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Griever: 5 Guitar Riffs That Inspired Our New Record

27th May 2016

Melodic metallers Griever release their new EP ‘Soul Searcher’ today – reminiscent of In Flames, Malefice and As I Lay Dying, we caught up with the band to find out which 5 riffs had the most inspirational impact on their new material:

In Flames – “Take This Life”
This is one of In Flames’ most iconic songs for us, simply due to the fact it’s fast, riffy as hell, and has some awesome lead lines. We often channel this kind of writing into our songs, as we love the balance between melody and brutality. Our EP opener and title track “Soul Searcher” shares this feel, and kind of shows off our proficiency as guitarists as it’s ridiculously fast and a damn bitch to play!

Killswitch Engage – “My Last Serenade”
Arguably the most influential and imitated band of the metalcore genre. Killswitch Engage write the catchiest, most singalong choruses you’ll probably ever hear in metal. The chorus in songs of theirs such as “My Last Serenade” inspired us to write something simple yet very powerful on guitar, which you can hear in the chorus on our latest single “A Pure Heart”…. Right in the feels.

As I Lay Dying – “Nothing Left”
AILD (rip) are a very firm Griever favourite that we listen to when we need some ‘riffspiration’. They sit firmly on the more fiddly and technical side of metalcore, blending fast-picking verse riffs with heavy breakdowns. “Nothing Left” is one of their best examples of this. On one of our upcoming tracks titled “Malevolent”, we also blend a relentless maelstrom of guitar sections that challenged and pushed us as guitarists, and is probably the riffiest song of ‘Soul Searcher’.

Phinehas – “Fleshkiller”
An extremely underrated metalcore band. Since discovering these guys a few years ago, we have always been inspired by their guitarists innovative take on the genre. You just have to take one listen to the solo in “Fleshkiller” to know they are very apt musicians. We are also massive fans of shreddy guitar solos, and this can be heard in the guitar solo for upcoming track “Liberate”.

Bleeding Through – “Orange County Blonde and Blue”
Our guitarist Johnny wanted to write something for ‘Soul Searcher’ that blended a real dark feel with lots of haunting keyboards and heavy chugging guitar work. Bleeding Through was a band he grew up listening to from the age of 15, and after a couple of days we basically had the skeleton for upcoming track and 2nd single “She Is Death”. It’s one of the least technical songs on the EP guitar-wise, but also the heaviest and somewhat of a ‘curve-ball’ that will keep people guessing as to what sound we will incorporate into our songwriting for our debut album….