Would you believe it if someone said Disturbed had ripped off a Slayer riff in one of their songs? Would you believe it if they said Slayer ripped off a Disturbed riff? Which one of those seems the least likely statement? It’s hard to imagine either but this series is called “Riff Police” so one
Legends that are Behemoth have pretty much done it all, twice. The Polish extreme metallers have had a lot of praise from many corners and it’s not often that a bands name gets dropped in conjunction with the words “they helped establish a scene”. They’re impressive “Conquer All” single from 2004 album “Demigod” might sound
American Punk Rockers Green Day have taken a lot of stick in their time for being influenced by every man and his dog and then getting paid for it. At last count we could do 14 songs worth of “Riff Police” on them alone. That’s an entire greatest hits album. Perhaps it’s that they’ve gained
Selling over a Million copies in the US alone, the full debut album from former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Richard Patrick’s then new band Filter entitled “Short Bus” was a must in 1995. Controvercial single “Hey Man, Nice Shot” was seen by some as capitalising on the suicide of Nirvana‘s frontman Kurt Cobain. Fast forward
1984 saw the release of the pretty much timeless “Powerslave” album from Iron Maiden. “Aces High” and “2 Minutes to Midnight” may overshadow it slightly, but “Flash Of The Blade” is a classy song with a memorable riff. Certainly Avenged Sevenfold thought highly enough of it to cover it for Kerrang! Magazine’s Iron Maiden Tribute
When Des Moines Iowa was put firmly on the map by Slipknot and their album “Iowa” in 2001, “The Heretic Anthem” was one of the highlights. Joey Jordison’s pummelling drum sounds alongside Jim Root and Mick Thompson’s blistering guitar work with that distinct flourish of a band at the height of their game. As Slipknot songs go,
Thrash legends Testament released “New World Order” way back in 1988 and one of the songs that remains a mainstay in the bands live set is the classic “Into The Pit”. The album itself was on Revolver Magazine’s “14 Thrash Albums You Need To Own” list in 2014. Fast forward to 2004 and Richmond, Virginia’s
The third single from Ministry‘s best known album “Psalm 69”, which had already seen single “Jesus Built My Hotrod” raise the bands profile, “Just One Fix” saw Mike Scaccia’s guitar work raise the bar once more. Sadly Scaccia passed away in December 2012. Rest in peace brother. So when German Industrial giants Rammstein released their
Deep Purple are probably best remembered for their 1972 single “Smoke On Water” from their classic album “Machine Head”. The songs main riff is iconic and often appears alongside Black Sabbath‘s “Paranoid” and Led Zeppelin‘s “Whole Lotta Love”. So iconic in fact it has appeared in early lessons for every wannabe guitarist up and down
In March 2016 when A Day To Remember were building the hype around their then upcoming new album “Bad Vibrations”, they released a single in the form of “Paranoia”. The song describes frontman Jeremy McKinnon’s feelings after a home burglary but with a very familiar riff. A little bit of a memory test this was
