Riff Worship

It's incredibly difficult for a musician to receive a single opportunity at mainstream success, let alone several, during their entire career. It takes drive, talent, and a lot of luck. Ronnie James Dio cut his teeth fronting groups like Elf , Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Black Sabbath during the first half of his career. His fantastical lyrics and powerful vocal delivery were like a breath of...

With two genre-defining albums under their collective belt, Morbid Angel approached their third full-length with an unyielding intensity both musically and thematically. The added scale of promotion and distribution by then-Warner subsidiary Giant Records , MTV airplay, and the band's own determination cemented this album as one of death metal's highest creative and commercial peaks. This week on...

Saint Paul’s Sabot have unleashed their debut album Castration (Out now via Riff Merchant Records ): a 25-minute-long statement in the form of crushing doom, powerviolence, and noise. This week on Riff Worship , we sat down with Oscar & Nehemiah of Sabot to discuss their full-length debut which channels everything from the pummeling riffs of Thorr’s Hammer , the atmosphere of Disembowelment ,...

The year is 2003. Nu metal was experiencing its decline in popularity after nearly 10 years of domination and the guitar had seemingly taken a backseat across several forms of music. Even genre-heavyweights like Metallica were shying away from guitar solos to avoid sounding "outdated". Just when trends appeared to lean away from the antics and styles of the '70s & '80s, enter The Darkness : a...

2009 stands as a pivotal year for aggressive music in the early part of this century with landmark releases from Cattle Decapitation , Converge , Agoraphobic Nosebleed , and Mastodon . Simultaneously, a three-piece from Washington D.C. stands out amongst these. With a handful of releases under their belt, the abrasive Magrudergrind rose up from the underground with their sophomore album : a perfec...

With the release of the seminal grunge album Nevermind, Nirvana had positioned themselves (unwillingly) into unknown territories of superstardom. As pressures increased to meet and eclipse the success of Nevermind , the band entered the studio alongside audio engineer Steve Albini with their own set of rules and the intention to create a follow up that was more reflective of the music they wanted...

What could your band put together in just 6 weeks? Would you have a few songs written or be ready to perform live? In less than 2 months, the death-doom quintet Thorr’s Hammer made their mark on underground music forever before vanishing into the ether. Consisting of a teenage Norwegian exchange student and several musicians from around the Seattle area, the band recorded a handful songs and playe...

As 2007 was coming to a close, deathcore had firmly taken its grasp, introducing metal & hardcore audiences to a new level of extremity. Alongside debut full-lengths from Job For A Cowboy & Suicide Silence , genre purveyors Animosity released what was to be their final album. This week on Riff Worship, Austin & Dylan discuss Animosity’s 'Animal' , a furious bombardment of hardcore, tec...

A handful of extreme metal bands had established themselves by the mid to late 90's with an endless supply of imitators who copied the formula verbatim. However, a group from Hazlet, New Jersey dawned with 7-string guitars, odd effects, and an abstract view of songwriting quickly set themselves apart from the herd. Over a six year period, Human Remains released a unique blend of death metal, grind...

In this ongoing death metal discussion, Austin & Dylan weigh-in on two distinct milestones in extreme music. The buzzsaw-like guitar tones on Entombed's "Left Hand Path'' placed Sweden on the map for its specific approach to the genre that's influence can be felt to this day. Four years later, Carcass polarized their gore obsessed fanbase with the release of their melodic death metal classic "...

We're not exactly sure how the Tampa Bay metropolitan area became the hub for producing perfectly crafted death metal, but it's hard to argue with these classics. Death's "Pull the Plug" is a defining moment in which the genre came into its own while "The Time To Kill Is Now" finds Cannibal Corpse nearly 20 years into their career with no signs of slowing down (hint: they didn't). Austin & Dyl...

This week's episode of Riff Worship could have opened the 2004 Ozzfest Main Stage as Austin and Dylan tackle two Roadrunner classics: Slipknot's keg-beating staple "Duality" along with Machine Head's "Imperium". For all updates on the show, follow us here: @distortion891 on ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ , ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ , & ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ Tune in LIVE to Vocal Distortion, Mondays at 6PM CST on FM89, ⁠⁠WONC.org⁠⁠ ,...

This week on Riff Worship, Austin and Dylan take a look at two riffs by two bands that redefined heavy music throughout the 90's: "Everything Dies" finds Type O Negative at their absolute bleakest while "I Feel The Burning Sun" confirms Kirk Windstein's (Crowbar, Down, Eye Am) status as a riff mastermind. Other topics discussed include Peter Steele's tour exercise routine, "good-bad" music videos,...

This week on Riff Worship, Austin and Dylan discuss the Celtic-inspired twin guitar attack on Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" along with the massive grooves of Mastodon's "March of the Fire Ants." For all updates on the show, follow us here: @distortion891 on Facebook , Instagram , & Twitter Tune in LIVE to Vocal Distortion, Mondays at 6PM CST on FM89, WONC.org , & the iHeart Radio app RIFFS ON REP...

In this debut episode, Austin and Dylan dive into Black Sabbath's drug anthem "Snowblind", followed by the apocalyptic guitar rhythms of Metallica's "Blackened." For all updates on the show, follow us here: @distortion891 on ⁠Facebook⁠ , ⁠Instagram⁠ , & ⁠Twitter⁠ Tune in LIVE to Vocal Distortion, Mondays at 6PM CST on FM89, ⁠WONC.org⁠ , & the ⁠iHeart Radio app⁠ RIFFS ON REPEAT PLAYLIST: ⁠h...