The " THUD" Factor

I have been thinking about this for a few days now. I am trying to come up with a rating system for bands or songs based on the " thud" factor. What I mean by the " thud" factor is how hard does a song hit. It could be an entire song, a portion of a song, anything. Just how hard does it hit. Personal definitions of hitting hard will vary obviously, but that' s OK. For me, it is bass gee-tar high in the mix, great double bass drums, and crunchy, gritty gee-tar work. Great production and mix is a great help, too.

An example of what I mean by a song that hits hard is Cross of Hatred by Angel Dust. It is off the Enlighten the Darkness cd and the song just before it is called The First in Line. Only about 1:15 long, a little acoustic guitar, soothing vocals, that kind of thing. Then, almost without waning come Cross of Hatred. If the stereo is at the right volume and the bass is at the right level you can' t help but feel blown away by how hard it hits. Great bass, great drums, solid gee-tars, everything. On the THUD scale of 1 to 10 this definitely gets a 10. Almost all of Angel Dust' s songs get high marks on the THUD scale. Old Metallica had some good THUD songs, like Disposable Heroes.

On the other hand, bands like Fates Warning don' t hit too high on the THUD scale. Although I love Fates Warning they are a different band playing different music. Dream Theater has some thud to them, as does Vanden Plas (see Phoenix).

So, who else should we add the list of bands with a great " thud" factor?

i' m thinking steve vai' s ' fire garden suite' ...after the piano/guitar duel, where he comes in with the power chords. THAT' S metal " thud" .

now that i' m thinking about vai, i' m going to have to include ' bad horsie' as well.

I would have to say Counting Crow' s " Hangin Around" off the cd THIS DESERT LIFE has quite a bit of " thud" . It starts out real quiet, so of course you turn it up, and then when the bass hits, damn, blow my little Bose speakers out of my car...cool song though.

Since you mentioned Angel Dust, I' ve gotta say " Bleed" (I think that' s the name). Because it has this nice piano melody in the beginning and then BAM!!!! everything kicks in, and the piano keeps playing the same melody. Killer shit.

POISON GOD....MACHINE!!!!

THUD FACTOR: 10.

uh... something by Kevin Gilbert? There' s gotta be a Thud factor somewhere on the Thud album. I' d say on " Shadow Self" , the " creep up behind you when you' re filled with hate" section, or some of the evil Satanic sounding chanting parts at the end. And, while not being particulary heavy, the buildup in the chorus of " Goodness Gracious" has a certain power that says " Thud" to me.

" Goodness gracious, not many people care, concern is getting scarcer, true compassion really rare." - KG

Since you mentioned Angel Dust, I' ve gotta say " Bleed"

Exactly what I mean. Good choice!

Meshuggah - New Millenium Cyanide Christ

 $> man woman
 $> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
 

Well any metal in general is going to have a very low thud factor. If you really want thud, you' re going to have to go for stuff like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Enigma, etc.

Well any metal in general is going to have a very low thud factor. If you really want thud, you' re going to have to go for stuff like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Enigma, etc.

Points up to the Meshuggah reference...

The only ones that really come to mind are Pain of Salvation moments:

• The beginning of Ending Theme (sounds kinda funny, doesn' t it), the way it just explodes out of the quiet Of Two Beginning.
• The keyboards at the beginning of Her Voices. Just incredibly powerful in both sound and the emotion they invoke.
• Beyond The Pale from start to finish.
• A Trace Of Blood, the choruses (" I never knew your name..." and " I never saw your face..." ) are gut-wrenchingly emotional. Really the whole song gets me, but those two parts in particular.
• Winning A War, " But, Daddy, I miss you SO!" Wow.

In reality I can find something in nearly every Pain of Salvation song that touches me emotionally. Opeth is good for that also. In Nectar when he screams " I swear I will always love you" , that always gets me.

EDIT: Punctuation.

ORIGINAL: JamesDP


Opeth is good for that also.

Oh yes.

" Spiralling to the ground below,
Like autumn leaves left in the wake to-"

THUD!

\m/\m/

Neil

Edit: Lyrical cock-up.

From Autumn to Ashes - Short Stories With Tragic Endings

Not unbelievably " Thudarific," but after the minute-or-so-long acoustic intro, it suddenly switches to full-blown distortion, and it' s awesome.

ORIGINAL: JamesDP

The only ones that really come to mind are Pain of Salvation moments:

• The beginning of Ending Theme (sounds kinda funny, doesn' t it), the way it just explodes out of the quiet Of Two Beginning.

Good call.

• Beyond The Pale from start to finish.

Good call on this one. I was trying to decide if POS had any moments that would wualify, and this entire song does fit the criteria.

Another one that I just thought of is " The Mercenary" by Iron Maiden. Full-throttle THUDNESS.

Speaking of Maiden, what about Aces High when it kicks in? \m/ Or Moonchild for that matter.

How about Peter Gabriel' s Darkness when it kicks in? I' d call that a major thud.

• Beyond The Pale from start to finish.

Excellent call. I have been trying to decide what POS tune would qualify and I think this entire song fits the criteria.

Another one I just thought of is The Mercenary by Iron Maiden. Full-throttle THUDNESS all the way thru.

Whoooops. A little DP action. I feel a little silly.











DP in this case stands for Double Post.

• The beginning of Ending Theme (sounds kinda funny, doesn' t it), the way it just explodes out of the quiet Of Two Beginning.

(Que delicate guitar melody) And so... I find myself here once again...

As Vinman said, " Good Call." Remedy Lane ownz me.

But the one that gets me the most is:

" I' m wishing to be GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!" Thuderific.

dimmu borgir- purtania. i have 4, 10 inch subs and when that song kicks in it has a major thud.
Also about halfway through on mudvayne' s internal primates forever.theres a little pause and then boom.

The mighty In Flames' " Reroute to Remain" comes to mind. That whole album f' n knocks. Or if you wanna talk screeming Double Kick action, anything by Rhapsody' ll do the trick.

Anyone know where I can find some PoS music to sample? Kazaa doesn' t have very mnany matches, and I cant find any of their CDs around here... I' d like to listen to them and see if they' re worth $15 or however much a CD costs nowadays...