Death Vocals - Favorite & Impact?

[General Zod]

Two questions:

1. Who are your favorite Death vocalists? Don't weigh their ability to perform clean vocals, either positively or negatively.

2. How much does the quality of Death style vocals impact your enjoyment of a band?

To me, three men stand above the fray, when it comes to delivering Death vocals: Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) and Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth).

I find that the quality of the vocals greatly impact how much I enjoy the music.

Zod

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

Matti Karki (Dismember), K.K. Warslut (Deströyer 666), Johan Hegg, and Antti Boman (Demilich.)

Death vocals add force and power to the music at the cost of melody and versatility. It also sort of diffuses the aggression–in a weird way, death vocals are less straightforward and agressive than, say, black or thrash vox. It's more of a wall of sound than directed, purposeful power.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Just rambling my strange theories about DM. In any case, generally good stuff, depends on the music (In Flames = nono.)

 

[J.]

Sure the quality of death vocals impact the enjoyment factor.

The best "growler" is easily Ares from Aeternus. I also like Daniel Corchado's (The Chasm) death vocals. Yeah, Stanne is good. Oh and Peter Tagtgren (Hypocrisy) from The Fourth Dimension up to the self titled album.

But none can compete with Ares.

EDIT: ANother good one - Martin Van Drunen from Asphyx.

 

[Dev]

The two best are Spiros (Septic Flesh) , and Ares (Aeternus) who by the way does the guest vocals on 'Charge' by Obtained Enslavement . Aeternus keyb. played in OE too

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Two of my favorites are Lord Worm (Cryptopsy), Barney Greenway (Napalm Death).

 

[Dev]

I like Greenway because he has a specific tone . Not like most . Anyway , Spiros has the most impressive guttural voice I've ever heard , beetween the songs at the shows he speaks with Death voice lol

 

[NAD]

1) Favorite overall: Mikael Åkerfeldt, Piotr Wiwczarcek, and Peter Tägtgren.
Favorite performance: David Vincent on Morbid Angel's Domination.

2) I DO NOT LIKE ONE DIMENSIONAL BORING GROWLS IN MODERN DEATH METAL. In the late 80s and early 90s when the liquid hot magma that was death metal was being forged it was cool, but nowadays I need some variety. Unless you are just wicked bad awesome like whoever sang on Hate Forest - Battlefields, but that is a rare exception.

 

[Papa Josh]

Frank Mullen (Suffocation), Martin Van Drunen (Pestilence), Corpsegrinder (Cannibal Corpse), John Tardy (Obituary).

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Best death metal vocalists:
George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (Cannibal Corpse) = 1 prize by FAR
Martin Van Drunen (Pestilence, Asphyx) = second
the ... "quality" of death metal vocals doesnt have any impact on how much i will like a band

To me, three men stand above the fray, when it comes to delivering Death vocals: Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) and Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth).

You have to be joking

 

[NAD]

George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (Cannibal Corpse) = 1 prize by FAR

I often overlook how damn fine this guy is, don't know why. It's cool because he talks like he growls too, just more understandable.

 

[General Zod]

You have to be joking

Why do I have to be joking?

Zod

 

[Dev]

I don't really know Amon Amarth but Stanne and Akerfeldt are very good . You don't stand such things because of the bands' music , do you ?

Still , nothing beat Spiros . Damn , nobody knows Septic Flesh ?

 

[speed]

I know septic flesh, he has sort of a gothic tinged growl. I love the singer from Rotting Christ, especially when they were more or less a mid paced death metal band--not a black metal band; A Dead Poem, Der Perfekte Truam era.

Anyway, I always have loved tagtgren as well, and I love the tortured screams of Tomas Lindberg, I know I am in the minority on that one. I really dont like Akerfeldt.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Yes Spiros has good brutal vocals, but the thread asks about the favourites.. and of course there are others that make better throat brutalities than Spiros

 

[Dev]

Yes , it's only a matter of taste .

 

[NAD]

I love the tortured screams of Tomas Lindberg, I know I am in the minority on that one.

There's another great one, lots of emotion there. His work with Great Deceiver is alright, but nowhere near the AtG stuff.

 

[mousewings]

Vocals (death or not) are very important. I'd never listen to something if the singer's voice annoyed me regardless of how good the instruments, songs, etc. were.

Johan Hegg, Trevor Strnad, and the singer from Gehenna are my picks for the best.
*shiver*

 

[JayKeeley]

I'll second (or third) the Ares vote, but what do you guys have against Åkerfeldt? Are you confusing his talent with your distaste towards the band I wonder? Personally, I hand it to him for having both great death and clean vocals. His death growls seem really well controlled and undulate according to what he needs to deliver in time with the music. They're also pretty 'smooth'.

Too many death vocalists are monotonous, and can't throw intonations into their growls. That ends up just sounding crap -- as a vocalist you need to know when to project it and when to hold back, but if its the same thing all the way through, at the same audio level, it fails badly IMO.

You can't cheat on death vocals because you can't hide behind a melody. When clean vocals are bad, they're bad, but when death vocal are bad, they plain suck. It ruins everything, no matter how good the music is.

 

[J.]

I don't hate Akerfeldt's growls, but they aren't among the best of the best IMO.

 

[Demonspell]

Akerfeldt is one of my favorite death vocalists, and not just because I can easily understand him without the lyric sheet but for the reasons Jay mentioned, he avoids monotony in his growls (except maybe on Deliverance) and is very skilled at making them coexist perfectly with the music...I can't think of any occasion off hand where they sound inappropriate.