RIFF or RAFF: M.O.D. vs Iron Reagan

September 24, 2016

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Today in RIFF or RAFF, our opponents fight it out for the Crossover championship. This week, the combatants are M.O.D. and Iron Reagan. Two Riffs enter, one riff leaves.

Long, long ago was the olden tyme. Few from the era are alive to recount the tales. Our records are spotty at best as it was impossible to blog the minutia of the scene. Back in the ancient age, punk and metal did not get along. Metalheads hated punks and punks hated metalheads. Fortunately, our glue-sniffing ancestors decided to combine the sounds of the two genres in one peanut butter + chocolate concoction that became known as Crossover. Today, we celebrate that sound by sacrificing two noble warriors. You, dear reader, must decide who RIFFS and who RAFFS. The winner of this round will achieve eternal glory. Also, Dubya will do a shitty MS Paint drawing of the winner.

As a Texan, I was tempted to submit a riff from D.R.I.‘s stone-cold classic Crossover. As a millennial, it felt like faking the funk to submit a track from a record that was released the year of my birth. Instead, I’m submitting a riff from a band that formed this decade. Continuing their proud tradition of attacking well-established genres of metal and refreshing them with finely-crafted jams, members of Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse brought their motherfucking A-game to Crossover with Iron Reagan. Worse Than Dead, the band’s first full-length displays all the righteous speed and fury that an ADD-addled punk with a penchant for riffage could ever hope for. Tony Foresta and “Land” Phil Hall are so talented that it almost seems unfair to lesser bands. “Cycle of Violence” might be the finest jam the pair have ever penned. From the very beginning up to 0:25, the song builds off a simple, yet imminently headbangable riff. There is no more perfect combination of ignorant punk swagger and thrash riff mastery. When I die, if there is a god, I hope he can tell me how many pounds of weight I’ve lifted to this song. I am currently drunk and headbanging to this riff. Please excuse any typos. –Joe Thrashnkill

In the grand history of Metal, S.O.D.’s Speak English or Die stands as a seminal Crossover Thrash album and any riff on that album would have been a shoo in for winner of this week’s, and any other week’s, RIFF OR RAFF. Its almost not fair how crushing Scott Ian’s riffs are. But I, being the goofball I am, have decided to go with a slightly lesser known album and what would have been S.O.D.’s sophomore album, USA for M.O.D. Billy Milano just couldn’t let go of a good thing while he had it so he continued on the path of S.O.D., recruited his own band and created a vulgar and offensive Crossover classic. With Tim McMurtrie on guitar we have a slightly more headbobbing and fun album. The riffs bounce and thrash all over the dance floor with the finesse of a rusty spoon. Wait, maybe that isn’t a good metaphor. Oh well, it sounds good to me.

Picking ONE riff was really the hardest part, as I just wanted to submit the whole album call it a year and never look back (yes, that is how much confidence I have in this). Alas, I have chosen one in the form of “I Executioner.” Starting off with a solid riff that I have ripped off plenty of times the song speeds up and leads into a SMASHER at 0:31. TIME TO MILANO MOSH! A slight variation segues the song back into the opening riff and into what the bridge of the song at 1:22 with glorious gang vocals shouting “THERE’S NO JUSTICE!!!” And just when you thought things couldn’t get any heavier the breakdown slams you at 1:38. I dare you to stand still during the rest of this song. I DARE YOU!!! There is no way out of it, you will MOSH and you will like it!!! So yeah, vote M.O.D. –Boss The Ross