The Downward Spiral – Intro and Verse
The Downward Spiral – Pre-Chorus
The Downward Spiral – Chorus
Related Music Concepts
Basic Chords
Chords naturally found in the key
Non-Standard Mode
New scales and home base chords for a different mood
Chord-Melody Tension
How much the melody clashes with the underlying chords
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Song Stats
●
Key
E Mixolydian
Tempo
100 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Alternative, Experimental
Melody Range
E2 – B3
Mood
Tense, Simple, Classic
Most Used Chord
I(no3)
Chord Complexity
2
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
80
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
98
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
0
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
E Minor
Tempo
100 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Alternative, Experimental
Melody Range
D3 – G3
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord
III(no3)
Chord Complexity
74
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
12
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
92
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
E Mixolydian
Tempo
101 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Alternative, Experimental
Melody Range
E3 – B4
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected
Most Used Chord
I(no3)
Chord Complexity
87
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
80
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
97
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
63
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Keys
E Mixolydian, E Minor
Tempo
100 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Alternative, Experimental
Melody Range
E2 – B4
Mood
Tense
Most Used Chord
I(no3)
Chord Complexity
66
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
64
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
88
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
57
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
About The Downward Spiral
About the Key
E Mixolydian
It is the 3rd most popular key among Mixolydian keys and the 27th most popular among all keys. The E Mixolydian scale is similar to the E Major scale except that its 7th note (D) is a half step lower.
I IV VII
Most Important Chords
Mixolydian chord progressions are heavily featured in many genres of music like classic rock, which relies on the major chord built on the 7th scale degree.
E Mixolydian Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Chorus |
III
i7sus4
|
|
| Chorus |
IV
I7
|
|
About the Melody
Melody data is compiled from all analyzed melody sections, so depending on how a user analyzed a song, "melody" might include instrumental notes.
E2 – B4
Melody range across 31 semitones
1.49 beats/note
Across 128.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
99%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
87%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Edgy
Consonance
How smoothly the melody blends with the harmony (0 = dissonant, 1 = consonant).
Loose
Syncopation
How often the melody emphasizes off-beats. Higher = more syncopated.
About the Metrics
Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.
Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.
Chord Complexity
66
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 66/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
64
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 64/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
88
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 88/100 — above average
Chord Prog. Novelty
57
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 57/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
53
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 53/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
The Downward SpiralAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Melodic Intervals
Distribution of note-to-note jumps in semitones (negative = downward, positive = upward)
Note Durations
How long each note is held (in beats)
Syncopation
How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)
Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.
