We are living in a new universe of heavy. A universe where low frequency brutality rules the kingdom, and 6 strings are simply not enough. Even detuned 7 string guitars tremble in anticipation of the subterranean frequencies required these days.
8 string guitars are serious propositions, and no guitarist ventures into that world unprepared. However, for those who do, a new planet of sound is available, where the distinctions of ‘guitar’, ‘bass’, and ‘monster’ are blurred.
You are about to enter this territory. I have ventured ahead, and brought back some jewels for your appraisal: some of the greatest ever 8 string guitar riffs.
Blast each of these at full volume and reap uncommon benefits from their low frequency catharsis…
The Best 8 String Riffs at a Glance
Earth Departure - Animals as Leaders
Nine Summers - After the Burial
The Little Albert Experiment - Ever Forthright
Natural Selection - Rings of Saturn
Chimera - Polyphia (feat Lil West)
Yippie-Kay-Yay Mother!@#$%^ - the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Demiurge - Meshuggah
Let us begin with the world leaders in low-tuned metal supremacy. Meshuggah have led the way on multiple occasions, innovating ahead of the curve and watching as the rest of the metal community played catch-up.
I’m sorely tempted to just bring out Bleed once again, since it is such a clearly iconic song in the heavy canon. However, I’ve included that in a number of previous blogs, so today I will instead choose Demiurge from the album Koloss. It’s supremely heavy, and for Meshuggah it's actually relatively straightforward, rhythmically. It crushes like a Terminator from the future though, with perhaps THE definitive 8 string guitar tone.
Diamond Eyes - Deftones
The one also pops up quite often in guitarguitar blogs, but it’s with good reason! It’s hard to beat the huge dinosaur of a riff that pops up in the middle and end of the tune. Proof, if ever it were needed, that heaviness comes as much from what you leave out as what you put in.
Earth Departure - Animals as Leaders
Tosin Abasi changed the guitar for metal guitarists a few years ago. His incorporation of little-used playing concepts helped to expand the collective vocabulary of the electric guitar. Complex and labyrinthine, Earth Departure is full of notes, twisty passages and stuttering rhythms. It almost sounds more like a synthesizer going mental, except for the gorgeously twangy tones from Abasi and co-guitarists Javier Reyes.
It does not let up for ages, and is a great example of how you can have a guitar still sound (mostly) like a guitar, but put you into a different universe.
Stranger Things - Periphery
It was nice of Netflix to devote an entire series to a Periphery song, wasn’t it?
Okay, but seriously, this tune lays down some very nasty riffs after the first minute and a half or so. As with all Periphery songs, there's a lot packed into Stranger Things, but if you’re looking for cutting edge djent music, these guys are not at the periphery, they are in the very centre of it all.
Unravelling - Muse
Muse? On an 8 string? Actually, it’s not that much of a surprise, is it? Matt’s always been a closet mosher, trying to shoehorn massive crunchy riffs into Muse’s sci-fi odysseys. Their latest tune (at time of writing) has all of the typical Muse hallmarks, but also contains what can only be described as an 8 string beat down section that definitely fits in with their universe.
It’ll be fun to see what comes next!
Nine Summers - After the Burial
Perhaps more straightforward than some modern djent and tech metal, After the Burial come across to me more like a sort of Djenty Megadeth. Anybody else hear that? It’s no bad thing, because it means melodic music with exotic parts and tons of notes!
The Little Albert Experiment - Ever Forthright
Now this is some intense music! Though clearly metal, there is an excellent jazz influence permeating Ever Forthright’s music. Sometimes it’s obvious, like in the featured song below, and other times the metal takes over. It’s a very cool combination, and a very tough one to pull off conceptually, not to mention technically.
Origin of Escape - Monuments
Epic, busy and accomplished. Is there a better way to sum up Monuments? Their sci-fi glazed sound is one that many have copied but few have equaled, and this intense cut demonstrates their mastery of dynamics.
Natural Selection - Rings of Saturn
What an unusual and yet familiar sound! Rings of Saturn sound like a black metal vocalist stomping his via into a polyphia tribute band playing Nintendo covers. It’s very colourful music with loads of notes and a day-glo atmosphere.
Calling this ‘heavy’ feels inappropriate, as does naming it ‘extreme’, even though it’s both! I dunno. Just give it a listen and see for yourself.
Chimera - Polyphia (feat Lil West)
In Polyphia, it’s normally Tim Henson who has the spotlight cast upon him. On this tune, however, his co-guitarist Scott La Page is the one laying down the law on a customised Ibanez Stoneman 8-string. Henson begins with a nylon-string frolic on his Tree of Death acoustic, followed by Scott’s snake-like guitar figures.
In many ways, it’s typical Polyphia, and so it’s somewhat unpredictable. Surprises in this song include a vocal performance by Lil West (okay it wasn’t a surprise since he’s featured clearly in the song credits), which doesn’t even happen until the song is about 2/3 done!
Yippie-Kay-Yay Mother!@#$%^ - the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Something tells me this lot of not taking themselves too seriously…
This last choice was an in-house recommendation from a gg team member, and to be fair, it’s pretty thrilling. This is an early project by Josh Travis, and while the titles are humorous, the music itself is super-serious. Mathcore mixed in with extra brutality, this song sees glitchy computer noises coming from the guitars, in between machine gun riffing. It’s brutal, it’s big, and it’s pretty clever.
The Future of Heavy Guitar
There you have some of the finest examples of 8 string riffage that I could find. Obviously, they are flat-out perfect instruments for extreme music, and that does seem to be all they are currently used for. With genres bending under the weight of those low F# and B strings, there’s a lot of innovation going on here, but I wonder how things will develop?
One thing I know for sure is the infinite possibilities of the electric guitar. That, and the infinite satisfaction of bludgeoningly low register metal riffs. All hail!
