Best and worst vocalists.

[ilyti]

I may have replied in here before, but I can't find it. Maybe it was a different thread with the same purpose. Apologies if there are any repeats in what I wrote.

Best: James Labrie. Ruptured vocal chords and all, I don't care. His voice is perfect for Dream Theater. Excellent frontman too.
Matt Barlow. Needs no explanation. And if you ask for one, he will show up at your house and sing Dracula to you causing you to fall desperately in love, after witch he'll split every bone in your body with his scream. Consider yourself warned.

Worst: Any metalcore screamer. Can't get into it. Particularly when they show up in otherwise good bands like Between the Buried and Me.
Chuck Schuldiner. Yes an excellent guitar player but his vocals along with terrible guitartone make Death records completely unlistenable for me. Its a shame because I'd probably like the songs if the sound was different. I have a similar dislike for black metal snarls like Abbath, Varg, even Ihsahn. Death growls is for some reason a completely different thing. I really like Randy Blythe's vocals. Totally irrational, I know.

 

[sol niger 333]

Best: Maynard James Keenan

Worst: James Labrie


MJK: Immense power, control and diversity with incredible lyrics vs JLB: vocal wanking and cheesy lyrics (IMO). Oh how different our tastes are on here!! Diversity is an old old wooden ship

 

[ilyti]

MJK: Sounds like he's yawning while singing pretentious pseudo-intellectual lyrics vs JLB: meaningful lyrics with great melody, phrasing and a versatile expressive voice (IMO).

Fixed.

Kidding of course, just wanted to make a point. But yeah diversity is a rusty old boat.

 

[Opeth666]

Best: Sarah Mclaughin

Worst: William Hung

 

[f2f4]

best: Greg Puciato. He's come to be probably my favorite vocalist of all time, he fits DEP perfectly.

worst: Oli Sykes. 'nuff said

 

[estabon37]

Gotta show some love for Mikael Akerfelt, Mike Patton, Thom Yorke and Devin Townsend, they're amazing.

Maynard James Kennan and Bjork genuinely define contemporary vocalists to me. Their ability to use their voices to control a song for sections and then just 'become an instrument' for other sections continues to amaze me. You can tell that they understand what they are doing to an extent that many other vocalists do not. While people like Thom York and Mike Patton are amazing vocalists, I can't help feeling that they put in less than 100% because they also play instruments while they sing. Maynard and Bjork can allow themselves to become lost in singing.

Other singers I just "like" regardless of technical ability are Paul Dempsey (Something For Kate), Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Ian Kenney (Karnivool), Jeff Buckley, Emiliana Torrini, Neil Finn (Crowded House), Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) and Cedric Bixler (At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta).

 

[Daemoniac]

Serj Tankian (System Of A Down),

Yes! I knew i'd forgotten someone. Serj has an incredible voice IMO, whether you like it or not is another matter.

 

[brahminlead]

Best: Nergal from Behemoth, Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel, Jens Kiddman from Meshuggah, Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, Jim Martin from Aegaeon and Chino Moreno from Deftones.

Worst: Frank Palmieri from Emmure, Oli Sykes from BMTH, the vocalists from Fellsilent (love the music though), the dude from Dream Theater, Ronnie from Born of Osiris, Nick the pre-Rareform After the Burial vocalist.

 

[caughtinamosh]

Yes! I knew i'd forgotten someone. Serj has an incredible voice IMO, whether you like it or not is another matter.

Oh Hell yes! It's so... powerful (both in a traditional sense and an "overwhelming" sense). SOAD are great.

 

[Evil7]

I wanted to start this thread because I have noticed I base my favorite bands off the vocalist in many cases.​

This thread might uncover bands that myself and others like me may really enjoy!​

I love a brutal vocal range.. Monotone Metal vocals are ok. I like slayer and Hatebreed but a range is so much more interesting.​

I love to hear in one single scream : a gutteral low that progresses the whole range into a head splitting high. and reverse.​

Im going to give some rather mainstream examples of what im talking about and please go fucking nuts. Show me something new with understandable vocals!
People write songs to convey a point to the listener through lyrics right?

Randy Has an Excellent Vocal Range for metal. This song is a good example of what im talking about.

The Acacia Strain! Holy fuck I cant stop listening to this song the Vocals and Lyrics are just nut stomping!

Dez Is Amazing

Chimaira's Vocals are Great

Phil Has such a powerfull voice! Highs mids and lows.

Corey Taylor is a Beast.​

Please add some input. Videos ect... Or just tell me what you like in a sick vocalist.​

 

[Cyntex]

By far the sickest vocals I ever heard in metal.

 

[vampiregenocide]

Randy Blythe is one of my favourite vocalists, here are some others.

Devin Townsend has insane vocals, going from evil screams to beautiful singing.




I know I plug these guys a lot, but Hal's vocals on the new Talanas EP are deadly.



Former Sylosis vocalist Jamie was brooooootal.




Chester Bennington is imo one of the best vocalists around imo, never seen any bad live videos of him. He always sounds bang on, and does an 18 second scream in 'Given Up', though he sometimes splits it in two.



YouTube - Linkin Park - Given Up

 

[Cadavuh]

Karl from Misery Signals has to be my personal fav. He's pretty monotonous but his lines are very audible and extremely memorable, as well as having great structure. I must say that he really knows what he's doing.

 

[Psychobuddy]

Damn...Devin's already taken, he's an amazing vocalist.

Mikael Akerfeldt has amazing clean vocals as well as a vicious growl.

 

[abysmalrites]

Well, that Talanas post reminded me of Akercocke.
Low-high-singing vocals

 

[heineken_fretwalker]

It is an absolute insult to metal that this dude hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[Randy]

Well, if we're talking range:

 

[heineken_fretwalker]

Well, if we're talking range:

This too.

 

[Evil7]

Yeah, I really Dig All Shall Perish.

 

[JeffFromMtl]

I always thought Sven from Aborted had some pretty brutal vocals.



And Jacob Bannon would be my hands-down "sickest vocalist", I'm surprised the guy's vocal cords are still in tact after all these years.



And +1 to the dudes from PTH and ASP, they're ridiculous.