no country for old wainds
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- Nov 23, 2002
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I might receive a lot of flak for putting forth this opinion, but I'd like to try to explain my view as to why extreme metal vocals (death/black/grindcore, etc.) ruin the music of otherwise excellent bands.
1. The tone of the voice - Extreme metal vocals carry a very profound ugliness in their tone. By ugly, I mean they often give the impression of someone making a vomiting sound, or a sound one would make when injured and in extreme medical pain. They are belted in a way which makes the producer sound sick, unhealthy, weak, and powerless.
2. The absence of melody - There is much melody to be found in some progressive and technical death metal bands. Unfortunately, that melody is often buried beneath a harsh, atonal voice which fails to compliment the melodic ideas expressed in the music. As such, the vocals stick out like a sore thumb that are unnecessary to the musical expressions of the band. By excluding melody from the voice, the vocalist is greatly limiting his contributions to the band.
3. The repetitiveness - Because extreme metal vocals carry no discernible melodic pitch in their delivery, I find that the limited, one-dimensional, percussive sound that they produce very quickly becomes old, repetitive, and boring. I feel that there can in fact be a place for harsh vocals in music, and at certain times they can evoke a certain emotion within a certain musical phrase. However, the problem, I feel, is that they are highly, HIGHLY overused, so much to the point that they very quickly lose their appeal and become stale. Furthermore, when entire sub-genres of metal require harsh vocals as a key ingredient, the staleness and repetitiveness becomes all the more apparent.
In conclusion then, I feel it is very unfortunate and very shameful when a band of excellent musicians are drowned and suppressed out of the way by an extreme vocalist who ruins the sound of the band. In the future, I hope more metal bands come to realize this flaw and come to make proper adjustments accordingly.
How to Be Bad at Understanding Metal: The Post
You of course are free to hold that view. I totally disagree though, as I've explained why. Perhaps you could elaborate on your reasons for disagreeing with me?A lot of the points described in his post are actually reasons why extreme vocals are appropriate in a lot of music. It's just funny to me.
They are also often used as part of the music, rather than being on top of it like a traditional vocalist may be utilized. That's an area where many bands excel.
Well, you don't know me, so you have no grounds to make that claim. I've listened to literally hundreds of extreme metal bands. The opinion I have formed is based on years of listening experience. Can extreme metal vocals have variation? Of course they can. But one thing is certainly clear about the very nature of harsh vocals and how they are used...they are not a melodic instrument, they are a percussive instrument. I've spoken to many fans of extreme metal vocals, and nearly all of them concede that the vocals are percussive in nature, not melodic. Can percussive instruments vary in pitch? Well yes. But, again, they are extremely limited in the amount of melodic pitch they can deliver.You obviously haven't heard much in the way of extreme vocals if you think that they don't have much variation, as it can often be found even within individual performances by the same vocalist.
Other things, such as your words that a vocalist sounds weak or in pain, are actually good reasons why those vocal styles are appropriate for some music. Not all extreme vocals are the same anyway.
They are also often used as part of the music, rather than being on top of it like a traditional vocalist may be utilized. That's an area where many bands excel.
I might receive a lot of flak for putting forth this opinion, but I'd like to try to explain my view as to why extreme metal vocals (death/black/grindcore, etc.) ruin the music of otherwise excellent bands.
2. The absence of melody - There is much melody to be found in some progressive and technical death metal bands. Unfortunately, that melody is often buried beneath a harsh, atonal voice which fails to compliment the melodic ideas expressed in the music. As such, the vocals stick out like a sore thumb that are unnecessary to the musical expressions of the band. By excluding melody from the voice, the vocalist is greatly limiting his contributions to the band.