# Please name me some metal songs that use the phrygian mode.....



## Max Dread

The more the merrier...!

Cheers!


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## Metal Ken

Does it just have to be phrygian, or can it be phrygian dominant?


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## Max Dread

Update to my query.....: and what is the difference between phrygian and phrygian dominant?!?!?!


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## Metal Ken

A raised third. 

E Phyrgian = E F G A B C D E
E Phrygian Dom: E F G# A B C D E. 

Its a mode of Harmonic Minor. Every Yngwie Malmsteen song uses it.


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## All_¥our_Bass

Wherever I may Roam by Metallica uses the phrygian mode, and I think there's a good chunk of phrygian dominant in Opeth's The Grand Conjuration.


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## distressed_romeo

Rainbow's 'Stargazer'.


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## Bloody_Inferno

Rainbow - Gates of Babylon
Joe Satriani - War (not exactly metal but a great example)
Steve Vai - Bangkok/Fire Garden Suite (ditto)
Scorpions - Sails of Charon 
Queens of the Stone Age - A song for the Deaf (again non metal but great use of the scale)


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## kmanick

Viking Kong Racer X
great Phrygian dominant example (and cool song)


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## Waelstrum

Heavy E phrygian - Malmsteen (!)
Almost Everything by Nile is in Phrygian dominant because it sounds 'Egyptian'
A lot of prog metal is in Phrygian dominant. See Dream Theater, Symphony X, etcetera.
It seems to be used in 'chunk-chink' sections a lot, because it has the power chords on the flattened second.
Wikipedia used to have long lists of songs in various modes, but I can't seem to find them now.


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## etiam

I wouldn't be surprised if at least a third of all metal was written in some kind of flat-two scale (and that's probably a conservative estimate). 

Thrash and black metal often employ the mode, so pick up anything by Slayer or Dark Funeral and you'll probably be in phyrgian.


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## Metal Ken

My favorite use of Phrygian (dom) in any metal song:


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## Hollowway

Waelstrum said:


> It seems to be used in 'chunk-chink' sections a lot, because it has the power chords on the flattened second.


So what chord progression would be typical of that? You mean that they would use a II chord in the song?


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## newamerikangospel

Not to be hard-headed, but most metal is based on the aeolian with a flat II passing tone (EVERY "metal" metallica album aka RTL, MOP, AJFA), or phrygian specifically. Hatebreed is almost all phrygian (and most all of hardcore  ). Hell, im having problems not listing every band I have heard 

Phrygian dominant has a raised third, but its also part of the scale set based on the harmonic minor (phrygian dominant being the V degree). Phrygian dominant and Lydian II (The only name I know it as, is the IV degree, Lydian with a raised IV).


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## abysmalrites

Nile and Behemoth come immediately to mind.


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## Prydogga

Metal Ken said:


> A raised third.
> 
> E Phyrgian = E F G A B C D E
> E Phrygian Dom: E F G# A B C D E.
> 
> Its a mode of Harmonic Minor. Every Yngwie Malmsteen song uses it.



Ken, you are a djentleman and a scholar.


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## Seedawakener

Train of thought is a phrygian dominant fest. This Dying soul starts out with a solo and a melody in it! I do believe many of DT's guitar/Keyboard trade off solos are dominant phrygian too.


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## Waelstrum

Hollowway said:


> So what chord progression would be typical of that? You mean that they would use a II chord in the song?



What I mean is that power chords (as I understand them) are usually the root fifth and optional octave of a triad (or three notes a third apart). So not so much a 'chord progression' as the will play a melody that is harmonised a fifth up and sometimes octave as well. If you want you can call it a II chord, or you can say that it's not in Phrygian mode but in harmonic minor with a flattened second (same thing except the raised seventh) in which case it would be a bII chord, but it will normally be missing the third. As for a typical chord progression, I have attached what I would consider some fairly standard chugging, it's all power chords, and it changes a bit too often to call each semi-quaver a 'chord', as they are mostly passing notes. You could interpret that the first 'chord' of each bar defines the chord of the whole bar, which would make it
i i II II i

You could also interpret the held notes as being the chords, to make
i i i VII i i i VII II II II II i II II II II III i

Or it could be interpreted as the first 'chord' of each beat determines the chord of the rest of the beat, in which case the progression is
i II III II i II III II II III iv III II III iv iv i

Or you could call each one a chord in its own right, but that's too many for me to be bothered to wright down. So the chord progression could be any of these, or possibly others as well, but the chord progression is only important as a guideline.


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## Hollowway

^^ Much appreciated explanation and attachment, man! I understand what you're saying, too. So it's really that half step off the root that characterizes it as Phrygian. And I see now how that would apply to a crap load of metal tunes!


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## JesseTheMachine

Check out the song The River Dragon Has Come by Nevermore. Wicked Phrygian action!


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## LaughingSkull

Greetings.

First of all, sorry for the bump. I was actually looking for some metal songs in the Phrygian mode myself, and this thread was one of the few useful sources that Google turned up.

The Phrygian mode is probably my fav mode. I just love the wicked and heavy atmosphere that it is capable of creating. 

Anyway, here are some suggestions, assuming you mean standard Phrygian (not dominant):

Death - Lack of Comprehension
Avenged Sevenfold - Unholy Confessions (an actually good song by them)
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (simple, but gloomy)
The Offspring - Dirty Magic (This is not metal, but I think it's a good example of the mode's spookiness. (and it's a damn good song))

Finally, a somewhat weird suggestion:


This is a song by the Bulgarian band Hipodil. The rendition of the mode is pretty simple, but it demonstrates it heaviness.

Hope I helped. Enjoy.


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## sgswimmer




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## shattered

Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Phrygian dominant scale:
Opeth - Master's Apprentices


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## LamaSabachthani

Metal Ken said:


> A raised third.
> 
> E Phyrgian = E F G A B C D E
> E Phrygian Dom: E F G# A B C D E.
> 
> Its a mode of Harmonic Minor. Every Yngwie Malmsteen song uses it.



At the risk of sounding like an utterly ignorant dick, is the application of the modes the same as it is to minor scales et c as it is to the major (ionian) scale? I understand the _form_ the modes take but not necessarily their _application_ with regards to a I-IV-V or a II-V-I progression, if you were to lay a lead over the top of that. Nor do I think I fully understand how one translates them to scales other than the major (if that is even possible).

Apologies for the utter novice question


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## Mr. Big Noodles

LamaSabachthani said:


> At the risk of sounding like an utterly ignorant dick, is the application of the modes the same as it is to minor scales et c as it is to the major (ionian) scale? I understand the _form_ the modes take but not necessarily their _application_ with regards to a I-IV-V or a II-V-I progression, if you were to lay a lead over the top of that. Nor do I think I fully understand how one translates them to scales other than the major (if that is even possible).
> 
> Apologies for the utter novice question



It's a good question, actually. The different modes have characteristic cadences. They are thus:

Major - V-I, V7-I, vii°-I, viiø7-I, vii°7-I, or the plagal IV-I and the linear ii-I
Minor - V-i, V7-i, vii°-i, vii°7-i, iv-i, iiø7-i

Aeolian minor - v-i, bVII-i, iv-i
Phrygian - bII-i
Dorian - IV-i, IV-v-i
Mixolydian - bVII-I, v-I
Lydian - V&#8710;-I (&#8710; means 'maj7'), #vi°-I, #viø7-I, vii-I, II-I

Lydian is typically used modally, or through a maj7(#11) tonic chord.

Locrian - Like lydian, this one really isn't used a lot in terms of making chord progressions, because of the instability of the tonic chord. However, you can do a standard V-i, omitting the fifth of the tonic chord to create the impression of a consonant chord.


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