Best melodic death metal growler

[Ormir]

Who (or what) do you think is the most talented growler in melodic death metal? This is for growling only, clean vox mean nothing. I put down a few options, but new ones can be nominated ofcourse.

My vote goes to Mikael Åkerfeldt. I'm no fan of Opeth, but I have to admit that his growling is the most powerful I've heard in the scene. It just sends chills down my spine...

 

[aegis]

my vote goes for Mikael Stanne
Mikael Åkerfeldt is close behind tough

These 2 are far better as the others

 

[MacMoney]

Hey, where's Karl Willets of Bolt Thrower or Jocke Gothberg of Dimension Zero? Well, they're unnecessary here since Dan Swanö takes the cake and anyone else probably wouldn't vote for them either.

Jon Nödtvedt, Tomas Lindberg and Johan Liiva come close to Swanö though.

 

[Voice of God]

This poll might have been a bit more neutral on some other forum...

But my vote goes to Jon Nödtveidt

 

[Jo]

Mikael Åkerfeldt I am a fervent fan of his magnificent power

"Spiritual eclipse
The Gateways are closed for me to seek"...

 

[Maniac^]

have to say I like Anders Friden most, maybe his vioce is not as growly as it used to be but I still like it

 

[Hellrazer]

I really like singers from Dark Tranquillity and Opeth. I prefer Opeth growls, but only by a little more than DT. Both are awesome!

 

[HarmonyDies....]

I voted for Johan Liiva Mikael Stanne was close behind there all really good!

 

[Silentjohan]

I voted for åkerfeldt...such a powerful growl and such a beautiful clean voice...the perfect mix for me!

 

[Melancholia]

You know how much trouble polls cause me...I was between the two Mikeals...by viewing the results i noticed that the one Mikeal had one post left,so i voted for that Mikael,...so now the Mikeals have the same number of votes
It would be cooler if there was the opportunity to vote for more than one...
In that case I would have voted for the Mikaels and Tompa
and then for mr. swanö

 

[Final_Vision]

Seems ive pulled it even again by voting for Stanne, just because he can do both soooooo well. His clean vox are godly and all of his growls are top notch. Akerfeldt is damn good but my dime goes to Stanne just because I prefer his vocal range and style more.

Personally I think Lindbergs growl like........on Kingdom Gone, just plain suck. Its just......eh, I dunno bad hehe. Shoot me all you want but thats how i look at it, but his vox Terminal Spirit and of course the masterpiece Slaughter of the Soul were top notch. Also on The Crowns new work. Very talented man.

Anders Friden? His growl his reallly bad nowadays.......its actually decent but every other guy on the list beats the shit out of em.

 

[terria]

now you've done it! the opeth/dt-poll was unfair it was grrrr i spent some days thinking about it but i CANNOT answer THIS question...

 

[Melancholia]

why do i suspect that many Opethians (who don't post here) have passed by to support their god???

 

[FatherVic]

voted to stanne, how not!
but akerfeldt, lindberg, hegg and gossow (she is not listed, but well she should!!!) are awesome ones too!

 

[Skald]

S T A N N E = G O D


All others are far behind, to my mind...

 

[Somber Soul]

I read in an Opeth interview that Akerfeldt uses a special compressor along with the microphone to get his deep yet powerful vocals. This means he can do his growls with a rather low volume (and the they will then get deeper and throatier by default - try it out), which are then amplified. This is why his vocals sound so special and unlike other vocalists' growls.

I voted for Stanne, of course. But we're on the DT forum after all. My runner-up would be Akerfeldt.

 

[Nico16]

wow, this vote is too difficult, in my opinion.

If you just focus on the growls, I would say that Johan Hegg and Åkerfeldt are almost equally good. After them come Mikael, Mr. Swanö and Tompa. I love Mikael's vocals on Haven - on that record he's the best Gothenburg death metal vocalist - I can't imagine Åkerfeldt to sing for a band like At The Gates or Dark Tranquillity, his vocalst just wouldn't fit the style, because it is faster. There would be only very few passages where he could use his very "long" growls. Maybe you've heard his, Jonas Renske's and Roy Blackheim's project "Bloodbath" - the music is much faster and not epic at all, that's why I don't like his vocals on that one. The same goes for Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth _are_ fast, but they have these epic sounding passages where he can use his brutal growls)...besides that I also can't imagine him singing for DT.
About Johan Liiva: I like his vocals, but IMO they didn't fit Arch Enemy. At least not on their 2 last albums. I don't know why, but he just doesn't fit. I have to agree with Phyre that Angela sounds better than Johan when 'singing' for Arch Enemy...but I'm curious how he will sound on the NonExist debut album, I already heard some positive responses.
Anders Friden has/had potential - he was way better in the past: on the Jester Race and Whoracle albums, but nowadays his vocals suck (sorry, I just try to be honest ). I don't even like In Flames' music after Whoracle...

If you didn't focus only on the growls but also on the clean-singing abilities, I must say that Dan the man Swanö rules supreme. After him comes Åkerfeldt and then Stanne.

 

[Villain]

My top-three would be (in any order):

-Swanö
-Stanne
-Åkerfeldt

But I think for this poll I will go with Stanne - although I must say that IF it were about clean vocals, I would probably have voted for Åkerfeldt (or perhaps Swanö...)

-Villain

 

[benny]

Dan Swanö is my favorite up there for sure!

 

[mousewings]

I voted for Anders Friden. For some reason, I really love his voice.