The Hardest Song of All Time

The main editors at The Thanks List challenged each other to a very hard task: identify the Hardest Song of All Time. Here’s what they had to say:

Selecting an “absolute best of all time” in anything is almost always an impossible task. It becomes even harder when it’s in a category that I feel so close to, as hardcore music is probably the music that’s been the most important to me throughout my life. But if I am forced to chose, I will have to go with When Tigers Fight  by ALONE IN A CROWD. Let us first start by trying to define, with the help of a few examples, what constitutes a “hard” song and how it differs from, let’s say, a “heavy” song or an “intense” or “aggressive” song (although many “hard songs” are also, obviously, “heavy”, “intense” and “aggressive”).

When Tigers Fight doesn’t necessarily have the heaviest riff. In fact, its main guitar part is very simple and very spacious: it consists of two resonating chords played in alternance with a short palm muted transition to close out the riff. Let’s use, as a comparative example, a song that I consider to be one of the heaviest, most brutal songs of the decade: CANNIBAL CORPSE – Scourge of iron. With its huge chugging riff, massive production and George Corpsegrinder’s monstrous vocals, it is definitely a heavier song.

It doesn’t make it a harder song, though.

You could also argue, for example, that Enslaved by Machinery by INSECT WARFARE is a more intense song, and you would be right. You could also say that it’s a more aggressive song, and you could be right. To me, it is simply a different type of aggression. Enslaved by Machinery expresses pure, all out aggression. When Tigers Fight expresses controlled, directed aggression. It deals in a different type of anger, in a different way to channel rage. When you hear Rahi from INSECT WARFARE scream like a maniac, without restraint, over quick successions of alternating blast beats and fast beats, you picture someone going crazy at 100mph and just being angry at everything. You picture total chaos. Conversely, when you hear Jules from When Tigers Fight scream over that slow, hard, repetitive beat, you picture someone walking, decisively, angrily, towards his destination. It’s nothing chaotic or all over the place, quite the contrary. He’s angry at one thing and is fully focused on it.

What makes this song so hard is the vocal delivery and how it relates to the lyrics. Each word is said with conviction. Every syllable is pronounced in a way that makes you feel his rage with each enunciation. If you compare it to a typical death metal growl, the death metal growl would typically be considered more aggressive, or more “extreme”. It is certainly very aggressive and can often be absolutely ideal for that type of music. But when it comes to channelling actual anger, it doesn’t have the same impact as a song like When Tigers Fight does. No one, in the real world, will scream at you in anger with a death metal growl. When I hear Jules screaming “Gotta hit you hard, gotta make you bleed!”, he says it like an angry person would and I am reminded of different times in my life when I’ve had someone walk up to me in anger and scream in my face or threaten me. It is a sung version of an actual angry person threatening you, and it sounds as convincing as I’ve ever heard in a song.  

Since the song is about challenging someone to a street fight (after feeling angry for a long time),  the lyrics perfectly complement the vocal patterns. You hear every word clearly, and every line is either a threat (“one on one and then we’ll see”) or a description of how the fight is gonna go (“brass knuckles for gloves, the street for a ring, there ain’t gonna be no bell to go ding”). The subject matter and how clearly every word is sung only add to the feeling of anger related by Jules’ vocal performance.

The vocals may be the centerpiece of this song, but they are also perfectly supported by the instrumentation and the song progression. The song begins with simply two resonating bass notes: Boom… Bam… Boom… Bam… It is minimal, but in the context of the song, it is intimidating, almost scary. There is no better way to announce what’s to come. It reminds me of Mike Tyson when he fought Michael Spinks: he came out to simply sounds of chains clanging together, in what has to be the most intimidating pro boxer entrance ever. Minimal but effective.

After 12 seconds of resonating bass notes comes a 10 seconds feedback accompanied only by the hi-hat. Then comes the beat and the first riff, for about 18 seconds. A very simple, slowish-mid tempo beat over a riff consisting of mainly resonating chords. Up to this point, I feel like every step of the intro announces an element of what’s to come. The bass notes: you feel the anger setting up and the fear of what’s going to happen. The feedback and hi hat: you feel the anger rising. The beat: you can picture the protagonist walking to this beat, in a decisive manner, looking for a fight. It is just the right tempo to picture someone walking in that state of mind. And then, about 40 seconds in, Jules grabs the mic, unleashes a “eeeaaaahhh”, and then starts singing: venting his anger, formulating threats, looking for a fight. During the verses, the guitars keep on going with the same riff, doubling up on the resonating chords to add some punch but still giving the vocals all the space that they need to fully take over the song. The drums switch to a slightly more complex version of the same beat, with very frequent fills, almost simulating the irregular rhythms of an actual fight.  All these elements put together make this the perfect fight song and, to me, the hardest song of all time.

Other songs were considered. THINK I CARE – The Hammer definitely makes me want to “bring the hammer down” on something. DYING BREED – Face Down (“so now we’re coming for yooooouuuuu!!!!!!”) is another type of “fight song” that is super hard, although in a different style with a heavier sound. HATEBREED – Smash your Enemies definitely makes me want to… well, smash my enemies. I could go on like that for a while.

But the one song that really made me struggle and almost ended up being the subject of this article is The Hard Way by OUTBURST. Actually, in my first draft of this article, in the introduction, after discussing how difficult it is to select an “all time best” in any category, I wrote:

“That’s why I cheated and selected two songs when presented with the task of selecting the “hardest song of all time”. To be fair, they are songs that have a very similar vibe and I will do my best to explain, through the elements that they both share, what makes them the hardest songs of all time.”

But, after a while, I just didn’t feel right taking the easy way out so I sat down, played both songs multiple times again, convinced myself that I had to make a decision, and spent hours debating the merits of each song with myself. That’s how close it was.

In The Hard Way, the protagonist is struggling through hard times. He’s desperate, but he’s still standing. He’s not wallowing in depression, he’s angry at the world and even though the world isn’t fair, even though the game is rigged, he’s still standing. It’s a classic hardcore trope, but one that is represented here maybe in its rawest, most honest form. Very similarly to When Tigers Fight, each word here is sung with conviction and anger. And, in comparison, The Hard Way has the heavier riffs (the intro/outro riff is HARD), is more dynamic (the mid tempo beat is faster, while still being slow enough to feel heavy and support the vocal cadence perfectly) and has a vocal performance that feels just as angry…almost.

When Tigers Fight has a very similar vibe but, in the end, it is just meaner. It feels mean. The Hard Way is a song about overcoming hardship and fighting back against an unjust world. “Been a victim for far too long, time to even the score.” It is a great song and certainly one of the hardest of all time. It is also a kind of fight song of sorts, in which the conflict is not with someone in particular but with hard life in general. When Tigers Fight, though, is, pure and simple, a fight song. The protagonist was wronged, he was disrespected.  He’s angry and he’s going to go out and make it right. There’s no social commentary, there’s no reflection about life or the state of the world. There’s very little context or explanation. There is just pure anger and rage that ends up being expressed through physical violence. As mentioned before, there are songs that have heavier riffs. There are songs that are more purely aggressive and intense. There are songs that deal with more dangerous subject matter. But, in the end, one song edges them out. It was released in 1989 by a band who played one single show and recorded only four songs, and it still gets me pumped every time.

-Cédric N.

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For me, listening to music has always been about the intangible feeling that a song gives me. I am not a musician and, while I can appreciate technical prowess, it is simply not a reason for me to like a song or not. Gimme a simple, mean (or sweet!) riff, or a powerful drum part and you got my attention. I am not analytical at all about structures either. The feeling and the images that music creates in me is all I’m about.

Beyond that, what typically makes or breaks a song for me is vocals and dynamics/drum. Go ahead and bring me on a ride with tempo changes and a healthy dose of dynamic contrast. I love being thrown in different directions and hold a soft spot for fast parts. Pepper it with a few good catchy lines and I’m most likely a fan.

This basic recipe can pretty much be true for any type of music but when it comes to aggressive music, tempo changes become even more important. I am a firm believer that intensity cannot be sustained for a long time on a monotone beat.

So now what? How does it all translate into finding my hardest song ever? Let’s review the contenders:

BURIED ALIVE – Worthless. The break in the middle after singer Scott Vogel goes “You’re worthless as you die” is just plain vicious. Followed by “How the fuck does it feeeeel?” into the fast part coming back? I’m punching holes in a wall. However, as much as I enjoy the last part of the song, it kinda brings the intensity down. It makes for a good song but not the hardest ever.

CONVERGE – Trespasses. A brutal start to a song gives an edge in my search for the hardest of the hard and this songs sure delivers it. Actually, it would definitely be my pick for hardest song intro. For some reason, the double bass drum and wall of sound riff just get to me. It freezes me into helplessness the same way seeing a grenade explode in front of me would: there is no escape. The fast part that follows is equally destructive, throwing you in a completely different direction. Hard and somehow melodic, the way only CONVERGE does. The vocals add another layer of aggression for sure but the absence of a catchy line or two loses points with me. And since we’re cherry picking here, I need to pass.

SEPULTURA – Arise. Now we are getting very serious. Devastatingly fast drumming and hard as nails riffs on this one, a brutal intro and the infamous “I see the world old. I see the world dead” line. Do we have a winner? Close enough but not quite, for two reasons: I could use more tempo changes and the vocals do not make me want to murder anyone. Life sentence for 1st degree is what we’re after.

Now, SLAYER has got to be in the conversation, right? The most aggressive band ever (that’s right!) must have the hardest song too. Well, it turns out they don’t. I contemplated an unconventional choice in Season in the abyss for its impossibly dark vibe but my love affair with fast parts shot it down. The brutal attack and insane lyrics to Angel of death got a long look but the groovier middle part keeps it from being the hardest. Raining blood was also a very close contender (almost a coin flip to be honest) but as great as the intro is, it being more of a build up than a full on attack was the deciding factor in splitting hairs one way or another.

In the end, I give the crown to RINGWORM for Justice replaced by revenge. I love its relentless aggression, which kicks in right away with perhaps the closest thing to a sucker punch music can offer. That initial attack is a huge reason for my choice. The unbridled fast part seems to have a life of its own, which players can only hope to contain and keep from spinning out of control. Spastic and full of cuts with incredibly intense picking (that downstroke!), it’s the definition of a riff that brings you along for a ride, whether you like it or not. In a split second, they grab you off the sidewalk and throw you in the trunk of a car for a spin.

The second riff is equally destructive. Simple and mean, it is a perfect accomplice to the signature RINGWORM double bass drum action, achieving an overall perfect balance between breaking it down and keeping the pressure on.

After a quick repeat, they release us from their headlock, only to throw us to the dogs with a good ol’ tested and true moshpart. While simplistic to the extreme, the genius lies in the contrast it brings by letting the song breathe while the dance floor turns into a prison riot. But there is another reason why this generic breakdown turns into a monster. Careful readers will have noticed by now that, until now, I purposely avoided mentioning the true responsible for the blood on the floor: the one and only Human Furnace. That’s right, when the most vicious singer of all time delivers his “Reveeeeenge” to launch the mosh part, all common sense flies out the window. Same goes for every time he screams the song title or the uncompromising line “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, we believe”. Great singers can lift a song to a higher level than the sum of its parts and that’s exactly what happens here.

The song ends on a repeat of the first two riffs, which somehow do not lose any of their impact the 3rd time around. In barely 2 minutes, it’s all over and we’ve survived to tell the tale. Here’s to the beauty of not overloading a song.

-Ben F.

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What would be your pick for the Hardest Song of All Time? We’re curious to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments!

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