Riff Of The Week: The Big O Edition

October 20, 2018

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Things got a bit hairy last week for our Mammal Edition. However from the first entry, there was only going to be one riff that got my blood warm and nipples hard though, and that was Obliteration‘s earworm ‘Goat Skull Crown’. Sorry (to almost) everyone else, y’all got got. Here’s a meaningless graph:

This week our theme was simply riffs from bands whose name starts with the letter O. Lots of good riffs to choose from this week!

Hans
Orange Goblin – ‘Round Up The Horses’ (Riff @ 1:21)

Bit of back and forth about whether to pick this one or the intro riff (which comes into full swing @ 0:19). Both are fantastic, but I think this one crushes just a tad bit harder.

Bauer
Ominous Circle – ‘From Endless Chasms’ (Riff @ 0:00)

Oh look more absolute fire death metal from 20 buck spin. Anyway, riff starts at 0:00. Listen to this band if you for some reason haven’t.

Positronic Brain
Outer Heaven – ‘Vortex of Thought’ (Riff @ 0:00)

What a fucking way to begin your debut album, with a heavy-as-fuck riff that twists, turns, and harmonizes, while the drums blast and then blast faster until BOOM!, fuzz bass nirvana. Your vote belongs here.

tigeraid
Orange Goblin – ‘The Filthy And The Few’ (Riff @ 0:25)

FINE I WON’T SUBMIT OPETH. How about my favourite diddy from Orange Goblin? Outstanding driving song. Riff begins at 0:25 and loops in and out for the whole tune.

TheAkerstache
Orwell – ‘In Crude I Remain’ (Riff @ 3:36)

Despite being named after Mikael’s mustache, choosing Opeth seemed a bit predictable. So have some blackened melodic sludge instead, courtesy of Orwell.

GoatForest
Ondskapt “Blessed By Demoniac Wrath” (Riff @ 0:00)

This riff is a great example of how to build intensity and anticipation in a song. Everytime the drums and screams kick in, I get excited. Very rarely does a riff truly match a song’s title so well.

ZMapp
Oitão – ‘Trevas’ (Riff @ 0:09)

Brazilian Crossover, just like I said I would submit. Also, one of my ‘friends’ has dual citizenship and voted Bolsonaro. I bully him now.

Howard Dean
Odz Manouk – “The Sloth” (Riff @ 1:32)

So I took a break from my coveted 90’s alternative rock long enough to dig up something creative from the HD vault. The Odz Manouk/Tukaaria split is probably the best thing ever released by the Rhinocervs/Black Twilight Circle network of bands, and this track is one of the most complete and mesmerizing black metal tracks ever. The highlighted riff is seriously dark and the ones around it are equally brooding (the one that kicks the track off at 0:12 is super gnarly). This is some quality shit, folks. If y’all vote right maybe I’ll show you my “O” face. Ohh! Ohh!

Heavy Chettle
Ottawa – “Life Consumed” (Riff @ 7:12)

Just like the riff presented here, Life is nasty, brutish … and consumed in just 32 seconds if you ask Nineties Grind/Powerviolence/crusty HC-band Ottawa, who had one truly brilliant spark in their only released effort, the glorious split with slower but (also) manically powerful peers Jihad. This links just to the Ottawa-side of the split but both sides are an all killer no filler-pleasure that you should seek out at all costs (i.e. putting that info into the youtube search, you can do THAT, goddangit!).

Iron Goddess o’ Mercy
Oranssi Pazuzu – “Olen Aukaissut Uuden Silmän” (Riff @ 2:04)

Regardless of what Invisible Oranges says, Valonielu is my favourite album from Oranssi Pazuzu, and surf-goth riffs like this one (that seem more suited to the new wave revival than psychedelic black metal) are a big reason why. Oranssi Pazuzu have an uncanny ability for making complex, captivating music based around often deceptively straight-forward (and wiggly!) riffing. Hooray for the other Orange Goblin!