CHILDREN OF BODOM’S ALEXI LAIHO GIVES HIS TOP FIVE METAL RIFFS OF ALL TIME

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 2:00pm by

laihoriffsSpeaking of Decibel: their, um, let’s call it an “electronic division,” The Deciblog, has gotten Children of Bodom main man Alexi Laiho to supply his top five metal riffs of all time. (Thus the headline. Ah-duh.) If somebody asked me to do that, I’d probably blow my brains out, so props to Alexi for giving it a shot.

As we know first hand here at MS, posting any list like this is an open invitation for a shitstorm to rain down upon your head, but I suspect that Alexi’s list especially will cause arguments. I believe this will be the case for two reasons:

  1. He’s Alexi fuckin’ Laiho, not some blogger.
  2. He put a Black Label Society riff on the list.

Read the entire list here, then come back and get embroiled in some good old fashioned name-calling.

And don’t forget that we’re currently running a contest where you can impersonate Alexi for a chance to win an ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Series LTD AL-600 Scythe guitar! Enter that shit now!

-AR

  • Brian \m/(-_-)\m/

    wow, crazy train tops the list. surprise surprise…

    • Nate

      I was thinking the same thing haha.

  • http://www.thedevilsdemons.com vincent p

    Seems like a decent list. It’s pretty difficult to narrow such an enormous field down to 5 so he probably did what most people who aren’t angry internet trolls would do: picked 5 he liked. I would have a Wooly Mammoth riff on mine, and they’re certainly no Slayer.

    • Nigel McCloud

      He did say the BLS riff wasn’t anything special, it was just something that makes him wanna rock out, and you gotta respect that

    • Doombot

      +1 for Wooly Mammoth.

  • SP420

    Pretty stale selection. I kinda expected better. Then again, you can’t expect much from someone with head-in-ass syndrome.

  • iolanach

    No Sabbath.

    For shame.

    • We Eat Cripples

      No kidding what are we doing here?

  • tyler09

    good list lol

  • CARTER

    Whenever you tell us to argue it never happens.

    • SouthFL Infidel

      The only way for us to argue is to present our own Top-5 Riffs. So, who’s first?

  • John

    I’d have to disagree, but its his list not mine

  • BEHEMOHAWK

    At least he put Blackened on there.

  • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

    5. Slayer- “Ghosts of War”

    4. Death – “1,000 Eyes”/ ” Symbolic” (its a tossup)

    3. Candlemass – “Crystal Ball”

    2. Ozzy Osbourne Live and Loud album – “I Dont Know”

    1. Pantera – Strength Beyond Strength.

    Like it or leave it those are my top 5 (right now anyway).

    Its fucking hard to decide.

    • Leprosy

      on strength beyond strength do you mean the breakdown riff 1 minute in? cause i think zakk wylde put that riff #1 on this top 5 pantera riffs about a year or 2 ago.

      • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

        I think the whole song is killer, its like a 2×4 to the forehead. I like the breakdown riff, but my favorite is the slow dirge-like solo towards the end. It sounds like the soundtrack to a fuckin slaughterhouse horror movie.

  • SouthFL Infidel

    Well, although I’m a metalhead there’s a lot of metal I don’t like that you guys probably do, so feel free to ridicule my list.

    My favorite riffs (notice I didn’t say “best all time”)

    Sabbath-Supernaut
    Down-Lifer
    Danzig-Dirty Black Summer
    Type O Negative-Ode to Locksmiths (the intro riff)
    Pantera-This Love (the riff in the middle right before the “no more head trips” part)

    These are just riffs that are most likely to make me tell my friends to shut up and turn up the radio.

    • cougar party

      Fuck yeah, on Lifer.. That is one of my all time favorite riffs. Makes you want just go fucking crazy.

      • SouthFL Infidel

        Yeah, I didn’t rank them and I’m sure the list would be different if I took more than ten seconds to come up with it…but if I had, Lifer would still be on there and would probably be #1.

  • TXHellbilly

    KAKAKAKA yeaha!! Which one of you humps has a cigarette for Dr. Rockzo?!?!

  • Slayer Boner

    At this moment when I think of best metal riffs these 5 pop into my head first:
    Children of the Grave – Black Sabbath
    Hell Awaits (the live version)- Slayer
    Cowboys from Hell – Pantera
    Holy Wars – Megadeth
    Reign in Blood OR Manditory Sucicde – Slayer

    I’ve also been reading the slayer bio this week so they have been on the brain. So many awesome metal riffs out there…picking 5 is like trying to pick out the toop 5 pair of tits to ever exist…it can’t be done.

    • SouthFL Infidel

      One of those top-five pair of tits HAS to go to the chick from “Just One of the Guys”. Remember that? Epic boobs.

      • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

        FUCKING WIN !!!! holy shit- good call sir!

    • SourDeez

      Children of The Grave is and will always be the best headbanging song of all time.

  • Sammy

    Maybe it’s a tired, lazy question, so he mailed it in.

  • Slammm

    If it wasn’t for the riff at the end of sabbath bloddy sabbath there probably wouldn’t be metal as we know it … Yankee Rose WTF

  • SourDeez

    I could never name just 5 top riffs, although the riff at 2:22 of Death’s Spirit Crusher is probably my favorite of all time. I can tell you which artists I would absolutely never include on any “best of” list, though:
    Metallica
    Black Label Society
    solo Ozzy
    Slayer
    solo Dave. (While I am a huge DLR fan, I don’t think his solo shit was even close to his or Steve Vai’s best work.)

  • South FL Infidel

    Honorable mention: Just about any Jon Schaffer riff.

  • Benjamin

    Ok you guys. I love you.

    Children of the Grave! YEAH = #1

    No 2 : Souls of Black – testament
    No 3: Symptom of the universe – Sabbath
    no 4:The Ocean – Zeppelin

    ok it’s not metal but damn it’s a good riff!

    No 5:Shadow of the reaper – Six feet under

    possibly. Hard to say. Sabbath has so many GREAT riffs.

    eh.

  • I am James?

    1. Sweet Leaf -Sabbath
    2. Rust In Polaris – MegaDave
    3. Cowboys From Hell – Pantera
    4. Lateralus – Tool
    5. Bulls On Parade – RATM
    I know my list is probably to pussy for y’all, but when this riffs start up i dare any off you not to headbang, there all catchy ass riffs. PS. Sorry bout saying y’all its just as an aussie i think you americans speak funny.

  • Kye

    1. Shining – Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra
    2. In Flames – Jotun
    3. Agalloch – Falling Snow
    4. Dimmu Borgir – Broderskapets Ring
    5. Gorgoroth – Unchain My Heart!!!

    I think that’s my list. I didn’t really stop to think about it too hard, just kinda threw it together.

    Shining is my number 1 for sure though.

  • Walker

    Pig Destroyer-Carrion Fury
    Gojira-Flying Whales (the Flying whales breakdown, whatever it’s called part,)
    Mastodon-March of the Fire Ants
    BTBAM- Ants in the Sky
    DEP-43%Burnt

    Just wanted to name some favorites of my own. No order

    • Walker

      sorry, wasn’t paying attention. Carrion Fairy