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The Power of the Riff Compels Me Pt. I
The riff, a melodic phrase, often constantly repeated, forming an accompaniment or part of an accompaniment for a soloist. In metal, we are not lacking in the heavy use of them. In fact the large majority of all metal and hard rock revolves around the riff. The riff is what hooks you into a song, it’s what drives to keep you engaged, it’s what determines the phrasing of a good solo or breakdown. So, needlessly saying, a fine riff will often lead to a great song. Some bands excel at creating bold and brazen riffs (eg. doom metal, death metal, groove metal) and others may use a more mellow, low-key riff to build atmospheres for the other instruments to build a dynamic off of (eg. black metal, post-metal). But whatever the approach is, the power of the riff compels us!
Some riffs have gone down in metal history as the greatest groups of music ever created. Upon hearing the first few notes of the riff, you can identify the song in no time flat and chances are that the riff has spent extended time stuck in your brain more than once. Here’s a list of what I consider the best riffs of heavy metal. To show fairness to the newer bands out there, they’ll get inclusions also, so if you see a track you don’t know here, give it a listen, I guarantee there will be a damn sick riff contained within. But on the flipside, I also feel that the real signifier of a solid and memorable riff is the test of time. If over 20 years after hearing it the effect it has on me is still the same and my enjoyment of the song is still immense, then that sir, is a f’n killer riff. To not turn this into a list of best Black Sabbath, Pantera, or ‘Tallica riffs, I’m limiting myself to one song per band, so if you dig a riff more than one not included in the list, make sure to give it a shout out in the comments. And also, this is just scratching the surface of the best riffs in metal/hard rock, so be prepared for part deuce. Enjoy!! Peace Love and Metal!!
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Matt’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs: #19- No Quarter coverd by Tool
Even though I partake in herbal relaxation from time to time, my days of being a stoner are behind me. But while I left most of the lifestyle that came with the stigma behind, my love of the psychedelic music I loved to listen to while under the influence has never gone away. I still find that the trippy music is able to completely able to engage me and send my mind into that nice transcendental place I enjoy so much. Simply put, it’s great music to relax to.
One of my favorite tracks to zone out to has always been Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter”. The wintery atmosphere, shifting moods, the colorful tones, and the thought provoking lyrics all add up to make this particular tunes one of Zeppelin’s best. As far as my interpretation of the song, it deals with the British during the American Revolution. When settlers refused a British soldier a place to stay and food to eat the settler was shown no quarter, which is also a way of saying no mercy. This was a tactic used by the British to try to force their way into a position of power through fear. But I feel that the song goes deeper than that, acting more as a commentary on the fear mongering primarily found in religion and politics. And with a deeper meaning pointing to questioning religion and politics, what better band than one that is consistently asking their listeners to dig deep below the borderline and open up their minds and question everything.
Being a band that rarely ever does cover material, Tool completely rock “No Quarter”‘s socks off. Retaining that psychedelic feel of the original, even making it more trippy, they add a layer of heaviness that increases the depth of the song ten-fold. What really gets me about this cover is how much more fitting I feel Tool’s approach to the music compliments the lyrical themes. Even more frozen and saddened than the original they really give the feeling a British soldier must have refused room and board. And when the heavy kicks in it better personifies his rage. The trippy sections serve to convey the fact that the protagonist is not of sound mind when looking to execute ‘no quarter’. All in all, this is one of the few covers of majorly influential songs that I find I enjoy much better than the already excellent original. Enjoy!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
“No Quarter”
Close the door, put out the light.
You know they won’t be home tonight.
The snow falls hard and don’t you know?
The winds of Thor are blowing cold.
They’re wearing steel that’s bright and true
They carry news that must get through.They choose the path where no-one goes.
They hold no quarter.
Walking side by side with death, The devil mocks their every step
The snow drives back the foot that’s slow, The dogs of doom are howling more
They carry news that must get through, To build a dream for me and youThey choose the path where no-one goes.
They hold no quarter. They ask no quarter.
The pain, the pain without quarter.
They ask no quarter.
The dogs of doom are howling more!Tool Version:
Original Led Zeppelin Version:
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Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #15-#11
Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
#15 Colors by Between the Buried and Me
In the early and mid 2000′s I found myself a bit disenchanted with new metal. I had kept in touch with the established bands in my catalog, but anything new just ‘didn’t do it for me’. Then I stumbled on BTBAM and their newly released Colors. Never have I heard metal quite like this, ferocious, complex, organic, beautiful, chaotic, and so unorthodox. How each song flowed into the next created a neat flow and the musicianship in each one seriously blew my mind and gave me a new-found faith in modern metal. I also love while on one end the music and themes on this record are pretty serious, the band knows how to sit back and have some fun at times and get playful with the music breaking that ‘more brutal than thou’ mentality that was plaguing metal at the time in my eyes. After this record I became more adventurous with my music returning to actively seek out/check out music by stuff I never heard of in hopes I find something that blew me away like Colors. To quote Forrest Gump: “I must have drank me 15 Dr. Peppers”. Returning to this album 7 years after my big first impression it still holds up wonderfully and BTBAM received much deserved success and took the right path and upped their talent (seriously, check out the new record 
).
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Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #25-#21
Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
#25 Sailing the Seas of Cheese by Primus
As I look back at the Excel file with my ‘list’ on it one common theme that seems to be running through a large part of the albums is that they all include well pronounced bass and rhythm sections. One could argue that having heavy bass dulls down the music and muddies up the intricacies, but I digress and say that some well used bass adds a nice full body to the music that makes it even more tastier. Like a good whiskey, wine, beer, or woman. When it comes to bassists, one of the most skilled and eclectic that will come to many’s mind is Les Claypool. What that man has done with the low-end tones is unique to say the least, but as well as being a titan on the bass he also is a damn fine songwriter/storyteller/lyricist and collaborator. Without the aid of the other 2 members of Primus the complexities of his style wouldn’t come to fruition. Larry LaLonde’s trippy and shredy guitars work wonders when paired with Les’ groove accentuating rather than carrying. And to keep up with the insanity of Claypool a damn fine drummer is needed, and Tim Alexander’s jazz beats dance in tandem with the quirky bass. While the trio have released some damn fine albums, their second full length collects the best the band has to offer in one package. Not a stinker or a dull moment the whole record and this is always the Primus record I cram down everyone’s throat when they tell me they never listened to Primus. So, if you enjoy some thick bass in your music and for some strange reason never heard Primus before, I implore you to go get your hands on this album right now.
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Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time #90-86
Continuing on with our Top 100 list at The History of Metal, I bring you my next five with a little bit of justification. If you haven’t checked out The History of Metal or THOM as we call it, please do it’s a cool forum to talk about and share metal. The page creator does a great job as keeping topics fresh and he also takes the time to pose challenges to the group; Top 100 Albums being one of them. I think the best part of this whole challenge besides getting to see everyone else’s choices is to reminisce about why I love these albums so much. It gets me listening to some of these I haven’t heard in a while. Not to mention, seeing everyone elses favorites gets me to explore some things I haven’t heard yet. Enjoy!
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Themed Thursday – Metal Meets The Zodiac
I am not one to normally contemplate my astrology reading of the day. I do find them interesting at times and often accurate, but sometimes these things can be so vague that they apply to almost anyone. As we know, signs of the Zodiac are represented by symbols, elements, planets, and stones. Why not metal bands? If you know your sign, you should know what band applies to you. This is what my research for this theme of the week is going to do. No longer will you have to say you are Aries symbolized by the ram. Now, you can say I am Aries represented by Arch motherfucking Enemy. Here is my breakdown of what band should represent you and your astrological sign.
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Album Review – Soen – Cognitive
In music it is very common to hear a band take a style set by another popular band and expand on it. This method leads to the constant evolution and maturation of the medium and often time leads to truly original combinations of styles that create wonderful and unique music. With their immense popularity and following one band that I am surprised to have not heard anyone expand on their unique style is Tool. Their tribal drumming and mesmerizing bass lines infused with cosmic guitar playing, powerful singing, and philosophical lyrics seemed like a style that many musicians would be thriving to expand upon, but no, that never really happened and the only band that I can say sounds like Tool is Tool. Well that would have been until I came across Soen and their debut album Cognitive.
