Riff Police! Pull Over! #114: Silverchair Vs Metallica!

Hugely successful Australian grunge act Silverchair started out their career back in 1995, when the band members were only 15 years old, dropping their debut album via major label Epic Records. The physical appearance of vocalist and guitarist Daniel Johns being similar to the late Kurt Cobain was something that his widow Courtney Love found surprising and with influences in Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the band went on to become one of Australia’s finest exports over the next 12 years. The bands legacy is huge and when Australian major label UNFD put together a tribute album entitled “Spawn Again” after the bands entry on the Spawn Movie soundtrack, the album brought out a whose who of those influences by them, including In Hearts Wake, The Amity Affliction and Make Them Suffer. Their legacy simply can not be denied.

 

Fast forward the tape two years to the second half of what was originally to be a double album in “Reload” from Metallica. At the time, an album that was seen as the heavier half of two albums that might have had one good one between them by fans and critics alike, it was the last to feature bassist James Newsted and still managed to go triple platinum selling over 3 million copies Worldwide. If you listen to the riffs in the closing eight minute opus that is “Fixxxer“, you’ll notice that there is a once riff in particular that sounds exactly like the main riff from “Leave Me Out” by Silverchair. Given the the focus on rhythmic hooks and grooves that became Metallica’s guitar focus during the 90’s is that a surprise? Not really and especially with the rise of Grunge…

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