Top 5 Thursday #4: What’s Your Favorite Breakdown?

By Ryan Germ and Scott Danshaw

It’s Thursday, you know what that means (don’t sue me AEW) we’re back with another edition of Top 5 Thursday. This time top 5 breakdowns. Caveman riffs so good.


Scotty D’s List: 

1. Kids Like Us - Gator Smash: “WELCOME TO THE SOUTH!”. This is the quintessential breakdown for me. That lead in with the bass, that dirty southern rock sound blended with hardcore, and not to forget the fuckin’ slide guitar solo. What the fuck. Pure fucking genius.

2. Everytime I Die - I Been Gone A Long Time: Okay they’ve made pretty much every list I’ve made this far and there’s a reason for that; they’re the best band to ever do it. Not the most brutal of breakdowns but the cowbell leading in makes me wanna move. They have better breakdowns sure but this one gets me ready and makes me wanna flip & dive into the crowd like I’m Austin from Haywire

3. Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead: What a punk as fuck song. You cannot even tell me that the breakdown with the “DON’T LOSE HOPE” gang vocals dont make you wanna throw a nasty spin kick and connect with someone’s jaw? It does and if you say no you’re a liar.

4. Terror- Stick Tight: These dudes need no explanation on why they rip so hard or why this breakdown was a given. One of the best to ever play hardcore and one of the hardest breakdowns. Absolute heat.

5. The Warriors- Set The Stage:  You all knew I’d mention it. It’s so fucking good and heavy and that bass just drives it. From the second the song hits it feels like a 2 minute long breakdown but get to the 1:50 mark and the actual breakdown comes in and it’s game over for anyone in the pit.



Ryan Germ’s List:


  1. Special Move - Bloodbath: The mosh callout of “as you drown in your blood” gets me so stoked every time. Each time I hear this breakdown I’m ready to fuck up a pit the size of a small village, the gallopy riff brings a sense of heaviness that’s hard to put into words. Well I can actually put it into words, “holy shit”.
  2. 18 Visions - Tower Of Snakes: Panic chords, goddamn. The stomp of the drums mixed with the lead in and those panic chords make me stoked every time. Easy top 5 but it’s hard to put into words, go listen. 
  3. Death Threat - Never Again: I don’t know why I love this breakdown so much, I think it’s the slow down in that final chorus coupled with that breakdown riff over lyrics of heartbreak and despair of losing an ex I can relate to. It’s spiteful, sad, heavy, and gets me amped every time I hear it. What more can you want?
  4. Mother Of Mercy - Divide: Proving that you don’t need to murder someone for a good breakdown we got Mother Of Mercy. The lead in is what makes or breaks a breakdown in my opinion, and this has it. The drums are pounding, the vocals are some of my favorites courtesy of Bob Wilson and the riff is fucking tasty.
  5. Kids Like Us - Gator Smash: Speaking of tasty ass riffs we got the biggest Coca Cola fans HC has seen in Kids Like Us. The lead in with the bass and the mosh callout is superb as Scott mentioned, and of course the slide guitar solo is iconic, but no one talks about the main riff being hard as fuck. The half time drums at the start followed by the cowbell always gets me stoked too.

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