Artist: OverKill Song: Devil By The Tail Album: KillBox 13 Transcribed by Kevin 'Agonymph' Pasman Tuning: C# F# B# E# While tabbing 'Damned', I found out that also the album's opener 'Devil By The Tail' is played in the C#-tuning. I guess probably the rest of the album will also be in that tuning (though 'Crystal Clear' sounds like it's tuned lower), so I might do some more tunes of 'KillBox 13' later this week. 'Devil By The Tail' starts out with some slides on the bass, I have really no idea how these slides exactly are, but the bass riff that follows goes like this (the way I transcribed it, the song looks pretty fast but it's just played at 120 BPM): Riff A (Play 10 times, guitars and drums enter 3rd time): E#|----------------|----------------|| B#|----------------|----------------|| F#|----------------|----------------|| C#|2--02-0-22-02---|2--02-0-22-03-0-|| Then, after the first solo, there is a part which is mainly guitar work, but it has some instrumental support though Fill 1: 2x |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |2---------------|2--2----2--2----|| |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |2---------------|----------------|| The verses aren't that hard to play either: Riff B: 2x |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |2--22-0-2-2-0---|2--22-0-2-2-0---|2--22-0-2-2-0---|2--22-0-22-02-0-|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |6---6---6---5---|6---6---6---5---|22222-0-2-2-2-0-|22222-0-2-2-2-0-| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |6---6---6---5---|6---6---6---5---|2222555544443333|2222555544443333|| (1st verse) Oh to be the fire, I am just a man Oh to walk the wire, believing that I can And reach on down your throat to tear it out Find out what the beatings all about Now the Chorus: Riff C: |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| |----------------|--------3-------|----------------|----------------| |2-2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2-----3---|2-2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2-5--6--7-| Justify my envy Jealousy to fail in |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|--------3-------|----------------|----------------|| |2-2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2-----3---|2-2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2---------|| Perfect, deadly harmony hold the Devil by the tail Fill 2: |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |2-2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2---2-0-2-|--2-0-2---2-0-2-|----------------|| Devil by the tail Then play Riff A 4 times, followed by this: Fill 3: |----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|| |2---------------|2---2---2---2---|2---2---2-------|| For the 2nd verse, play Riff B and Riff C again, after that, repeat Fill 2 and instead of the last D#, hold a D (lowest string, 1st fret) (2nd verse) Oh to slay the liar, he speaks for me, a man Oh to try, conspire, believing that I can And reach into your heart to pull it out Find out what the beating's all about (Chorus) Justify my envy Jealousy to fail In perfect, deadly harmony Hold the Devil by the tail Devil by the tail Then we enter the faster part, first, the guitar plays for 8 measures, when the bass and drums enter, the bass plays this easy riff, during the bridge as well: Riff D (Play 8 times, vocals enter 5th time): |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|| (Bridge) Run your Devil up the pole Into my domain The forgotten drool, like rabid dogs By any other name They growl, they bark, they gnaw at me I still hear them wail Play to hold what I hold A Devil by the tail During the "DEVIL...by the TAIL"-part, the bass plays this Riff E: |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|2-3---3---3---3-|0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|2-3---3---3---3-|| Devil by the tail Then repeat riff D once (Bridge) Run your devil out your soul By any other name The second "DEVIL...by the TAIL"-part is pretty much the same as the first one, except for the last measure Fill 4: |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|| |0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|2-3---3---3---3-|0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|2-3---5-6-------|| Devil by the tail Then repeat Riff D once and play Riff E twice. After that, repeat Riff D 4 times. (Bridge) Devil, devil, devil, devil Hey mr. Lucifer, do you have my pay? I'm done with working here as of today Hey mr. Savior, to you ever seem to fail? And got what I got, a Devil by the tail The finishing riff is repeated until the end of the song Riff F (Repeat and fade): |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |----------------|----------------|| |0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-3---3---3---1-|| (Bridge) Devil, devil, devil, devil Devil by the tail (Repeat and fade) That's it, not too hard to play and cool to listen to.