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Metal Hammer Says These Are the 50 Best Metal Riffs Ever

  • Axl Rosenberg
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Metal Hammer recently “asked rock’s most prominent players to pick their favourite metal riffs of all time” in order to compile a list of The 50 Best Metal Riffs Ever. There were three rules for the selection process — it had to be an actual riff as defined in the dictionary, only band per song was allowed, and it had to “heavy,” however you wanna define that — but otherwise it’s not clear how the list was compiled. I suspect the editors just used the musicians’ picks as suggestions, ’cause the list was clearly designed to be provocative (wait ’til you see which eras of Carcass and Alice in Chains made the cut, or which Big Four band did not). Not that I’m judging!

You can check out the list below, or go here to read explanations from members of the selection committee. Then head to the comments section to argue. Yay, arguing!

50. Artificial Brain – “Estranged from Orbit”

49. Savatage – “Hall of the Mountain King”

48. Steve Vai – “The Attitude Song”

47. Mötley Crüe – “Too Young to Fall in Love”

46. Nirvana – “Smells like Teen Spirit”

45. Soilwork – “Bastard Chain”

44. Whitesnake – “Still of the Night”

43. Parkway Drive – “Romance is Dead”

42: Dødheimsgard – “Traces of Reality”

41. Suffocation – “Infecting the Crypts”

40. Nevermore – “My Acid Words”

39. Van Halen – “Mean Street”

38. Extreme – “Money (In God We Trust)”

37. Keep of Kalessin – “Armada”

36. Sikth – “Way Beyond the Fond Old River”

35. Celtic Frost – “Procreation (Of the Wicked)”

34. Periphery – “Pale Aura”

33. Annihilator – “Phantasmagoria”

32. High on Fire – “Baghdad”

31. Ozzy Osbourne – “Bark at the Moon”

30. Dissection – “Beyond the Horizon”

29. Fu Manchu – “Ojo Rojo”

28. Deftones – “My Own Summer (Shove It)”

27. Judas Priest – “Victim of Changes”

26. Forbidden – “March into Fire”

25. Opeth – “Master’s Apprentices”

24. Converge – “Heartless”

23. Manowar – “Gloves of Metal”

22. Veil of Maya – “Punisher”

21. Gojira – “Toxic Garbage Island”

20. King Diamond – “Welcome Home”

19. Meshuggah – “Sickening”

18. Rammstein – “Du Hast”

17. Type O Negative – “Everyone I Love Is Dead”

16. Lamb of God – “11th Hour”

15. Alice in Chains – “Check My Brain”

14. Rage Against the Machine – “Bombtrack”

13. Slipknot – “Three Nil”

12. Scorpions – “The Sails of Charon”

11. Carcass – “Black Star”

10. Marilyn Manson – “The Beautiful People”

9. At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul”

8. Slayer – “Angel of Death”

7. Pantera – “A New Level”

6. Dio – “Holy Diver”

5. Machine Head – “Davidian”

4. Iron Maiden – “Run to the Hills”

3. Metallica – “Creeping Death”

2. Megadeth – “Holy Wars… the Punishment Due”

1. Black Sabbath – “Symptom Of The Universe”

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