12 Greatest Hard Rock Riffs Of The 1990s

12. Wait and Bleed - Slipknot

In the grand scheme of things, Slipknot never get nearly enough credit for their guitar work. Aside from the occasional sick lead break from Mick Thomson, no one would blame you for bypassing the guitar work just to watch a couple of maniacs produce absolute chaos on a stage. The focus may be on the collective, but "Wait and Bleed" does have some of the sickest guitar work of the band's early years.

From the moment the song starts, the guitars gear you up for something intense coming, but once the verses show up and Corey rides the riff with his melodic shouting, all bets are off as you are thrown directly into the pit without so much as a safety net. It would have been enough for any metal fan to go through that and survive, but things take an even sharper turn after the second chorus.

As Taylor dials it back, Jim Root's riff going into the breakdown sneaks up on you, almost like its bringing everything down a notch before igniting the metal explosion for one more go around.

There have been plenty of jokes made about the nu metal scene, but in the case of "Wait and Bleed," Slipknot have earned tons of praise and probably deserve even more for it.