Riff Of The Week: Reptilian Edition
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Last week we expended all our fat reserves for the B I G E N E R G Y Edition. Hans’ very rad boys & gals in Night Viper were super stoked to be taking part in our little comp and their share paid off with a well-deserved victory over the vastly more established names of Dio and Nuclear Assault. The riff was a better choice too, so cop it sweet, dorks.
After using up all our adrenaline and ATP last week, I thought we could kick back and soak up some sun to restore ourselves with Reptilian riffs. Here’s what you sent in…
Sicilionaire
Testament – ‘Neptune’s Spear’ (Riff @ 0:21)
So I was kinda torn between submitting this and Sir Pike’s Dragonaut, and while the latter certainly gives off more of the big ol’ lumbering croc vibe, I decided to go with Testament. Just a sick thrash riff that makes me wanna punch myself in the face. And, you know, the album name is brotherhood of the snake and stuff.
Andrey Tkachenko
Prekurxor – ‘The Serpent’s Coil’ (Riff @ 0:00)
Serpent is basically a more classy and mysterious kind of snake, so a song with a ‘serpent’ in the title qualifies as a reptile-themed.
The song itself probably isn’t going to win any contests, but it’s a cool song nonetheless. It starts with a series of riffs that flow into one another, propelled by a constant blast beat, and start to alternate with groovier, slower-paced riffs around the middle of the track before ending with a triuphant, glorious finale.
It is quite possibly the most obscure band in my collection: I am the only buyer on the Bandcamp page, and I can’t find any information about it beside the fact that it’s from Singapore and had a tape release at some point. I also assume it’s related to another awesome Singaporean band Tantra since they have a Prekurxor track uploaded to their Youtube channel, but that’s about it. So I thought it would be a much more interesting and kvlt submission than Uada’s “Snakes and Vultures” (which is also really really cool).
FrontRangeDrifter
High on Fire – ‘Carcosa’ (Riff @ 2:15)
On Luminiferous, and many of Matt Pike’s other recordings, the lyrics are about our enslavement by reptilian overlords.
Every High on Fire album has one. A Iommicly heavy, dank as fuck riff that towers above all other riffs. This is that riff.
Anesthesiac
High on Fire – ‘Cyclopian Scape’ (Riff @ 0:58)
Reptile race crossbred down through the golden age, human haze
Lemurian throne taken and usurped by the alien drones, controlled and honed
Atlantian keys sunken and destroyed by catastrophe, left wandering
Bloodline kings slither down through society’s reptoid dreams
Lacertilian
Reptilian – ‘Huitzilopochtli’ (Riff @ 2:18)
You’re probably familiar with Reptilian from our previous coverage, but did you know the band put out a ripping split with Inculter waaay back in 2013? The track snaps between frenzied death/thrash and phantasmagoric death/doom with the same kind of intense psychotic schizophrenia used to distinguish the band from their Norwegian peers.
In honour of Mark ‘The Shark’ Shelton and Shark Week, the theme for next week is Sharks.
Send in your fave Manilla Road or shark-related riff if you have to.
Submission details below.
