Best Deathcore Riffs

[@NikNocturnal]

*DUN DUN DUN*

[@multisafttv]

*in a very Deep voice*

[@hellion6737]

**BREEEEEEE**

[@thomashalley7258]

Do you use mostly active pickups?

[@pandarage21]

back in the day when I was a young guitarist I reached out to winds of plague on Myspace lol and the guitarist sent me the tabs to anthems of apocalypse... I'm 32 now and that was one of the coolest things

[@WHOREHAMMER_OFFICIAL]

Dun

[@ImLiterallytheShadows]

Intensified Genocide riff gets me going everytime without fail

[@MatthewsTrueShow]

When the dropped it as a single it was such a powerful tease

[@SmittyC-hf9zt]

I love Shadow of Intent. They've got such a dark beauty to their music. No other band sounds like them. They're also only one of 3 dethcore bands I listen to. I'm more a metalcore guy. 🤘

[@blacksepikseye7300]

BATHE IN THE BLOOD

[@VeritabIlIti]

Every riff on the new album is just pure fire. Still up there for AOTY for me, and it was basically the first since it dropped in January!

[@genuinejustin6269]

Shadow of Intent is HANDS DOWN one of the best bands. They are seriously some of the most talented musicians I've ever heard. Not a SINGLE bad song.

[@d4rktr4nqui11ity]

The In Dying Days riff is one of the greatest riffs ever created. Very happy to see it on this list.

[@djentmas867]

@Dragon Ball fans can't read can't read. He said it is, and it is.

[@MasterBalderichProductions]

I can agree with that!

[@mike_tkgchs]

super fun to play too

[@LeMichaelJordansPoleRiders]

All ABRB riffs are god-tier

[@tonytonytallboy]

so many fun grooves from them

[@metaloreo8423]

Honestly my favorite Lorna Shore riff is Of The Abyss after will says “we are infinite” in the first chorus

[@mateogarrido2015]

With the choir and hyper speed double bass along with it 😮‍💨

[@metaloreo8423]

@@mateogarrido2015 hell yeah 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@mattb5268]

The fact that Pray for Plagues is from 2006 makes me feel incredibly old! Sick riffs and awesome playthroughs 🤘

[@DeAdiLLuSioNz]

Same with Entombment of a Machine, came out in ‘05

[@braydenpresley1437]

That Black Mammoth riff is by far my favorite. That song, along with the powerful lyrics, is incredible.

[@Jumper76Anton]

I would argue there's better riffs on that album. Heads Will Hang main riff or the Hydra breakdown riff. But I guess when it comes to the more mainstream deathcore songs Black Mammoth is probably up there.

[@tschantz]

@@Jumper76Anton Hydra is phenomenal. My favorite song right now. Fit for an Autopsy is unbelievable.

[@mrstaypuft1942]

Very underrated album I say !

[@williamiceman9939]

Early Make Them Suffer is so underrated. Their early stuff is what got me into heavy music

[@jbowen8538]

Same here dude. Every song on Neverbloom is dethcore perfection in my opinion.

[@JohnMurse]

@@jbowen8538 Neverbloom is my all-time favorite album.

[@ThatShitGood]

They were doing that "Blackened Deathcore" thing literally a decade before it becomes trendy, very very ahead of their time.

[@ankit.joshi30]

At the peak era of deathcore I would have loved nik playing riffs in almost all songs

[@SpaghettiWithMeatSauce]

Never realized Pray For Plagues was an At The Gates-core song. We need more modern At The Gates deathcore and metalcore.

[@bengreenbank]

I think they actually ripped them off second hand from Black Dahlia Murder, Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying rather than from At the Gates themselves. Although obviously ATG are the source of that whole riff style.

[@albertsuchan9366]

Oh the entirety of Count your Blessings is pretty much a Gothen-core album haha

[@edgyxveggie9432]

Bro there are hundreds of bands doing ATGcore shit in 2022

[@deviltelletubbie]

I remember in an interview with Oli during the There is a Hell… era (possibly Sempiternal?) he was asked to go through the primary influences for each album. He straight up calls Count Your Blessings an At the Gates rip off and says they were a bunch of 17/18 year olds trying to make the same kind of music lmao Makes it even cooler that after Count Your Blessings they ended up doing Suicide Season and There is a Hell with Henrik Udd. BMTH were definitely big melodeath fans back in the day.

[@xhellscythex]

@@edgyxveggie9432 Hundreds? Can you give me a list of these bands, just curious

[@losingapathy]

Unanswered and What a Horrible Night to have a Curse might have to be 2 of the most iconic intros of all time

[@BigSleep3750]

Goat of departure is my shit. But imo TBDM isn’t deathcore

[@carrenablastbeat7848]

melodic death metal

[@metalonabudget574]

Black Dahlia Murder is still my favorite band of all time rip Trevor

[@YaBoyJRock42069]

TBDM is not deathcore. Period.

[@cthulhu4411]

What a horrible night to have a curse is one of my fav songs ever

[@secondsolstice8695]

The fact that Adam downstrokes that To The Hellfire riff still boggles my mind

[@Thvll]

His picking hand is so fucking scary. Even into the earth, 16ths at 150, he’s still downpicking it all.

[@Bassgangvt]

Can’t forget that riff in pain remains I.

[@fastuncio]

He does WHAT?

[@ondrejlukas326]

@@fastuncio yeah lol I mean into the earth is unreal tbh 16ths on 150 BPM or stuff is insane

[@tose5566]

@@ondrejlukas326 that’s fucking insane I didn’t know that

[@asalas.photography]

These are all fuckin' top tier. JFAC was 2005 though.

[@nthnhbsn1909]

This made me so nostalgic. So many killer riffs.

[@Conundrums._]

3:32 one of the greatest riffs ever, I wish I could see this riff live one day.

[@losingapathy]

that and the soil the stillborn riff are some of my favorite riffs. hope one day IA just decides to do a live show somewhere, i know a lot of people would pay A LOT of money to see that

[@drumsaresexy]

Whenever any song from that album comes on it makes me so happy, that whole album is fire and so is most of their discography tbh.

[@Admiral_Potato41]

I know IA is way more refined and brutal now, but something about the riffs from their first album just makes them slap so hard. Maybe part of it is nostalgia but Eddie's constant downtuning mid song and heavy chugginess was just chefs kiss

[@febriansyah2265]

True

[@thelilpeanutdotgov]

@@losingapathyreal. they don’t do live though, since IA has 2 real playing members: aaron on drums and eddie on lead, eddie on rhythm, and eddie on bass :( so real live shows aren’t very feasible

[@BaenaCarcosa]

Deathcore is good

[@Th3LordZalor]

That Betraying The Martyrs album was a banger back in the day 🔥

[@lightningman212xd6]

We need part 2, part 3, part 4

[@streicherPRIV]

"The Last Ten Seconds Of Life - The Box" some of my favourite riffs of all time in it

[@highferaltruth]

the whole soulless hymns album is full of bangers

[@streicherPRIV]

@@highferaltruthik it's my top 1 favourite album, sad that Spotify took it off

[@iletthedevilin828]

I not only appreciate that you added acacia strain to this, but I also appreciate that you picked a song off come witch. Wormwood is amazing and deserves the praise it gets but so much of their newer stuff is slept on hard

[@mrstaypuft1942]

I’m a huge acacia strain fan. Wormwoods very underrated, Jonestown has a banging riff ! And I agree chinamasta is a great song from the new strain.

[@themandalorian996]

I love that you included Brand of Sacrifice. Love their guitar

[@Driga_]

One of my favorite bands

[@slushpuppydevil]

I had no idea black mammoth riff went that hard, love the album and song but never realised it had a 6th string tapping bit haha

[@DeathMachineJoe]

Friendly reminder that Black Dahlia are melodic death metal, including stuff off of Nocturnal. What a Horrible Night... is still a great pick regardless.

[@HollowSentence22]

Yeah.. I wasn't gonna say anything though

[@thegoonfiles7569]

2016-2020 was a rough period Deathcore, glad it had a comeback!

[@manuept4905]

That FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY album 🙌🏻

[@welltrev]

In Dying Days got me into DeathCore 🔥🔥🔥

[@thecrazzxz3383]

For me it was suicide silence

[@cixcer3821]

Curious when angelmaker will be on a list very underrated band

[@chickentendies7023]

Right? Their 2019 self-titled didn't even get a mention

[@m3tal.]

Got me into death metal actually

[@water9253]

Angel maker is awesome I totally agree with you. They make some heavy shit dude I absolutely love them

[@tickedoffsquid37]

when it comes to deathcore I wouldn't exactly call them underrated, but fully agree lol

[@Desekratedd]

That Allegiance album was my shit back in the day and still hits so hard

[@JassyPabst]

woop! Been some time to have seen a riff video of yours! Awesome 🔥

[@x_overkll_x507]

Count Your Blessings has a special place in my heart

[@rexfordhazelton7601]

I am always impressed by your monster lists. Just the raw memory it takes to recall, and the talent to play the songs and have them sound studio. Good stuff. Great material.

[@KaijuTango]

I love these vids because it introduces me to some new Bangers, definitely will be adding a lot of these to my playlist.

[@HollowSentence22]

Most of these are the songs I grew up listening to in high school. Love em.

[@cxnzz2659]

most of the black dahlia murder’s songs have just absolutely amazing guitar

[@trentonmcintyre5617]

I didn’t realize they were considered core, was surprised to see em

[@elierbonilla230]

@@trentonmcintyre5617 they're more melodic death metal

[@trentonmcintyre5617]

That’s what I figured, but I see them lumped in with a bunch of classic deathcore bands. Maybe it was just the era and the fact they were popular at the same time

[@YuuGotSlamd]

Born Of Osiris- Behold def deserves a spot, every riff in that song is nuts lol

[@lrballistics]

Shadow of Intent busted a pair of cheap headphones back in highschool with The Catacombs. Knew in that moment it was down the deathcore rabbit hole from then on

[@MatthewsTrueShow]

Intro *spits drink everywhere* Every song 10/10 Love the old Myspace era throwbacks. Half these bands don't even play those songs anymore/are even around. Ending it with shadow of intent and that nasty riff, is a total c*** tease.

[@bigmind8508]

The iconic 1-0-0 breakdowns

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

Back in my day, Bring Me The Horizon was deathcore too.

[@skyfighter311]

Yup

[@timgonzales2891]

I saw them play back then.

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

@@timgonzales2891 How was that? When I saw them around 2014 they had just dropped Sempiternal and they sounded like shit live.

[@lanagievski1540]

@@TylerJohnstonGuitar I saw them play around 08 and they were the opposite of tight back then. Oli had yet to take care of his vocals and use proper technique so even though I still enjoyed myself, it was sloppy-shop for sure I would imagine now they’re much more refined and tighter as a unit

[@JonnnyStorrrm]

Yup, the myspace days. I was in middle school rocking to bmth back in 09. I still remember when they dropped "There Is A Hell..." good times

[@Joshhomeslice]

Played with As blood Runs black back when allegiance came out. Great guys.

[@sctkarter1111]

The entire Nocturnal album From BDM crushes riffs. To a breathless oblivion is my personal favorite

[@niklasbolz4267]

That was some straight nostalgia with all shall perish and 2008 carnifex. Damn good times

[@LuigiRBG]

Amazing, great video amigo, thanks for taking the time

[@AShadyDoctor]

This whole video sums up my middle school days. I heard The Cleansing and was hooked

[@MPfortyfour]

The inclusion of Oceano's Samael the destroyer was actually fucking great. How i love that song 🤘🏻🖤🤘🏻

[@EnvisionedBlindness]

The in dying days riff is my go-to "impress the laymen" riff

[@josegamurca]

I love it when you do these kinds of videos, just straight up smashing.

[@aaronschimmel2950]

What a horrible night has one of the coolest licks! Despised icon has an infinite amount of sick riffs too. Glad to see them on here

[@ethanskelly467]

This might just get me into deathcore

[@devvolad7520]

your missing out

[@kirisutegomen12]

@@devvolad7520 you're *

[@AsIfItNeverWas]

I miss the old Termina intros...

[@UnlovedZetsu]

Thy Art Is Murder never disappoints

[@Jerrremy]

So glad to see my favorite riff of all time on here, I, Dementia by Whitechapel is unparalleled.

[@thefiveoceans1902]

Winds of Plague - you get mega props for that. Miss those guys 😩

[@oshikko5375]

man I was really hoping for that one solo from Lazarus by angelmaker or smth. the solo goes hard imo but the vid was still bomb ngl

[@drakoulias5634]

These are definitely some of the deathcore riffs

[@isaac-fl7pl]

Out of all the deathcore riffs of all time, these are definitely some of them

[@ThatShitGood]

"the floor here is made out of floor"

[@thecrazzxz3383]

@@ThatShitGood lmaoo

[@Galen876]

That Winds of Plague riff took me back to trying to learn Anthems of Apocalypse and being surprised that it was in standard tuning

[@deviant_coder]

noises from hell and I'm here for it😈

[@kalpanadas8622]

Hell yeah! 🤘🤘

[@thecrazzxz3383]

Yes

[@wingsoficarus1139]

I didn't realize how much inspiration there is from black metal.

[@KOOLEE88]

omg , quadruple bangers from the start , then brought the good back in 2021 to the end, EPIC

[@noellebarnes6826]

Just showed me so many new bands and reminded me of so many I forgot about!! Thanks for posting!

[@waltervandermolen375]

Nik just casually including my favorite deathcore band. I love Shadow of Intent😊

[@Golgari213]

Thank you for putting Recreant. A lot of content that focuses on deathcore either forget to put abything from that album or just dont like it, yet i feel like the Desolation of Eden album is what i think of when i hear deathcore.

[@KankuroThePuppeteer]

It's shocking how similar our taste in music is. Great video my guy, what a tribute to some of the greats.🤟

[@ggaarreenn]

those new pickups or pickup covers on the jp7 are so cool

[@CheapSushi]

Deathcore 2.0 (Myspace era) was the absolute best!

[@topgunjoeicdbko]

Hell yeah. This is what ive been waiting for. Old school video here. Now i can learn some of these!

[@toffeelatte6042]

I am so glad to see Pray for Plagues on this list, what a fucking track.

[@Georgiyantyufeyev]

Much love for doing the Impaler! What a throwback haha

[@justevan877]

Who else is glad to see nick make guitar content again : )

[@Karolina-vi2wt]

Ok setting up a Spotify playlist based on this

[@deaththompson]

CAUTERIZER GOES SO HARD - SO well written god DAMN

[@WHOREHAMMER_OFFICIAL]

One of the heaviest breakdowns as well

[@Jalabonji]

the infant annihilator pick

[@belial_sniper4685]

Pray for plagues still kicks like hell

[@grz2916]

respect for learning the Demolisher riff, its haaaard

[@ghostfromshadow9794]

2014 Whitechapel - Let Me Burn just blowing my brains out every time

[@Jinni_SD]

Transition from Make Them Suffer to Chelsea Grin actually made me giggle a bit

[@MarisaDesu]

Amazing choices

[@motionlessproductions2478]

I forgot how fucking brutal the riffage in lord of woe actually is. God nick is a different breed of amazing

[@MadaraUchiha-ot4om]

love the custom NN pick ups that white chapel brought back memories

[@EyesOpen369]

Mid 2000s deathcore metalcore was top tier

[@_wallyh_]

Suicide Silence é eterno...

[@Drewrandomdude223]

Yes I miss watching you play guitar man! I love your reactions too but I have missed nik doing the metal on guitar

[@ilikemen996]

YOU PUTT MY FAVOURITE DEATH CORE RIFF!!!!!!!! INTENSIFIED GENOCIDE LETS GOOOO

[@mrskyzear]

the concentration when you played demolisher XD, you're fantastic dude, keep up the good work

[@thomassmith1148]

Pray for Plagues! What a throw back. Used to drum to that album so much

[@matthewrossilini5808]

Nice to see someone mention winds of plague. That album was out when i was in high school!

[@MrDemonhunter1067]

ABRB made my soul leave my body and transport back in time.

[@braxtontaylor5161]

This video could be just you playing an entire brand of sacrifice album

[@HelixNebuIa]

2000s Deathcore ❤

[@crock1425]

I love these videos. I find so many new songs!

[@vanya65]

No love for Impending Doom eh? Theyre my favorite and always will be. Glad Shadow of Intent got some love

[@Akera541]

That sick. At first I thought you were the singer for Chelsea Grin, but that was my mistake.

[@III-VI]

Desolation of Eden is pure gold

[@huntersmoon038]

The verse riff of Lorna Shore - Sun//Eater is very underrated imo

[@pablosanchezsantosjr3893]

I don't think anything that lorna shore has done in the last two year has been underrated

[@huntersmoon038]

@@pablosanchezsantosjr3893 I agree! It's just that everyone is so into the breakdowns and Wills voice, that it seems as if the other instruments or other parts besides the breakdown aren't getting any attention.

[@kirisutegomen12]

@@huntersmoon038 I agree. Everyone talks about their breakdowns, but not their amazing guitar work.

[@PapaShmerg]

i have this weird thing with IA C**TCRUSHER where that chord progression just sounds phenomenal with how the vocals and drums sound, and the bass... oh the bass just makes my brain tingle.

[@eamonnhiggins7388]

OG Nik videos! Yaaaaaaas!!!!!

[@randallbones2966]

I love how a lot of the drum beats have that meth heart failure feel

[@greenrryt]

the riff in the kingdom sitteth lonely by IA at 5:04 slams fr

[@MuhammadArifsatriawan]

The Black dahlia murder not deatcore but they melodic death metal

[@bytor75]

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm really surprised NO Veil of Maya riffs were included from the deathcore days. Marc was coming up with some fresh riffs left and right back then. Off the top of my head: It's Not Safe To Swim Today, We Bow In Its Aura, Unbreakable, Punisher, and Numerical Scheme all slap.

[@blepdoge04]

I feel like Intensified Genocide can make any metalhead twerk

[@SubmitTheKraken]

man you nailed the best riffs