Killing In The Name – Intro
Killing In The Name – Intro and Verse
Killing In The Name – Verse
Killing In The Name – Verse and Pre-Chorus
Killing In The Name – Pre-Chorus
Killing In The Name – 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
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Song Stats
●
Key
D Phrygian
Tempo
112 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
D2 – D#3
Mood
Smooth, Simple, Classic
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
19
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
4
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
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
D Phrygian
Tempo
122 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
D4 – G#5
Mood
Tense, Simple, Classic
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
18
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
95
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
91
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
4
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
D Minor
Tempo
82 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
D3 – F#4
Mood
Tense, Simple, Classic, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
7
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
78
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
73
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
D Minor
Tempo
81 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
C3 – B4
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord
i(add6)
Chord Complexity
77
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
93
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
21
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
89
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
D Minor
Tempo
91 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
D2 – G#5
Mood
Smooth, Classic, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
39
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
0
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
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
D Minor
Tempo
89 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
F3 – D4
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
78
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
17
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
58
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Keys
D Phrygian, D Minor
Tempo
112 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Rock, Metal
Melody Range
D2 – G#5
Mood
Smooth
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
44
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
48
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
23
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
28
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 Killing In The Name
About the Key
D Phrygian
It is the 3rd most popular key among Phrygian keys and the 52nd most popular among all keys. The D Phrygian scale is similar to the D Minor scale except that its 2nd note (E♭) is a half step lower.
i II vii
Most Important Chords
Chord progressions in Phrygian often rely on the major chord built off of this 2nd scale degree (E♭ major) which gives the key its distinctive sound.
D Phrygian Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro and Verse |
i
II
|
|
| Verse and Pre-Chorus |
iadd6(dor)
iadd6
|
|
| Chorus |
i
III
IV(maj)
VII
|
|
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.
D2 – G#5
Melody range across 42 semitones
0.52 beats/note
Across 116.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
91%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
72%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Mixed
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
44
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 44/100 — below average
Melodic Complexity
48
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 48/100 — below average
Chord-Melody Tension
23
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 23/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
28
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 28/100 — below average
Chord-Bass Melody
18
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 18/100 — below average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
Killing In The NameAverage 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.
