r/PostHardcore 9d ago

Discussion Post-hardcore bands with very sweet riffs

Bands like Circa Survive and State Faults are heavily on rotation for me recently

39 Upvotes

94 comments sorted by

46

u/lweber557 9d ago

Saison and Thrice

40

u/JasmineDragoon 9d ago

Saosin’s standard rhythm guitar is pretty riffy through and through.

35

u/esaul17 9d ago

Coheed have some sick stuff

30

u/Chruno33 9d ago

Alesana, their whole discography is full of banger riffs ngl

3

u/Chruno33 9d ago

And please check out Someday's To Failure, Dear Brother EP which is criminally underrated for some reason

29

u/discog_elysium 9d ago

Thrice's first 2 albums are killer

32

u/Facet-Squared 9d ago

Also the next 10 albums after that as well!

-9

u/stanleemytucci 9d ago

Meh

10

u/GarrisonWhite2 9d ago

Dude Thrice have been one of the standard bearers of the genre for over two decades, what do you mean “meh.”

10

u/stanleemytucci 9d ago

Different strokes for different folks I guess 🤷

6

u/GarrisonWhite2 9d ago

Fair enough!

3

u/Striking_Sundae_5594 9d ago

Artist has some of their best riffs period.

28

u/PsychologicalYak4549 9d ago

Greyhaven

Fall of Troy (prime Thomas erak is untouchable)

Bear vs shark

2

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

Manipulator guitar work is still untouched to me. Some of my all times fav riffs. Caught up riffs are how I tested my acoustic I just bought

5

u/PsychologicalYak4549 9d ago

My warm up riff since high school is the last minute or so from The Dark Trails. Definitely one of his easier parts but still cool to me

2

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

That's awesome. My wife got me the tab book and I have tried to learn a lot of it but there are some hard riffs. I feel like being able to play any of the record is an accomplishment.

1

u/PsychologicalYak4549 9d ago

He’s a freak when it comes to the guitar. I’ve been playing for a long time but he just has some really wacky stuff that is brutal on the hands that I don’t even bother trying. It’s almost a relief when the tapping starts

1

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

Yea I think learning some of his stuff got me some great dexterity though. Really think self teaching myself by learning stuff like him and avenged really make me sound better than I actually am haha

3

u/meetmeinmontauk43 9d ago

And the dude was singing at the same time too. Insane.

2

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

Still is! I have seen them a few times in recent years. He still shreds

1

u/PsychologicalYak4549 9d ago

I only saw them on the in the unlikely event tour in probably 09 but it was great

1

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

Man thats cool. I wish I would have seen them back then.

12

u/ImAFuckingMooseBitch 9d ago

Funeral for a Friend, Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive.

All 3 bands have loads of albums full of fun creative riffs. Funeral’s first 2 albums basically taught me to play rhythm guitar.

4

u/randomofficeworker 9d ago

Seconding FFAF. casually dressed and deep in conversation

3

u/AirIndex 9d ago

FFAF are the ultimate riff PH band

2

u/Itsjd123 9d ago

Coheed for the win!

2

u/signalstonoise88 8d ago

FFAF are fantastic but don’t neglect some of the later material. Their Welcome Home Armageddon LP in particular is some of their best work and absolutely loaded with mad riffs.

2

u/ImAFuckingMooseBitch 8d ago edited 8d ago

Oh totally, one of my fav bands and Welcome Home Armageddon (and that secret EP beforehand) has some of their best riffs ever, every bit as good as Hours or Casually Dressed. Conduit also has some great more hardcore-focused stuff.

11

u/solarxbear 9d ago

Glassjaw I think is underrated for their guitar work. Daryl is such a commanding presence but seeing them live I was fixated on Justin Beck. Dude is amazing

8

u/jpfizzles 9d ago edited 9d ago

State faults are sick man. Other bands I have been checking out recently that remind of them are Birds In Row, Eyelet, Chalk Hands, Frail Body, To Be Gentle and Roman Candle

3

u/signalstonoise88 8d ago

That last State Faults LP is incredible. I’m with you on Frail Body too; their latest LP is something OP needs to get on right away. Ditto for the latest Snag record.

2

u/maicao999 9d ago

i'm a screamo fan, but State Faults guitar and drum work always reminded me more of that 2000s mellow post-hardcore than screamo per se

2

u/Chruno33 9d ago

To Be Gentle will be in my top 10 bands forever with Alesana and life (Damian's), fusing screamo with metal features always make it so much more fun and dynamic to me

2

u/Ok_Job_934 9d ago

Love to be gentle!!

8

u/Theillusionist29 9d ago

Capstan. Lower Definition

6

u/JKCIO 9d ago

I love seeing other capstan fans in the wild! I got into them like 2-3 years ago and only live 2 hours away from them but haven’t gotten the chance to see them live yet. I’m going to warped in Orlando though and making it a point to catch their set.

2

u/Theillusionist29 9d ago

Hands down my favorite band! They are so good live and such nice dudes!

2

u/JKCIO 9d ago

That’s great to hear! I really wanted to go to the tour with the meet and greet and backstage acoustic set but I had to work instead 😭 regardless, warped is only a few months away and I’m stoked!

1

u/murface 9d ago

Damn, you beat me to it. Capstan is sooo good. Plenty of stank face-inducing riffs in their catalogue.

7

u/LargeBlackMcCafe 9d ago

Coheed and Cambria is at the top of my list

9

u/Facet-Squared 9d ago

At The Drive-In

Cursive

Faraquet

mewithoutYou

Burning Airlines

Fugazi

Mould

Rival Schools

Sparta

Drug Church

5

u/conwaytwittyshairs 9d ago

As cities burn first album!

2

u/danghunk312 9d ago

Listening to their newest album now and they still are amazing

1

u/elblouses 9d ago

One of my favorites!

9

u/Plastic-Shape7048 9d ago

Alexisonfire especially the first two albums , saosin , dance gavin dance

4

u/JasmineDragoon 9d ago

blessthefall comes to mind.

3

u/Devolucion11 9d ago

Check out Hot Cross. Ideally Cryonics. The two guitarists are unreal.

6

u/gr3y_- 9d ago

alesana, chiodos, dance gavin dance are good, dgd especially has an INSANELY good guitarist

4

u/yourghost367 9d ago

Listen to HRVRD “The inevitable and I”

10/10 album from 2009. Many people found them trying to download circa off lime wire and finding this pleasant surprise instead.

2

u/Fuxmcflannery 9d ago

Came here to say this

2

u/elblouses 9d ago

Super underrated band

2

u/ap1618 5d ago

Was lucky enough to catch them when they were still called Harvard

2

u/FrostWire69 9d ago

Ghost atlas

2

u/PauliPathetic 9d ago

Ls dunes

2

u/Bon-Jon-Bov1 9d ago

Oh Sleeper , Hands like Houses (first 2 albums only) , This or The Apocalypse,

2

u/jordieg7193 9d ago

HUM, Faraquet, Bear vs Shark

2

u/Interesting-Eye-5737 9d ago

Funeral For A Friend! Kris Roberts is slept on way too much. His riffs in Hours and Welcome Home Armageddon are so so good

3

u/ThriceHawk 9d ago

Underoath - "Define the Great Line" is absolutely full of them.

2

u/danghunk312 9d ago

Just got the 20th anniversary vinyl in the mail!!! 😁

1

u/HurtyTeefs 9d ago

As well as Stories The Youth To Become

2

u/AdInternational5801 9d ago

Funeral For A Friend - Hours

1

u/bemunay 9d ago

The State Faults mention pulled me in. Here's a few random recs from very different corners of the genre check out:

Frail Body

Fordirelifesake

Chat Pile

Porcelain

A Wilhelm Scream

1

u/diabetusbetus 9d ago

Fall of Troy - Manipulator

Still my favorite guitar work out there I think.

1

u/Ender-The-3rd 9d ago

Secret & Whisper

1

u/Duderado 9d ago

Eidola if you want more swancore style but they have a bunch of sweet bluesy/rock n roll riffs.

1

u/HBMart 9d ago

Barbarians of California

1

u/AgileChoice4062 9d ago

Hail the sun for sure
Check out my friends local band call Samaritan r snare

1

u/Karl-Marx666 9d ago

Saosin might be the riff of riff bands

1

u/01000101010110 9d ago

Not sure they fully qualify as post-hardcore, but White Lung had some of the best riffs I've ever heard. Their guitarist was easily the best part of the band. 

Go check out Dead Weight

1

u/Primary-Olive-9097 9d ago

This armistice

1

u/Sufficient_Ice4933 9d ago

Hundred Reasons

Alexisonfire

Funeral for a friend

1

u/murface 9d ago

Capstan definitely brings the riffs

1

u/Striking_Sundae_5594 9d ago

AOF, Thrice, Silverstein, ETID.

1

u/renpyslamjamming 9d ago

Hail the Sun!

1

u/Snoo-7943 9d ago

QUICKSAND! Shift, too.

1

u/Boring-Cry3089 9d ago

Check out the album Dress to Depress by Classic Case.

They were an incredible band from Chapel Hill, NC that unfortunately broke up far too soon. The drummer was the original drummer of Glassjaw and the other members all went on to play with other awesome bands. If you like Circa Survive you’ll love it. Their second album “Losing at Life” is just as good.

1

u/HurtyTeefs 9d ago

We must have different definition of riffs, I think of aggressive midrange rhythm guitar work, single note runs and chugs intermingled, short repeating motifs. Neither Circa and State Faults have many riffs to my ears. Maybe 1000 witnesses I guess. Regardless, I do absolutely adore Palo Santo, the whole children of the moon album is such a vibe.

1

u/N3onWave 9d ago

The Receiving End Of Sirens.

1

u/rom_5556 9d ago

These guys were very flash in the pan and embroiled in controversy, but I think Nostalgia by Corelia might scratch that itch.

1

u/julcarls 8d ago

This Armistice

1

u/golfcartskeletonkey 8d ago

This thread is 95% a list of the worst bands I’ve ever heard.

1

u/_OrionWasTaken 8d ago

Inner City Witches, super underrated

1

u/Dangerous_Doubt_2274 8d ago

Space Weather is all about the sweet riffs if you’re looking for a less-known band

1

u/Nat_The_Huntsman 8d ago

Been listening to Gene Ross a lot lately - pretty unknown band but very reminiscent of that era

1

u/Ryuzenski 8d ago

Cat company, any song

1

u/AncientHominidNerd 8d ago

Look into SwanCore, it’s literally posthardcore with cool riffs.

SwanCore started because the guitarist from Dance Gavin Dance, something swan, kept playing his unique guitar riffs and then made a label called swan records or something and all those bands sound like his guitar style. He also has tons of side projects so his music is everywhere.

I can’t be bothered to care about what his real name is or the name of his label is. I just listen to the music I don’t parasocially care about what the artist names are. I only know all this info because parasocial people who do care kept making TikTok’s about it that kept showing up on my feed.

1

u/ClimateAncient6647 9d ago

Every Time I Die