Wpnfire

I'm working on making a list of my favorite guitar riffs from all genres, but I thought I would list my favorite heavy metal riffs by band. The songs are not in any particular order.

Since I’m just talking about the riffs in songs here, you may notice a few songs on this list that I’ve stated I dislike, but I’m only referring to the riff in the song. If there’s a glaring song you think should be on this list that I left out, it’s safe to assume I simply haven’t heard it.

Songs in bold are among my favorite all-time guitar riffs.

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Wpnfire

I've been struggling to think of ideas for this thread, so I guess I'll just do a bunch of album reviews today.






Genre: ?
My genres for the album: post-metal, noise rock, proto-alternative metal

Tracklist & Ratings:

1. "In the Meantime" - 5/5
2. "Ironhead" - 2/5
3. "Give It" - 2/5
4. "Unsung" - 5/5
5. "Turned Out" - 3/5
6. "He Feels Bad" - 4/5
7. "Better" - 4/5
8. "You Borrowed" - 2/5
9. "Fbla li" - 2/5
10. "Role Model" - 4/5

Overall: 3/5


Although the album has two of my favorite songs in all of metal/alternative, it suffers from a lack of variety/staleness at times. There are attempts at variety, but some of the elements, like the guitar solos, just don't work on this kind of album. It all sounds the same.
"In the Meantime" and "Unsung" though, certainly help to alleviate some of the staleness of many of the songs simply with their noisy, bone-crushing riffs and beat.
That being said, there are other tracks I enjoyed, like "He Feels Bad," "Better," and "Role Model."




















Genre: Thrash metal, groove metal
My genres for the album: death thrash, groove metal, thrash metal, death metal

Tracklist & Ratings:

1. "Death In Vain" - 5/5
2. "Homicide" - 4/5
3. "Desecrator" - 4/5
4. "Exhorder" - 5/5
5. "The Tragic Period" - 4/5
6. "Legions of Death" - 4/5
7. "Anal Lust" - 4/5
8. "Slaughter In The Vatican" - 3/5

Overall: 4/5


This album is one of the best death thrash albums in existence in my opinion. "Desecrator," "Death In Vain," and "Exhorder" are some of the most well-constructed thrash/death thrash songs I've ever heard. The tempo of this album goes all over the place, but it does it without sacrificing intensity in any way.

Highlight songs:

"Death In Vain": The first minute of this song after the atmospheric intro, is one of the greatest moments in the history of metal in my humble opinion.

"Exhorder": EXHOOOORRDDDEERRRRRR!! Everything about this song is perfect: Those first 10 seconds, all of the solos, the last minute. It's all fantastic.




















Genre: thrash metal
My genres for the album: speed metal, proto-thrash, straight-edge punk/hardcore punk

Tracklist & Ratings:

1. "Hit the Lights" - 5/5
2. "The Four Horsemen" - 5/5
3. "Motorbreath" - 4/5
4. "Jump in the Fire" - 4/5
5. "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth" - 5/5
6. "Whiplash" - 4/5
7. "Phantom Lord" - 5/5
8. "No Remorse" - 3/5
9. "Seek & Destroy" - 5/5
10. "Metal Militia" - 4/5

Overall: 5/5


Highlight songs:

“Seek & Destroy” was an instantly lovable track for me with that edgy riff, and it remains a favorite of mine. Those last 40 seconds where the riff turns 20x heavier are awe-inspiring.

“Phantom Lord”: Everything about this song is excellent. Some of the parts of the song aren’t perfectly executed, (like wtf is that weird spacey intro doing in this song?? That entire intro can be removed as far as I’m concerned.) but ALL of the riffs are excellent, Hetfield’s singing is top-notch, that bizarre breakdown section in the middle is addicting as hell, and the lyrics are fantastic (literally)

Quote:

Hear the cry of War Louder than before With his sword in hand to control the land Crushing metal strikes on this frightening night Fall onto your knees For the Phantom Lord

"Hit the Lights” is one of my favorite Metallica songs…sort of. I love the first part of the song that has lyrics, but once that close-to-2-minute-solo rolls around, my interest in the song starts to wane considerably. Still, the energy “Hit the Lights" provides is unmatched in Metallica’s discography, even on this album. Hetfield also does a fantastic job singing the song.

“The Four Horsemen” is one of the first thrash metal Metallica songs I ever heard, and the first time I listened to this album, it was, along with “Seek & Destroy” the only song I liked from the album. That bridge in the middle of the song is by far my favorite part of the song, aside from the “OH YEAH YEAH!!” from Hetfield after the chorus.

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The Batlord

If you've never heard their Nordland I album, then "Nordland"'s main riff is required listening for any fan of slower riffs.


Nice. "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" is quite possibly the highlight of Mustaine's career for me. Nothing he's done since is so pissed off, not even on the same album, and being pissed off is what Dave Mustaine is about. Even the piano is hateful. I also love that they lyrics are a thinly veiled, and rather threatening, attack at his former band.

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Wpnfire

I listened to it, and while it is epic, I don't think it comes close to "Enter the Enternal Fire." You did remind me though, that I should probably listen to the rest of Bathory's albums sometime.

I agree, the aggression is pretty unmatched with that song. The piano is very sinister as well.

Rating: 4/5

I'm very uncertain with my rating of this album, and equally uncertain about giving it a rating at all. It's a challenging album to listen to at times for the oft-cited complaints of poor production, and the deliberate removal of Jason Newsted's bass by the rest of the band. While it's certainly flawed, boring at times, and I'm not the biggest fan of "One" or some of the progressive sections on the album, there are two features of this album that make it one of my favorite albums, and a quintessential metal album.

The first, and most important thing I like about this album is the guitar riffs. As usual with Metallica, most if not all of the riffs are downpicked--that's nothing new--but what is new is the sheer number of riffs in the songs. James Hetfield said it best, "We've jammed six riffs into one song? Let's make it eight. Let's go crazy with it." There's fast riffs like in "Dyers Eve," there's slow riffs in "To Live Is To Die," there's melodic riffs like in "One," and there's riffs that are thick and brutal like most of the riffs in "...And Justice For All." It's just my kind of album with all of these riffs. I love it.
Side Note: oddly enough, I actually do NOT like the riff for "Blackened." More on that later.

The second thing I like about this album is just the heaviness of some of the songs. The guitars sound very clean and simple on some tracks, (i.e., "One") but they also sound rough and buzzy at other times. While this is most likely a byproduct of the sub-par production, the strange, pseudo-lo fi guitar sound somehow manages to work very well on a few tracks. "To Live Is To Die" is an example where the production compliments the downpicking barrage, and goes beyond just sounding heavy: it's edgy, brutal, and the guitars even manage to somewhat mask the absent bass. Despite this highly unusual screechy, shrill heaviness, the song still manages to remain close to a technical thrash sound, and not just bland noise. It's all just completely unlike any other thrash metal album in the sound, and it really makes ...And Justice For All sound like both a technical progressive thrash album, but also a technical brutal thrash album.

It's not all good though. The production hurts some songs as much as it helps others. "The Shortest Straw" is almost unlistenable to me. The song structure isn't very complex, which would sound fine, if it wasn't for the fact that without audible bass and high fidelity production, the song sounds very 1-dimensional and affords no chance for an atmospheric or engaging sound.
I also want to take a moment to discuss (ugh) "Blackened." Coming of the heels of great opening tracks like "Battery," "Fight Fire With Fire," and "Hit The Lights," it's really comparatively abysmal compared to those three. And it has such a stock thrash riff that's only calling card is that it's just played fast. It's really boring for me. I expected better from you Metallica.

Anyway, that's what I think of this album.

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Wpnfire

Based out of Australia, The Living End takes a fascinating look on the world of punk. A couple of things to note about them. They are a 3-piece band, with an upright bass player, similar to a rockabilly group (more on that later), their material is usually complicated, featuring guitar solos, breakdowns, instrumentals, and lyrics rooted in social critique. They don't stick to just punk rock material either.

It's almost tempting to call them an experimental punk band, that dabbles in rock n roll, rockabilly (hence the upright bass player), pop punk, and later in their career, alternative rock. Early in their career, The Living End adopted a weird combination of punk rock and rockabilly that is often just called punkabilly.

However, there's also a much rougher, harsher side to The Living End, that goes beyond punkabilly, and sounds closer to hard rock, or, dare I say sounds similar to 80s metal. This harsher style has even earned the band a few tracks on Guitar Hero. That's actually how I came to hear about the band; I first heard about them seven years ago back in middle school when I spent my days playing Guitar Hero.



Hellbound is their first release, an EP, recorded in 1995. A close friend of mine found a link to this Australia-only release way back in the day, and gave me the album download. You must scour the web to find this album unless you live in Australia, because it was only released there.

The genre of this EP is very difficult to categorize. Most of the songs feature a punk and punkabilly style, but a few songs sound like a less-harsh sounding Kill Em All. The album has breakdowns, edgy riffs, intricate solos, minor tempo changes, and even features a highly technical instrumental track. Most of the lyrics deal with punk rock-typical social critique.

I recommend checking out this EP. Punk can be hit-or-miss for me, but Hellbound goes all over the place so it's enough to keep me interested. It's also got some great riffs, and the variety is pretty impressive for a debut release.

The highlights of this album for me are: "Trace of Doubt," "Hellbound," "The Living End," "Hedlines," and "Do What I Do."

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What else can be said about this album? Well, I would not call it one of the best albums of all time, (it is, however, highly influential), regardless, there are several things about Ramones that make it one of my favorite albums.

The first is the guitar playing by legend Johnny Ramone. That fast, clean, buzzing sound that Johnny produced combined with heavy distortion is simply brilliant. I love it, and it never gets old hearing him play that way. "Blitzkrieg Bop" is one of my favorite guitar songs just because it is simple chords but Johnny's play style make it sound so heavy and deep.

The second reason I like this album is the lyrics. I am usually not a fan of nonsense or silly lyrics—even if the lyrics have a deeper meaning—but their sung so light-hearted and sing-song-y that I almost do not even care. Take "I Donnt' Wanna Walk Around With You"

Quote:

I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You So Why You Wanna Walk Around With Me?

haha. I rest my case.

. . .
The last thing I like is how uptempo the album is. The guitars, the singing, it is all meaningless if the song is not engaging, and the Ramones definitely provide an engaging experience. It is exactly the kind of album that I like.


The highlights of this album for me are "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," 53rd & 3rd," "I Donnt' Wanna Walk Around With You," and "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World."

Overall: 4/5

Overall though, this is one of my favorite albums and there is not a song on it I would consider to be anything less than enjoyable.

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IN ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS!! Nevermind that's just annoying. With Trollheart's metal month still ongoing, I've decided to honor his sacrifice listening to Jansz' grindcore albums by listening to one (JUST ONE) myself. You hear THAT BATTY, JANSZ? What's that? You can't hear me because I'm not saying anything huh? Well I guess you'll never see my special journal review of






I decided to forgo recommendations and just find a random band. I literally just chose a random letter and took the first band. I ended up with...




Xysma is a Finnish grind/death band, and yada, yada, yada...none of that is important. I decided to review their first demo LP (The Swarming of the Maggots), since apparently that's the only thing they did that's true grind. Says here they did rock combined with death metal after that. Well that sounds like ****, wonder why they did that. Oh god, that must mean this demo is either ****, or one of the heaviest things in existence. Well, I guess I'll find out. The title of this demo is called Swarming of the Maggots and appropriately has a fitting album cover of...whatever that is.





The first track is an intro track, with some drone-stuff to start off with then some of that vague incoherent chanting/choir stuff that sounds...cheap. Now the first track is playing, "Pulsating cerebral slime," and well I appear to have dodged a serious bullet here as this is at least bearable. Certainly heavy though, that guitar tone is exceptional, the vocals are alright, but the best is at the end of the song when they go full demonic-growl voice for a few seconds. That wasn't bad, mostly because it was only 34 seconds.

Okay this next song "Pulverized Necrobrains" is sick. The guitar playing is exactly the kind of stuff I like, and when the guitars aren't chugging along, I'm at least immune to the vocals, as I count myself among a lover of Sarco***o. It's going to be hard to top this, but let's see.

Hmm, "festering sore" sounds promising–never mind it's over. Forgot that grind does that. "Procreated from blood" slows down the tempo a bit, which allows the drumming to really shine for a few moments. woah then there's this furious guitar solo that sounds more like nails scrapping on a chalkboard than Slayer worship. More bands should do something like that.

These guys should win an award for these song titles. Both because of the actual title, and some of them are a bitch to spell. "Unaesthetic genitplasty" the **** is that? Never mind I'm not looking it up, I know better than that. Oh wow, for the song with one of the most intimidating song titles so far, "Fetid gurgitation" is a frightening six seconds. Might have to look up the lyrics to that song, maybe the lyrics are so putrid they just cut the song after the first verse.

"Fleshaw" (clever title by the way) is the first song from this album I would like to never hear again. That's right Batty, I do NOT like all the songs on this album. The guitar playing is great, but the vocals are just a tad too much for me. Uh the complex song titles continue with "pathologists perevesrljadjfad." I don't ****ing know what it says. It's 2:38 in the morning, and I'm not going to spend 30 seconds to figure out the title to song that's...hahaha, wow, that's only 22 seconds–so yeah, I'm not doing that.

Alright "Priests formed in excrement" returns to the chugging guitar riffs that I liked so much on the second track. Very tight stuff. I have no idea what the hell is going on in "charred limbs" it opens with what sounds like should be the ending of a song, then it goes into this watery trance part that continues until the song fades out. The word strange comes to mind.

Ah "Drown Oneself" is another great song with some chugging guitar riffs. The next song is titled "Burbed Rectum" and that should tell you all you need to know about that. Wow, it's 2 minutes, guess I should pay attention then. This one has some upbeat, non-double bass drumming that sounds great. Hm, that was at least moderately satisfying. "Evisceration" has a part in the middle I like, but it's mostly the same.


Well that's all the tracks worth discussing. This album wasn't that bad, and the few songs I liked from it I would probably place on the level of my extreme metal playlist of "play occasionally." The rest not so much. Alright, that's all for now, I'm going to bed.

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The Batlord

Sounds like you found some goregrind (self-explanatory). Every goregrind band on Earth is just a Carcass-worship band. Might as well go straight to the source.

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This is Suffocation's first album, and given how much my brothers-in-metal Batlord and Briks have mentioned it in the past few days I've decided to review it. It's categorized as brutal death metal...so I'm already opposed to it from the beginning.

Ugh, this is really difficult. This makes the grindcore album I just listened to look ****ING WEAK! This is legitimately impressive how heavy and death ridden this sounds. Suffocation is a fitting name for this band: it's unrelenting, and it will slowly brutalize you. Brutal death metal indeed. The effect the vocals have on me I can only allegorize as being slowly tortured to death.

Alright several things to address right away. I'm getting tons of similarities to Dark Angel with these utterly flawlessly executed fills, tons of riffs, many starts and stops, and of course slight tempo changes. Nothing jumps out at me for the first two tracks, except the continued slight awe I feel for the guitars and drums, and the continued loathsome feeling I have for the vocals. There are very few times (mostly just a few dwindling seconds) when I actually like the vocals, most of which are when the singer actually screams or yells instead of the 'spoken word' brutal death metal voice.

The first minute of the third track "Infecting the Crypts" is killer. Some of the MEANEST riffs you will ever play for the first minute. These are relatively clean riffs, but man, they're good. Then the song slows down as the heaviest riffs yet start playing and the vocals return. Around the first minute mark, the song returns to sounding much like the previous songs. Still, that first minute is going to be hard to top. Also during the first minute is one of those few fleeting moments where I like the vocals: The song opens with a brief growl-scream (?) and that's the kind of stuff that doesn't bother me.

"Seeds of the Suffering" has a crazy solo around the half-way point that is very impressive, and goes all over the place. The vocals are starting to bother me less, but now the biggest problem I have with this is that all the songs sound the same to me. There's nothing that I particularly like except for the growling guitars, but those are played so fast it's hard to latch onto them.

Grinding guitars open "Reincarnation" and there's promise on this track. Oh sorry, that's not the name of the track, it's "Reincremation," that's clever. This is probably my second favorite track so far, because the guitars actually standout on this track, and it's the shortest track on this album, heh.

"Mass Obliteration" also has 4 or 5 good riffs, and the are some brutal, dual-channel vocals on this track, and that is something I haven't heard on this album. The more I listen to this album, the more I'm able to detect subtle differences on each of these tracks. I have to say, the second half of this album is much better than the first. Whether that's because of the reason I just discussed where I can detect more things I like on each of the songs, or it's actually better, I don't know.

Alright, last track–with perhaps the most sinister sounding title ever in metal "Jesus Wept." Seriously, that's just genius. The guitar playing on this one sounds monster truck-y. If that makes any sense. Just imagine some brutal downpicked guitar playing, played really fast, most of the playing is 90% shredding, 10% riffs, but there's some occasional "clean" riffs, and of course there's tempo changes that don't follow any set pattern, and there; Monster truck guitar.


This wasn't the most pleasant experience I've endured, but I suppose if it was just brutal death metal without the technical side to it, it could have potentially been much worse. Probably only five tracks from this I would ever want to listen to again. "Inffecting the Crypts" is easily my favorite of those.

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Isbjørn

"Infecting the Crypts" is killer, even though I'm hardly a fan of death metal. And I'm checking out that Xysma demo.

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