James Hetfield Names Tony Iommi His Ultimate ‘Riff Lord’

James Hetfield knows a thing or two about writing a riff, but when it comes to the guitarist who shaped his own playing more than anyone else, there’s only one answer: Tony Iommi.

The Metallica frontman has named the Black Sabbath guitarist as his ultimate “Riff Lord”, crediting Iommi as the single biggest guitar influence on his rhythm playing and songwriting (per Next Mosh).

Hetfield discussed Iommi during the latest episode of his Riff Life show on SiriusXM’s Maximum Metallica, where he breaks down the riffs and musicians that helped shape him.

“Tony Iommi is the riff lord, in my mind, and he is the one that has inspired me the most out of any guitar player for my rhythm guitar playing and songwriting,” Hetfield said.

If that wasn’t definitive enough, Hetfield then singled out Black Sabbath’s 1971 classic ‘Children Of The Grave’ as an example of what makes Iommi’s approach so effective.

“Yeah, the ‘Children Of The Grave’ riff — obviously, Tony is the riff lord and everyone starts the song together on the one riff…. Basically, Tony plays off that riff, goes in to hit the big giant chords, which opens the song up.”

An admiration going back decades

Hetfield also highlighted the track’s percussion and atmosphere, adding: “I really love the drum overdub that they did to help with that percussion of the riff and the real cool ghostly guitar sounds at the very, very end.”

His admiration for Iommi and Black Sabbath goes back decades.

Metallica inducted Black Sabbath into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2006, with Hetfield using his speech to explain the enormous influence the Birmingham metal pioneers had on him as a young musician.

Nearly two decades earlier, Hetfield and Iommi had even interviewed one another for Guitar World, with Hetfield recalling discovering Sabbath through his older brother’s record collection.

More recently, Metallica were among the artists who performed at Black Sabbath’s massive Back To The Beginning farewell event in Birmingham last July.