In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD₅₀, LC₅₀ or L C t₅₀ is a measure of the lethal dose of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen. The value of LD₅₀ for a substance is the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population after a specified test duration.
Oh, and L.D. 50 is also the name of a Progressive Metal album by Mudvayne.
Track listing:
- "Monolith" 1:52
- "Dig" 2:43
- "Internal Primates Forever" 4:25
- "-1" 3:58
- "Death Blooms" 4:52
- "Golden Ratio" 0:54
- "Cradle" 5:14
- "Nothing to Gein" 5:29
- "Mutatis Mutandis" 1:43
- "Everything and Nothing" 3:14
- "Severed" 6:33
- "Recombinant Resurgence" 2:00
- "Prod" 6:03
- "Pharmaecopia" 5:34
- "Under My Skin" 3:47
- "(k)now F(orever)" 7:06
- "Lethal Dosage" 2:59
Dig these tropes! Bury me underneath every trope that I love...
- Arc Number: During the songwriting process, the band members paired riffs with lyrics based on what Matthew Mcdonough referred to as "number symbolism". According to Mcdonough, while he and Chad Gray wrote the lyrics to "Nothing to Gein", Greg Tribbett performed a riff which alternated in bars of 4 and 5. Because the number 9 is a lunar number, Mcdonough felt that the riff would fit the song's lyrics, which referred to serial killer and grave robber Ed Gein, whose actions Mcdonough associated with nighttime activity.
- Careful with That Axe: Chad and Greg stretch their vocal chords beyond most normal human beings.
- Concept Album: The album's title derives from the technical term 'Median lethal dose', abbreviated LD 50, used by toxicologists to refer to the dose required to kill half (50 percent of) the members of a tested population. All of the tracks are conceptually tied to the idea of human evolution. Through Sampling of the voice of philosopher Terence Mckenna, who discusses his idea that human beings have a symbiotic relationship to psychedelic mushrooms, and that ingesting such was the catalyst of apes to evolve into humans. The themes of the individual songs, including drug addiction ("Internal Primates Forever", "Pharmaecopia"), murder ("Dig", "Nothing to Gein" and "Under My Skin") and esoteric development ("[k]now F[orever]") combine to create an overall connecting lyrical theme of human evolution, development and destruction, which continues on into the lyrics of The End of All Things to Come,
- Epic Rocking: "(k)now F(orever)" is 7 minutes long.
- Fading into the Next Song: All tracks segue into each other. Many are linked by portions of an ambient piece called "L.D. 50".
- Harsh Vocals: Chad and Greg both scream, roar and growl at various points.
- I Have Many Names: All band members. Greg said in one interview that "if you hang with us for more than half an hour, you're going to get a nickname. It's just how we are."
- Indecipherable Lyrics: A few of their songs, particularly "Dig".
- Lead Bassist: Ryan is a Type A and arguably a Type C as well; after all, there are more than a few bassists out there who aren't particularly fond of Mudvayne's music as a whole but who are heavily influenced by his playing.
- Metal Scream: Chad Gray uses a Type 1.
- Miniscule Rocking: The ambient interludes are all at least 1 minute long or less. They were originally created as a 17 minute ambient piece called "L.D. 50".
- Monster Clown: Their L.D. 50-era face paint.
- Murder Ballad: "Nothing To Gein", about Serial Killer Ed Gein. Gein's story grabbed the attention of Mcdonough and Gray as they were leafing through a book on murderers and true crime. Regarding Gein, Mcdonough commented, "It seemed so impossible [for Gein] to bridge the gap into mainstream society. I found that exciting that I could find humanity in him".
- Progressive Metal: Mcdonough at one point got so tired of answering questions about the band's style that he jokingly said "It's math metal. Bring your abacus." Unfortunately, people jumped on the 'math metal' thing, to his irritation.
- Shout-Out: One of the songs on L.D. 50 was titled "Monolith". This and "Internal Primates Forever" are references to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
