1982 Archives - Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums

Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast: A Metal Landmark

iron_maiden-the_number_of_the_beast_(2015_remaster)

Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast: A Metal Landmark

Neil Johnson 11 August 2024

Introduction In March 1982, Iron Maiden unleashed an album that would transform the face of heavy metal....

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Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Welcome to Riffology, where a GenX and a Millennial talk about the albums from their youth. It’s more fun than it sounds…

Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains gets the full Riffology treatment: the leap from Schizophrenia to something lean, hostile and oddly elegant. We dig into why the first half feels near-bulletproof (“Beneath the Remains,” “Inner Self,” “Stronger Than Hate,” “Mass Hypnosis”), how those nocturnal sessions at Nas Nuvens bled into the record’s raw edge, and where Scott Burns helped sharpen the attack. It’s the grim middle ground between thrash and death—menace over flash, breakdowns that earn their keep, and riffs that chug without ever getting comfortable.

We wander through the artwork lore too—Michael Whelan’s “Nightmare in Red,” the Obituary swap, teenage-bedroom posters, and the strange orderliness of tape-trading that forced you to live with whole albums rather than skip buttons. Max and Igor’s engine, Andreas’ knife-point melodies, Paulo holding the line; a band stepping forward, already pointing at Arise while still covered in the dust.

Then the end happens—again the funniest stretch—featuring an unscheduled James Hetfield cameo, a perfectly serious argument about whether the evening meal is “tea” or “dinner,” and a sign-off that devolves into an apology cascade capped with “Sorry, mum.” Dry, accidental, very on-brand.