece of Leg” (Riff @ 4:36)

There’s a small town in Newfoundland about 100km from where I live called Dildo. Yes, Dildo. Why? I don’t know. There’s even a really good microbrewery there (Dildo Brewing Co., if you’re curious). I searched through Metal Archives trying to find the least gross submission possible just to be able to mention Dildo, and lo and behold, this album is actually well-produced, well-written death metal with awesome riffs, killer guitar tone…and fucking terrible lyrics (this one isn’t the worst one) that would make almost anyone write the band off as a joke.

Howard Deanzig
Electric Wizard – “Dunwich” (Riff @ 0:58)

Dunwich is an actual place in England and not just a fictional town in Massachusetts, so this counts. This riff is fucking heavy, man. This track and “Satanic Rites of Drugula” carry this album and make it the best and most palatable of the post-Let Us Prey albums. Crank the dial to 11 and crack the floor joists.

Clean Sanchez
Illdisposed – ‘Psychic Cyclus I-III’ (Riff @ 0:11)

This is a great track off of 97’s There’s Something Rotten In The State of Denmark. This whole album is a beast, but I went with this track, mostly because it’s bad ass.

Iron Goddess of Mercy
Thou – “New Orleans is a Hole” (Riff @ 4:07)

This riff is a half-minute variation on the track’s main riff. I think it should probably be the main riff. Maybe it should be the *only* riff. Anyways, how do you relate to people who don’t hate where they grew up? I certainly haven’t figured it out.

Megachiles
High on Fire – ‘Baghdad’ (Riff @ 0:20)

One time I caught Matt Pike’s sweaty shirt at a HoF show. I didn’t keep it, but a part of me always wonders if the secrets of the RIFF are locked away, deep in the perspiration and bong water crusted fibers of that Fruit of the Loom undershirt. I also wonder how many shirts Matt Pike goes through on a tour, or if a replacement is a part of his rider. Speaking of riffs, the one ~ 20 seconds into this song goes hard.

Lacertilian
Denial – ‘The Elder Race’ (Riff @ 0:05)

Dunno exactly what the monstrous Mexican death dudes in Denial were alluding to in the title of their 2015 release 11°22.4’N 142°35.5’E, but putting the coordinates into Google Earth brings up a spot deep in the depths of the Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Trench off the coast of Guam. Simple riff, extremely suss surroundings.