Beartooth's Caleb Shomo Says the Best Riff EVER Is By Disturbed

Beartooth's Caleb Shomo has named the greatest guitar riff ever... and it's by Disturbed!

The answer came during a recent appearance on The Jesea Lee Show podcast, hosted by the namesake SiriusXM DJ.

Beartooth's new album, The Surface, is out today (Oct. 13) and, during the chat, Shomo speaks about welcoming Hardy as a guest star on the track "The Better Me," his early career in Attack Attack! and more, wrapping up with a lot of love for 21st century titans Disturbed and their biggest hit.

"There's so many directions this can go... greatest riff? ...my god. I'm just going to fire one from the hip, first one... "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed," Shomo says after some nervous hesitation when asked what is the single greatest guitar riff of all time.

"That whole song is just a riff. Non-stop, a riff. And he's just kind of singing verses and choruses over it," Shomo goes on, thinking for a split second that there may be another all-time riff candidate, but he stops himself from second-guessing things. "That or... no! I'm sticking to it," he exclaims, standing by his pick.

"It's something with Disturbed. Never fucking sleep on Disturbed's riffs. They hold it down," the Beartooth frontman argues.

Naturally, Disturbed have had an influence on his own writing as Shomo relays, "So much of what I do with Beartooth riffs are inspired by Disturbed riffs. Drop D, just barre chords, moving them around... the whole bit."

Disturbed, "Down With the Sickness"

When pressed about whether he'd like to collaborate with Disturbed on a song, there's no hesitation from Shomo this time as he responds, "Fuck yeah! Absolutely! We played a few shows with Disturbed recently and they are just so impressive. They were one of my bands that changed everything for me. It was Ozzfest 2006 [with Disturbed] Avenged Sevenfold and System of a Down... three of my absolute most life-changing bands all playing at one show. It was the first metal show I ever went to. [Disturbed] were so good."

"We played with them a few months ago and [they were] probably better," he continues, "That band has aged like a very fine wine. They are fucking so sick. They rule."

Listen to the full interview below.