Evile’s Ol Drake Plays His Favorite Guitar Riffs

Evile's Ol Drake is our guest on this week's edition of Gear Factor, and like many musicians, his introduction to heavy music was a game changer.

Drake grew up a fan of Metallica's early works and cites "Dyers Eve" as the song that first made him want to pick up the guitar. “The fast riff after the intro, it just blew me away and I wanted to understand how you can make that sound on a guitar. At the time I could not play it but that’s the riff that made me sit up and think, ‘Ooh, I want to play that,’” he recalls.

From there it was a quick study through Metallica's catalog, taking interest in Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning before falling in love with the sounds the guitar made on the track "Fade to Black."

Drake also shares some riffs from a few of his heavier early influences ranging from Annihilator and Sepultura to Cannibal Corpse.

As for his own music, Drake shows us the evolution of the first riff he wrote for Evile, which would become "We Who Are About to Die." Other favorite riffs in the catalog include "Origin of Oblivion," "Five Serpents Teeth" and "Infected Nation."

Drake also shares his favorite riff from the band's upcoming album, which can be heard on "The Thing (1982)." "The reason for this riff came because we thought it’s just fast. It’s just fast, all this chaos and fast and then more fast. So we thought we really need a riff in here to drop things to then bring things up and I thought, ‘What would Sodom do?’ with their slower riffs and then this riff just came out of nowhere,” he explains.

"The Thing (1982)" appears on Evile's Hell Unleashed album, which is due April 30. You can place your pre-orders here (As Amazon affiliates, we earn on qualifying purchases). Check out the full Gear Factor episode below.

Evile's Ol Drake Plays His Favorite Guitar Riffs