By the way, feel free to throw out some names of dark sounding songs or riffs below. I'm sure others have their own favourites across various genres that aren't represented here. This is just my list.
Its funny because imo theres so many more sabbath songs that sound “darker” but everyone lists that as their “heaviest”. Like lord of this world, megalomania, into the void, and sabbath bloody sabbath sound sooooo heavy
Exactly what I was thinking, polly’s chords are very joyful sounding. Something like Paper Cuts, a song I love personally, has a much much darker guitar riff than most of these
In what universe are the riffs in tracks like 'Swing on This' and 'Sunshine' 'dark'? I wouldn't even say the majority of AiC's music is dark. The influence of bands like AC/DC and Guns n' Roses stands out in more tracks than the influence of heavier and 'darker' bands does.
@@_Stroda Well, maybe you can't say that for the entire 'Facelift' album, which is partly influenced by street and sleaze metal, but 'Dirt' and 'Tripod' are as dark as can be... Damn, even some of their acoustic songs are: 'Am I Inside' and 'Rotten Apples' for instance.
@@maxieboy1232 The Beatles have sold 2 billion albums and you say they have an underrated song? Maybe I Want You isn't their most famous song, but it's far from underrated. She is much better known than most of the greatest hits of other bands.
@Rowan Melton Black Sabbath shouldn’t be on the list? Thats pretty much as dark a riff as they come, it literally uses “The Devils Tritone” don’t see any issue with it being here it was actually one of the only ones I agreed with to be honest.
@Rowan Melton I agree. Also the darkest music is pretty much all underground, these are way too popular riffs and songs for me to be dark and to relate to in dark or depressing moments
@Rowan Melton I think the end by the doors is very dark and I do think it belongs here. The riff is dark and so is the overall tone of the song and lyrics.
Paranoid android has always been a really interesting one to me - it has a brightness to it from the acoustic and the voicings higher up the neck but sounds really menacing at the same time
Seriously, I’m not a crazy huge Radiohead fan, but man that song has something to it that I haven’t heard anywhere else. It’s like its so overly cheerful in a way that it’s really disturbing. I can’t put it into words right.
Nice...idk what it is about that song, but it’s just Killer to my ears. I was the 16yr old kid in an S-10 Blazer with an ultra Rad stereo system of Max-amplified Highs, Mids & Subs in the ‘90s that blasted that record on CD...4th of July sounded amazing then & always Will to me. there’s a very low bass frequency in the beginning of it that rattled coins enough to flip them over in the ashtray. the groove delivered by the drums coming in is unforgettable, the guitar tracks are heavy, but go sonic & Cornell’s Vocal Performance is the Greatest, as always. Goddamn, I Miss Him & the Music He Didn’t Get to Give Us. Thanks for Reminding Me to Jam 4th of July on My Commute!
@@dobocsillag7007 yeah I have. But it's two different genres, and comparing the two just doesn't work. Even still, you can't listen to something like Frogs and tell me it isn't a dark riff
thats the undarkest song on the whole god damn list. and whats so beautiful about it it sucks balls doors fans should get over themselves doors most overrated band in existence.
Not counting with the metal stereotypes, that's probably the darkest soundscape I know of - not the riff alone or the lyrics, but all its sound as a whole. It sometimes still amazes me how deep into the dark it goes, almost like the first few time I have heard it 20 years ago. I even have a dark playlist and made sure that was the starting track.
@@pedroedsos the whole unknown pleasures album is like that, the space left between each song adds an eery ambience to it aswell, and the cover seems like such a perfect representation of the music inside
That's right, it's superdark, anyway it's very hard to pick a song from the whole Soundgarden catalogue when it comes to darkness. If I had to, I would probably go for either Gun or I Awake from 'Louder Than Love'.
Listen cry of fear ost riff and you will see that you're wrong And also the genre dsbm ( dépressif black métal) Will show u that its in the 2000-2015 years that much more dark riffs exists
@@evanenitnelav Layne also wrote the riffs for Angry Chair, it's one of the few songs where he has a writing credit for something other than lyrics. He also wrote a pretty big chunk of the band's lyrics during the 90's. He was more than a singer and occasional writer.
@@evanenitnelav There are only 3 songs in the AIC catalog for which Layne wrote the music and one of them is Angry Chair (the other two are Hate to Feel on Dirt and Head Creeps on the self-titled album). That is why he played the guitar when performing Angry Chair and Hate to Feel live.
I think frogs is mind blowing How can something so simple sound so unique and dark, I love it so much The whole album is amazing, my favorite one by AiC
"Darkest" seems to refer to psychologically disturbing riffs not necessarily heaviest, considering there was no distortion. Interesting list, nice to see some classics in there.
@@viniciusn9893 é, não é a toa que a corda mi é desafinada para baixo... Mas se for pensar assim, eu preferiria colocar Paper Cuts, o riff é um dos mais obscuros do Nirvana.
New Dawn Fades by Joy Division was the darkest guitar I had ever heard, a year later and Im just now picking up guitar and hoping to be able to play it soon
Fun fact: “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was originally called “In A Garden of Eden” but when they recorded it, the singer was so drunk it sounded like he said “In a Gadda da vida” so the band just called it that. Funny story Quick edit: Check out God Am by Alice In Chains, one of the most freakiest songs ever made. “World dies I still pay taxes” Godam that line makes my hairs stand up.
I'm just thinking: Will The Stooges be here? They're pretty dark, but I don't think they'll be here. I Wanna Be Your Dog starts playing immediately after it...
@Blue Heeler he’s definitely in the same league lol, he and Alice are known for making dark music, they’ve got music that is darker than anything sabbath did. Both bands kick ass but AIC and a lot of cantrells riffs are the definition of dark
@@dualtahunter4043 get list no doubt, I’d def put get born again above head creeps, frogs would probably be #1 for me. Jerry’s Incredible album degradation trip is dark as fuck too with some dark ass riffs. Jerry is a fuckin genius of makin dark music and writing incredible riffs. Degradation is an absolute must listen for anyone who hasn’t heard it
There’s a dark edge to some early B-52s. Planet Claire uses the “Peter Gunn” riff. I’d never made this connection before, but Fred Schneider's lunatic intensity is kind of like Black Francis's…
On a related note, "Shiny Happy People" sounds so over-bright it gives off dark vibes; I think it was Blender Magazine that said it "sounded like a serial killer's ringtone" or something.
This is a good list, but I'll repeat what someone said below: I think we may be confusing 'dark' with 'heavy'. And I'm not sure that dirge/sludge/death/black metal applies. A handful of layered and heavily processed power chords are not a 'riff' - ref Nomine Satanas by Bathory mentioned below. It's a great tune, but it doesn't really have a riff. Here are a few of my candidates. YMMV. John Cale - Gun (LP: Fear) Iggy Pop - Sister Midnight (LP: The Idiot) Iggy and the Stooges - I Need Somebody (LP: Raw Power) Soundgarden - Fell on Black Days (LP: Superunknown) Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (LP: White Light/White Heat)
I wouldn’t say Poly sounds dark at all by itself. It’s more the lyrics and general vibe of the vocals that make the song so dark. P.S. as far as just the riffs themselves I personally think Obituary’s cause of Death album is stuffed full of riffs darker then everything on this list except the cure and alice in chains riffs.
Yes! that lick is definitely List-Worthy. btw, if you play geetar, try de-tuning the D, G & B strings down a little, maybe an 8th of a step...just enough to make a D-Chord sound Crappy. I was amazed...a Cool Older Kid told me the trick/secret in the ‘90s & he was a drummer.
I don't think 'Polly' is that dark of a riff it just feels that way with the lyrics but I think that 'Sappy (sad version)' by Kurt Cobain definitely is one of the darkest riffs
I Wanna Be Your Dog and The End; both menacing from opposite ends of the scale. Both riffs absolutely nailed. Keep up the great work, Bloxsy. Dynamite account, this👌🏼
@shane h but why and how is heavy and dark music, dark only for teenagers (when I've never actually met a teen thats listened to BM), while a band that capitalized on teenage angst is actually dark?...
Literally any riff from Iron Maiden's X Factor album. I mean, it's their darkest and most introspective album. And it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
Oh, for me it's probably gonna have to be Tool's "Prison Sex", and Faith No More's "Jizzlobber". Both swampy sounding riffs with lyrics about...well...um But, great video! Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath on the Black Sabbath album is one of my faves!
1:51 What tuning do you use for The End? Id love to play this song but all of the tutorials on yt are really shitty :/ Sounds great anyhow you have some real talent for sure 🙌
Double Drop-D, D-A-D-G-B-D (as evidenced in live performances of the time), which when I read about "Venus in Furs" (itself done on E-A-D-G-B-D or one whole tone lower or semitone like in the recording), I can't help but think that whatever real-life meeting Lou and Robbie had (which wouldn't have been well reflected by the film), there most certainly would've been a discussion on "Venus in Furs" and Lou laying the gauntlet, "top that!".
Nicely curated collection, Day of the Lords was covered by one of my faves Neurosis, which fits nicely in the obscure. I think Bowie’s Blackstar would bump off some of the picks easily. How about BH’s Bela Lugosi’s Dead? Cheers
By the way, feel free to throw out some names of dark sounding songs or riffs below. I'm sure others have their own favourites across various genres that aren't represented here. This is just my list.
Imo another dark AIC riff would be Angry Chair
Something in the way is very dark in my opinion.
something in the way is hella dark
Off top of me 'ead
- Hamlet (POW POW POW) by the Birthday Party but idk if you'd call it dark or campy?
- New Nails - Mission of Burma
Yeah, Something in the Way by Nirvana is pretty dark.
I knew the song Black Sabbath by the band Black Sabbath off their debut album Black Sabbath would be on here.
Its funny because imo theres so many more sabbath songs that sound “darker” but everyone lists that as their “heaviest”. Like lord of this world, megalomania, into the void, and sabbath bloody sabbath sound sooooo heavy
What u need is a dark song By Boston, named Boston off their album Boston performed live in Boston but that never happened
Its a tritone itself
@@PiperAtTheGatesOfYourMom N.I.B is also pretty dark sounding
Iron Maiden has a cool number called 'iron maiden' in their debut album iron maiden
polly is not even a dark sounding riff. its just a dark song
something in the way should’ve been on this instead
Exactly what I was thinking, polly’s chords are very joyful sounding. Something like Paper Cuts, a song I love personally, has a much much darker guitar riff than most of these
Heart shaped box. Definitely one of his darkest rifts. Simple yet powerful
dive, milk it, and anorexorcist are pretty dark
Agreed
Top 15 darkest riffs:
All songs by Alice in Chains
In what universe are the riffs in tracks like 'Swing on This' and 'Sunshine' 'dark'?
I wouldn't even say the majority of AiC's music is dark. The influence of bands like AC/DC and Guns n' Roses stands out in more tracks than the influence of heavier and 'darker' bands does.
I know something bout you, yeah very dark
I thought about AIC too...
@@_Stroda Well, maybe you can't say that for the entire 'Facelift' album, which is partly influenced by street and sleaze metal, but 'Dirt' and 'Tripod' are as dark as can be... Damn, even some of their acoustic songs are: 'Am I Inside' and 'Rotten Apples' for instance.
Opening riff for bleed the freak is pretty dark to me
I’ve gotta say “I want you” has one of the heaviest riffs to come out before metal was a thing
Helter Skelter too.
YES
“I Want You” by the Beatles was the first doom riff. Change my mind.
If I didn’t know it was the Beatles I’d think it was a Sabbath riff tbh.
“I Want You” wasn’t even the first song to have a doomy riff. There have been songs before that have had doomy riffs.
@@metalheadgamer80 like…?
Actually the oldest song in here is Venus In Furs by the VU
venus in furs is before abbey road
Something in the way by Nirvana it's pretty dark
@Tom Mccarthy big long now sounds even darker imo
@Tom Mccarthy floyd the barber is the darkest in this reporter's opinion.
*Laughs in Alice In Chains*
I think Come As You Are is pretty dark if you think about it
Serve the servants more darkest(maybe for me)
I want you (she’s so heavy) is underrated and I’m glad you added it
Underrated 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@azevbn326 yeah it’s my favorite and doesn’t always get the credit it deserves
@@maxieboy1232 Are you drunk ?
@@azevbn326 wym???
@@maxieboy1232 The Beatles have sold 2 billion albums and you say they have an underrated song? Maybe I Want You isn't their most famous song, but it's far from underrated. She is much better known than most of the greatest hits of other bands.
You and I have very different definitions of "Dark"
@Rowan Melton I expected The End by The Doors on here and it definitely fits. It's a really dark song
@Rowan Melton Black Sabbath shouldn’t be on the list? Thats pretty much as dark a riff as they come, it literally uses “The Devils Tritone” don’t see any issue with it being here it was actually one of the only ones I agreed with to be honest.
@Rowan Melton I agree. Also the darkest music is pretty much all underground, these are way too popular riffs and songs for me to be dark and to relate to in dark or depressing moments
wouldn’t exactly call them light riffs, though
@Rowan Melton I think the end by the doors is very dark and I do think it belongs here. The riff is dark and so is the overall tone of the song and lyrics.
"Double Dare" by Bauhaus, "Siamese Twins" and "One Hundred Years" by The Cure, and "New Dawn Fades" by Joy Division are all pretty dark riffs imo
Facts the cure definitely has some of the darkest riffs
yes Siamese twins is my favourite cure song its so sad
you literally listed all of my favorite songs
do you know any other songs just like them
Paranoid android has always been a really interesting one to me - it has a brightness to it from the acoustic and the voicings higher up the neck but sounds really menacing at the same time
Seriously, I’m not a crazy huge Radiohead fan, but man that song has something to it that I haven’t heard anywhere else. It’s like its so overly cheerful in a way that it’s really disturbing. I can’t put it into words right.
So what you're saying is that it's a Radiohead song
While "Paranoid Android" is a great pick from Radiohead, for me "Street Spirit" takes the cake in terms of dark vibes.
Kid A has some pretty dark ones. But I guess Creep is the most darkest, IMO.
Surely!!! "Street Spirit" is their finest example of what a melancholic riff is.
@@grungekid1539 Kid A...I know what you're talking about - Kid A, Opmistic, In Limbo, Morning Bell...
2 + 2 = 5 is ominous as hell
I think in limbo is the darkest Radiohead riff
I'd swap out Black Hole Sun for 4th of July myself
4th of july would make the connection too heavy to play this video
Nice...idk what it is about that song, but it’s just Killer to my ears. I was the 16yr old kid in an S-10 Blazer with an ultra Rad stereo system of Max-amplified Highs, Mids & Subs in the ‘90s that blasted that record on CD...4th of July sounded amazing then & always Will to me. there’s a very low bass frequency in the beginning of it that rattled coins enough to flip them over in the ashtray. the groove delivered by the drums coming in is unforgettable, the guitar tracks are heavy, but go sonic & Cornell’s Vocal Performance is the Greatest, as always. Goddamn, I Miss Him & the Music He Didn’t Get to Give Us. Thanks for Reminding Me to Jam 4th of July on My Commute!
Nah
Applebite
Limo wreck or new damage
Alice in Chains has the darkest riffs ever
Pleb
Dirt as an album always leaves me suicidal
Two words. Sludge Factory
Have you ever listened doom metal?
AiC and dark riffs omg 😂😂😂
@@dobocsillag7007 yeah I have. But it's two different genres, and comparing the two just doesn't work. Even still, you can't listen to something like Frogs and tell me it isn't a dark riff
That Doors song is so goddamn beautifully dark
It's even hard to call it 'song'! It's a musical drama w/a couple of different acts. And it's monumental in its dark beautty.
thats the undarkest song on the whole god damn list. and whats so beautiful about it it sucks balls doors fans should get over themselves doors most overrated band in existence.
@@tahamohammedi5898 no
@@tahamohammedi5898 good effort
but yeah a bleak 10 min psychedelic song about death and existential angst isn't dark
That song has no meaning like Kurt’s lyrics
I knew The Cure would be here. The Forest is one of the darkest songs I've ever heard and I'm into black metal.
Idiot sun by leviathan
Lmao no you aren't into bm if that's the darkest riff you've heard
Lmao no you aren't into bm if that's the darkest riff you've heard
@@kaustubhthakur5793 the darkest i know is idiot sun by leviathan
@@kaustubhthakur5793 *cough gatekeeper cough*
Liked straight away for day of the Lords
Thank you.
Underrated track indeed.
Not counting with the metal stereotypes, that's probably the darkest soundscape I know of - not the riff alone or the lyrics, but all its sound as a whole. It sometimes still amazes me how deep into the dark it goes, almost like the first few time I have heard it 20 years ago. I even have a dark playlist and made sure that was the starting track.
Exactly, me too, 5 seconds in
@@pedroedsos the whole unknown pleasures album is like that, the space left between each song adds an eery ambience to it aswell, and the cover seems like such a perfect representation of the music inside
4th of July (Soundgarden) is the darkest riff ever write
That's right, it's superdark, anyway it's very hard to pick a song from the whole Soundgarden catalogue when it comes to darkness. If I had to, I would probably go for either Gun or I Awake from 'Louder Than Love'.
mailman
Definitely super dark but I think AIC has some darker stuff and music in general. AIC are the masters of dark depressing eerie rock/metal music
Came here to say this song also.4th of July darkest riff ever
@@edybuoso113 nothing to say is also dark as dark gets
The Beatles always surprise me.
sounds like Tiamat
Listen to Eddie Hazel’s version of that song. Holy fuck it’s a trip
The song “I Want You” is more what I’d call “very heavy” instead of dark, at least by 60s standards. Not that it’s not heavy now. 😀
@@gregmercil3968 the Beatles 60s dark rock is so underrated. That song is up there with the doors and rolling stones if you ask me!
@@Pinktree513 'Because' is another great example. Such a terrifying but yet beautiful song
So, 70's and 90's were the times with more darkest riffs.
Listen cry of fear ost riff and you will see that you're wrong
And also the genre dsbm ( dépressif black métal) Will show u that its in the 2000-2015 years that much more dark riffs exists
Two best erasers of rock music. 80s had a few big albums but not as many
Dude, the metal scene from the 80s is laughing at you
Shine On You Crazy Diamond is by far the simplest riff on this list but every damn time I hear it I get goosebumps. What an emotionally powerful song.
I’m not much of a Pink Floyd fan - most of my musical taste is 80s new waves and 2010s indy - but this is absolutely true
It feels oddly energetic
simpler than black sabbath??
"Dirt", "Love, Hate, Love", "Sickman", "Angry Chair"... like someone else said in the comments, this could be a Jerry Cantrell only video
Indeed but give Layne Staley credit where credit is due, Angry Chair was written by him, not Jerry.
@@myr27 jerry wrote the music. layne might’ve written the lyrics but jerry wrote the music
@@evanenitnelav Layne also wrote the riffs for Angry Chair, it's one of the few songs where he has a writing credit for something other than lyrics. He also wrote a pretty big chunk of the band's lyrics during the 90's. He was more than a singer and occasional writer.
@@evanenitnelav There are only 3 songs in the AIC catalog for which Layne wrote the music and one of them is Angry Chair (the other two are Hate to Feel on Dirt and Head Creeps on the self-titled album). That is why he played the guitar when performing Angry Chair and Hate to Feel live.
@@myr27 The more you know. Thank you!
Joy division have a lot dark lyric and riffs
And if you consider the way the band ended, with a suicide, it just makes them even darker
Anything from the Crow soundtrack
Dazed and confused is another great one
Yeah
One of the Yardbird's little known gems.
@@lameduck3630 yeah but I was more talking about zeppelins which is a much heavier interpretation
God yes. That and “When The Levee Breaks”.
And No Quarter
I think frogs is mind blowing
How can something so simple sound so unique and dark, I love it so much
The whole album is amazing, my favorite one by AiC
Couldn't have been complete without Alice in Chains, one of the best bands of all time.
"Darkest" seems to refer to psychologically disturbing riffs not necessarily heaviest, considering there was no distortion. Interesting list, nice to see some classics in there.
I hate distortion, a song can seem eerie and dark even without distortion, if not more, distortion seems extra
@@Kiteattackkilo so you'd be 100% fine if almost all rock disappeared
@@Happylink75 no, most rock doesn't have distortion lmao
@@Kiteattackkilo lol basically all rock has some distortion, don’t be silly
@@Kiteattackkilo try and look up iconic rock/metal riffs without distortion. sounds ridiculous
>”the darkest riffs”
>paint it black
literally
I think “a hundred years” should be on here instead of a forest if we’re talking cure
Fuck yes!!!
the entire pornography album
"Siamese Twins" riff is also pretty dark
Nice porcupine pfp
The end, what a song, and what a riff
Dark riffs with no black metal. Bruh moment
**Sad kvlt noises**
Black metal isn't necessarily dark. Just heavy to the point of nausea.
@@seffor not even heavy. Just really fast. Havent heard much of it though so what do i know. Just never found it heavy
@@eliaskarasik194 Everyone has a different opinion but inagree that black metal isn't heavy. I mean it is...in a different way
@@foxnoop5895 yeah of course thats just my opinion on it ahah. Dont really find it heavy
I appreciate you cutting I Want You (She's So Heavy) exactly where it cuts on the album.
List of dark riffs without Bauhaus? I'm disappointed.
pretty underrated band imo!
i was waiting on some bauhaus
🖨️
Yeah there were a ton of other darker sounding riffs that I could think of but I feel like this video was more focused on popular riffs haha.
Daniel Ash developed his own style of playing. Phenomenal band!
Me: There´s no way the beatles have a dark song
The beatles: SHE'S SO HEAVY! HEAVYYY! HEAVYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
"Run for Your Life," "Norwegian Wood," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"... They have a number of dark tunes.
I knew that song only in the form of the Coroner version, sure was surprised to find out it’s a Beatles cover !
Im only sleeping, happiness is a warm gun, Im so tired, Blue Jay Way... greatest songs
Maxwell silver hammer: bang bang
Alice In Chains- frogs is definitely the darkest and my favorite on this list. It’s just so chaotic and beautiful at the same time.
I can see riffs from Slint's Spiderland in this list.
I clicked on this video and was like, "The End" better be on this list. Such a depressing song but yet strangely therapeutic.
The My Chemical Romance one?
@@majormusic2098 No, The Doors😁 that entire song is the definition of dark, musically and lyrically.
@@KobradiaSpringfield I thought you meant the Beatles 😂
@@peterthirdandthebridges Yoooooo, that's a good tune as well!! I forgot about that song.
@@peterthirdandthebridges yeah.
Frogs is such an underrated song. I'm glad you included it
Yes!!
I was literally thinking of it when I saw the title “darkest riffs”
Agreed.
one of my favorite AIC songs
I was just waiting for AiC the whole time
The stooges one is so simple but so freaking effective
Kashmir’s riff is absolutely haunting and so powerful, that’s exactly how Jimmy Page and Robert Plant described the song
I knew Black Sabbath would be #1 and I was gonna be pissed if it wasn’t. Haha
Amazing! I'd only change polly for heart shaped box, but it's personal hahaha cheers from brazil
A história de Polly é bem mais obscura do que Heart Shaped Box... Me dá nojo e arrepios.
@@yurigarcia4062sim! Sem duvidas, mas no quesito sonoridade do Riff, eu acho o riff de heart shaped box mais obscuro
@@viniciusn9893 é, não é a toa que a corda mi é desafinada para baixo... Mas se for pensar assim, eu preferiria colocar Paper Cuts, o riff é um dos mais obscuros do Nirvana.
I think the riff from nirvana paper cuts could have made it. And big long now. And aero zeppelin.
Polly is the darkest song, but something in the way has the darkest riff
New Dawn Fades by Joy Division was the darkest guitar I had ever heard, a year later and Im just now picking up guitar and hoping to be able to play it soon
"Peephole", System of a Down.
Best band ever
Washer by Slint would fit nicely in this category
Fun fact: “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was originally called “In A Garden of Eden” but when they recorded it, the singer was so drunk it sounded like he said “In a Gadda da vida” so the band just called it that. Funny story
Quick edit: Check out God Am by Alice In Chains, one of the most freakiest songs ever made. “World dies I still pay taxes” Godam that line makes my hairs stand up.
I see you like ghostemane
@@tommasoluchetti8796 used to listen to him a while ago, not anymore, but he has come a long way since 2015, I respect him, good hardcore ep too.
Indeed 😉
It's 'In THE Garden of Eden,' I believe. Just being precise.
@@kilgoretrout5895 Yup your right!
yet another banger of a video! I always forget how good paranoid android is!
Thank you!
It's gotta be said im still in awe at the tones you get out of that SG
I'm just thinking:
Will The Stooges be here? They're pretty dark, but I don't think they'll be here.
I Wanna Be Your Dog starts playing immediately after it...
Jerry Cantrell could have owned the top 5 spots
By himself😁
I literally thought this exact thought to myself.. Angry Chair, Sickman, Love Hate Love, Sludge Factory, Dirt, so many man
@Blue Heeler agreed iommi wrote some great dark riffs,
But to say not even in the same league, is a bit of a stretch
Agree to disagree
Cheers!
@Blue Heeler he’s definitely in the same league lol, he and Alice are known for making dark music, they’ve got music that is darker than anything sabbath did. Both bands kick ass but AIC and a lot of cantrells riffs are the definition of dark
1. Died
2. Sludge Factory
3. Head Creeps
4. Frogs
5. Get Born Again
@@dualtahunter4043 get list no doubt, I’d def put get born again above head creeps, frogs would probably be #1 for me. Jerry’s Incredible album degradation trip is dark as fuck too with some dark ass riffs. Jerry is a fuckin genius of makin dark music and writing incredible riffs. Degradation is an absolute must listen for anyone who hasn’t heard it
Eighties by Killing Joke should have been on there
You mean the song Nirvana “covered”? A fine riff, but I’d vote for “Requiem” from their 1st album.
Eighties by Killing Joke is a rip-off of Life Goes On by The Damned - just sayin...
@@Joeskint i mean i know, but how do you name a guitar riff, i just said the one i thought would be better for this listm
Burn The Rain by Kurt Cobain is the most depressing sounding riff in the world. Like none of the ones in this vid touch that shit!
Many cool dark riffs on here. Venus in Furs is probably my favourite. It's hypnotic. Also, I never expected my beloved Beatles on this list.
Might as well be called "all my favourite songs"
Yea agreed
tbf they're really good songs
The entirety of songs for the deaf by QOTSA is just dark and almost evil sounding riffs
Underrated band. Only got into them because of Grohl at first but I liked it more the more I listened
Like Clockwork too. Love how sinister it sounds.
I’ve always thought rock lobster sounded dark even though it’s dumb song
There’s a dark edge to some early B-52s. Planet Claire uses the “Peter Gunn” riff. I’d never made this connection before, but Fred Schneider's lunatic intensity is kind of like Black Francis's…
On a related note, "Shiny Happy People" sounds so over-bright it gives off dark vibes; I think it was Blender Magazine that said it "sounded like a serial killer's ringtone" or something.
Could you please make a top 10 the doors riffs?
Thissss
yesssss
Yessss plz
This is a good list, but I'll repeat what someone said below: I think we may be confusing 'dark' with 'heavy'. And I'm not sure that dirge/sludge/death/black metal applies. A handful of layered and heavily processed power chords are not a 'riff' - ref Nomine Satanas by Bathory mentioned below. It's a great tune, but it doesn't really have a riff. Here are a few of my candidates. YMMV.
John Cale - Gun (LP: Fear)
Iggy Pop - Sister Midnight (LP: The Idiot)
Iggy and the Stooges - I Need Somebody (LP: Raw Power)
Soundgarden - Fell on Black Days (LP: Superunknown)
Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (LP: White Light/White Heat)
Yeah, I'd say that Blackbriar are the most thematically dark band I've heard, but not the heaviest. Definitely two distinctions, there.
i wouldn't necessarily say Fell On Black Days is particularly dark
@@cct4388 it sounds kinda happy especially the intro
@@Happylink75 yeah exactly
I wouldn’t say Poly sounds dark at all by itself. It’s more the lyrics and general vibe of the vocals that make the song so dark. P.S. as far as just the riffs themselves I personally think Obituary’s cause of Death album is stuffed full of riffs darker then everything on this list except the cure and alice in chains riffs.
Alice In Chains - Love, hate, Love intro riff... Many nice "dark" riff.
Love hate love def some dark shit, Cantrell is the king of writing dark depressing eerie riffs
Feel The Pain by The Damned, a song that paved the way to dark when British punk was at its early stages.
Completely agree. bro!
Yes! that lick is definitely List-Worthy. btw, if you play geetar, try de-tuning the D, G & B strings down a little, maybe an 8th of a step...just enough to make a D-Chord sound Crappy. I was amazed...a Cool Older Kid told me the trick/secret in the ‘90s & he was a drummer.
You have A Forest by The Cure in there - that song is so strange and moody; one if my favs. You have impeccable taste in music!
Queens of the Stone Age - Sick,Sick,Sick
Black Sabbath - Iron Man
Some SOAD Songs
I don't think 'Polly' is that dark of a riff it just feels that way with the lyrics but I think that 'Sappy (sad version)' by Kurt Cobain definitely is one of the darkest riffs
Slint spiderland album has darkest riffs than any other song of this video
Regards
love that album
@@theohallworth2632 man thats an amazibg album wich isnt famous at all but change the 90s music
@@Tercio-1534 exactly , so much tension and fear conveyed with guitars , drums , vocals and bass alone
Amen!
City of Caterpillar is dark and intense too. Similar vibe to Slint.
POLLY?!?! Darkest “riffs”
Yeah, the lyrics are definitely dark but the riff isn't at all.
Aparently the lyrics are of a woman who was raped but dont quote me on that
Happy riff
@@NadborSn1p3R that is true
Yeah, if we take the song as the whole it definitely makes sense. Just the first time I watched this I laughed thinking he was trolling.
Very good to see The Doors here. It blows my mind how overlooked they are
Agreed. I would’ve added “not to touch the earth” on here.
@@ravila704 oh fuck yea brother, one of my favorites by them
@@ravila704 Great suggestion. Fucking top shelf song of theirs
How do u always seem to get the tones to almost completely match up perfectly, that’s what’s most insane about yr videos
So glad to see that Beatles riff on the list. Epic. And who woulda thought they'd be on here?
glad to saw soundgarden and alice in chains made the top ten
great list, if I were to make a list I would put 4ht of july from Soundgarden, sludge factory or angry chair of Alice in chains
Holy Diver
I would have went with the electric riff from “Hey You” for Pink Floyd. I think that’s as dark and heavy as Floyd ever got. Great list!
My thoughts exactly
I Wanna Be Your Dog and The End; both menacing from opposite ends of the scale. Both riffs absolutely nailed.
Keep up the great work, Bloxsy. Dynamite account, this👌🏼
Hole - Doll Parts
Nirvana - Big Long Now
Alice in Chains - Love Hate Love
Mudhoney - Sweet Young Thing
Every black metal riff ever
Mütiilation
Crap metal.
@@beepst but yeah, Nirvana and Radiohead really murder it, right?
@shane h but why and how is heavy and dark music, dark only for teenagers (when I've never actually met a teen thats listened to BM), while a band that capitalized on teenage angst is actually dark?...
@@beepst I don’t like it but saying black metal isn’t dark is pretty dumb
Define dark lol
Dark, moody, depressing etc lol It was going to be a Halloween thing but I scrapped it. Thought I'd give it another go.
Scream of the butterfly- acid bath
The end is pretty dark I totally agree with that one
I’m so glad to see Frogs on here, the tone sounds great on it, too.
Black Sabbath “N.I.B” and Nirvana “something in the way” but the live at the bbc version.
Every doom metal/ black metal/ deathcore/ gothic metal riff ever
That clean intro from Floods by Pantera is also pretty dark
Literally any riff from Iron Maiden's X Factor album. I mean, it's their darkest and most introspective album. And it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
¡Excelente lista! Solamente falto el riff Electric Funeral, de Black Sabbath. Un riff totalmente oscuro y siniestro.
I didn't realize what Polly was about until I tried to sing it once...
“The Aeroplane Flies High” - Smashing Pumpkins
absolutely
Polly in electric guitar makes the song that much darker
Dark Nirvana🤣 i think polly isn't dark. The Velvet Underground darker
@@superfuzzbigmuff8262 Polly is a dark song dude a song about a girl being fucking raped that's dark as shit.
@@floydofnova2743 maybe you're right)
@@superfuzzbigmuff8262and Imagine this song with distortion.
@@floydofnova2743 search for: Polly live big rock concert
Everyone knows the 15 darkest riffs are all Alice in Chains. Then you can consider other bands
Oh, for me it's probably gonna have to be Tool's "Prison Sex", and Faith No More's "Jizzlobber". Both swampy sounding riffs with lyrics about...well...um
But, great video! Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath on the Black Sabbath album is one of my faves!
Dude you’re awesome literally every song you chose was perfect and a favorite song of mine like goddamn
he has a direct line to my Musical Soul as well.
Every Wipers riff.
“My Propeller” by Arctic Monkeys would be in my personal list
Humbug could take up the entire list on it's own
1:51 What tuning do you use for The End?
Id love to play this song but all of the tutorials on yt are really shitty :/ Sounds great anyhow you have some real talent for sure 🙌
Double Drop-D, D-A-D-G-B-D (as evidenced in live performances of the time), which when I read about "Venus in Furs" (itself done on E-A-D-G-B-D or one whole tone lower or semitone like in the recording), I can't help but think that whatever real-life meeting Lou and Robbie had (which wouldn't have been well reflected by the film), there most certainly would've been a discussion on "Venus in Furs" and Lou laying the gauntlet, "top that!".
Shine on you crazy diamond always hits me so hard, after that intro solo and then those notes slowly echoing through just floors me
Обожаю твой канал, мужик! )))
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We need a pedal board amp and guitars vid someday
Nicely curated collection, Day of the Lords was covered by one of my faves Neurosis, which fits nicely in the obscure. I think Bowie’s Blackstar would bump off some of the picks easily. How about BH’s Bela Lugosi’s Dead? Cheers
One is sad not dark...
and Frogs is like it came from an old Opeth album
How do you define dark riffs? I’d add the arctic monkeys’ “Crying Lightning”
you should do top dinosaur jr or sonic youth riffs :)