Riffing outside the death metal box

[zjmourning]

Just trying to come up with fresh sounding dissonant death riffs. Tired of so much diminished and harmonic minor. Death to butterfly sweeps!

Imploder by Zach Mourning on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Re-animation Ritual by Zach Mourning on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[Solodini]

Try taking some phrases/fragments thereof from things you've written already but shift the root down a semitone, tone, m3, M3 et c. This will create different tonalities but retain the same character in most intervals. You will achieve different functions to freshen things up.

 

[celticelk]

Try working with a six-note scale comprised of two augmented triads, or start with the chromatic scale and subtract an augmented triad to create a nine-note scale. If there are particular intervals from the diminished and harmonic minor scales that you can identify as especially stereotypical, make sure they're not included in your new scale.

Another interesting approach: pick a root note, add a triad that sounds particularly juicy (in either consonant or dissonant fashion) against that root, and then add a sixth, seventh, or second to that triad that sounds good (and also isn't your original root). Try writing riffs with the resulting five-note scale, adding additional chromatic tones for tension/interest as needed.

 

[Solodini]

Forgot to say that my suggestion can be applied rhythmically, as well. If there's certain rhythmic figures/groupings you use regularly then try displacing them through the bar differently.

 

[Semichastny]

Nice riffs, you wouldn't have tabs for these would you? I'd love to learn them.