5. Overkill, The Electric Age
“Even after 20 or so albums, these veterans can still deliver a thrash album that puts a majority of the young buck thrash revival bands to shame. We just did a tour with them in Europe and they are not slowing down.”

4. Bison b.c., Lovelessness
“Bison b.c. stand out from the pack of all the sludgy, doomy bands out there. They are growing with each record because there’s some intangible quality that makes their riffs just that much more punishing than their peers.”

3. Accept, Stalingrad
“The last Accept album was, to me, a shockingly good return after such a long hiatus. Stalingrad continues to show why Accept still are an important band in the metal scene. As long as they keep putting out albums, I expect they will all be great.”

2. Goatwhore, Blood for the Master
“Blood for the Master is crushing as all hell. Unrelenting in its delivery. These guys never let up.”

1. Enslaved, RIITIIR
“I’m such a huge fan of this band. Every time Enslaved release a new record it makes the top of my list for the year. They’re one of the few band I expect to put out a fantastic album every time and they never let me down.”

UPDATE: The poll is closed. Thanks for your vote. Click right here to find out the result.

• …And You Will Know Us By The The Trail Of Dead – Lost Songs
• A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance
• Abiotic – Symbiosis
• AntropomorphiA – Evangelivm Nekromantia
• Behold The Arctopus – Horrorscension
• Bison b.c. – Lovelessness
• Dark Tranquillity – Zero Distance
• Evocation – Illusions Of Grandeur
• God Seed – I Begin
• Ill Niño – Epidemia
• Killbot – Sound Surgery
• Motörhead – The Wörld Is Ours Vol. 2: Anyplace Crazy As Anywhere Else
• Pig Destroyer – Book Burner
• Sister Sin – Now And Forever
• Stone Sour – House Of Gold And Bones: Part 1
• The Sword – Apocryphon
• The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza – Danza IIII: The Alpha – The Omega
• tweaker – call the time eternity
• Upon This Dawning – To Keep Us Safe
• Zodiac – A Bit Of Devil

Today, they are premiering a new track on RevolverMag.com called “Clozapine Dream.” Check out the song below and let us know what you think in the comments.

1. BLACK SABBATH, “Hole in the Sky,” from Sabotage, 1975
Trying to pick just one Sabbath riff as a favorite is tough because they wrote every good riff ever…even “Zero The Hero” has a killer riff. There are the obvious choices of “Paranoi,” “Iron Man,” “Children of the Grave” or the song “Black Sabbath,” which started it all, but this one opens my fav Sabbath record so it’s always stuck out for me. It might be the fact that it doesn’t start right away and you can actually hear Iommi turn up the volume on his guitar, put his hand over the strings to mute them then…BLAAADOWWWW! Get yer “G-word” on!

2. THIN LIZZY, “Chinatown,” Chinatown, 1980
The perfect song…I don’t know how else to describe it. Thin Lizzy were masters of the riff like no other. Each song a perfect tactical aural assault of endless guitarmonies and good times but this one captures the flag for me. Scott Gorham was the perfect Colonel for General Lynott's riff army. Whether he was battling beside Gary Moore, Snowy White, or Brian Robertson you can tell that he was the one leading the charge.

3. BLACK FLAG, “Loose Nut,” Loose Nut, 1985
A riff that manages to not only sound as sleazy and sloppy as the lyrics to the song but also manages to completely segregate the band from their raging punk output. That polarization started with the sludge fest that is the second half of ’84’s My War and of course ’85’s Slip It In is pretty much as sleazy as you can get, but it’s still filled with classic Black Flag sounding punk riffs. Loose Nut just changed it all. The whole album’s a mid-tempo face fuck to whatever poor kid would happen to be standing in the front row. It sounds like Nikki Sixx writing a Black Sabbath record. Grow yer hair and grind the air!

4. BUDGIE, “Napoleon Bona-Part 2,” Bandolier, 1975
It takes exactly 2:38 minutes to get through the whimsical, dream-like “Napoleon Bona-Part 1,” but once “Part 2” kicks in, look the fuck out! Yer welcome, Iron Maiden. Take this hammer to the back of the head, Metallica, and don’t fuck it up. Whoops, shit the bed there, buds! Budgie galloped like no other ever has or will…they did it best, hands down. There would be no N.W.O.B.H.M. or Bay Area thrash without Budgie, period. Unfortunately that also means we have them to thank for Dave Mustaine and the current influx of horrible, barely post-teen thrash-revival bands. Good job, Welshers!

5. (tie) MELVINS, “Revolve,” Stoner Witch, 1994 / HIS HERO IS GONE, “Like Weeds,” Monuments to Thieves, 1997
There are millions of awesome classic rock and blues riffs I would throw on this list, but in terms of influence on my playing, these two are huge. It’s hard to even break them down into “riffs” because they are both an endless barrage of awesome riff after awesome riff. I never thought I would ever talk about a crust song even having a “riff” but this His Hero Is Gone one has been stuck in my head for 15 years. Basically every single song I have ever written in one form or another at first was an attempt to create the perfect mix of these two songs. Sleazy/sludgey pop metal mixed with doom and gloom crust punk. Give me 10 more years and I bet you anything I’ll even be a 275-pound dude with an afro wearing a scotchguarded mudflap covered in spikes. UGH!

Honorable Mentions (because six riffs are never enough):

Van Halen, “I’m the One”
Rush – “Spirit of Radio”/“Limelight”
Captain Beyond, everything
Eagles, “Life in the Fast Lane”
Phil Collins, “Easy Lover”
Heart, everything
Kansas, “Carry On My Wayward Son”
April Wine, “Weeping Willow”
Replacements, “Bastards of Young”
Soundgarden, everything

Bison B.C. pic by Alex Divincenzo