Do you have a favourite lyricist?

Jo

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May 15, 2001
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Perhaps we have already spoken about this but listening to MAYH for breakfast, and, well...Mikael Akerfeldt!
 
Tomas Haake of Meshuggah, Maynard James Keenan of TOOL, and Mikael Akerfeldt of that band Opeth that you may or may not have heard of.

Dark Tranquillity seems to have very good lyrics as well, but I've only heard The Gallery so I won't include them here.

On a sidenote, can one find the lyrics to Hollenthon's With Vilest of Worms to Dwell anywhere?
 
As utterly strange as this is going to sound:

Glen Benton from Deicide!!:heh:

I pretty much stopped reading lyric sheets once I got into the heavy stuff (too many 'Hail Satan' lyrics, it just gets boring and/or cheesy), but Glen is one of the few exceptions. He just cracks me up totally, his lyrics are just so hardcore and in-your-face, I have to learn all the songs so I can sing along :rock:
 
Mikael Akerfeldt
Maynard James Keenan
Dani Filth (he writes some amazing lyrics)
Ishahn also writes some very good lyrics, read IX Equilibrium lyrics, very intellectual
 
Good topic. These were the first ones that came to mind...

Mikael Akerfeldt
Warrel Dane(nevermore)
Daniel Gildenlow(pain of salvation)

Useful Idiot... I think Dark Tranquillity had some great lyrics on both The Gallery and The Mind's I, but they seem to have gone downhill on their newest release.

Morningrise... I agree, Dani Filth is a very underrated lyricist.
 
To be honest, with the exception of Mikael's stylish prose, a lot of the lyrics of our favourite Swedish metal bands are crap. In Flames's lyrics are terrible, and as much as I utterly worship Dan Swano, he's not the greatest lyricist. Some are pretty good, others not so great.

Overall, once again Frank Zappa would be my obvious pick, in all his ...variety, with props to Lennon/McCartney, and Paul Simon, specifically for "The Sound of Silence".

And hell, you gotta love the occaisonal Slayer lyric:

"Enticing Malevolence allures
Bastardize the clean and pure
Salvation forever cruxified
I choose the othe side oh yea
Entire, complete serenity
Injected intravenously
Transgression euphoric bliss devine,
initiate a timeless stain of mind...
blood will sterilize
in fire baptized
all pain sifts through my soul
you'll never feel greater misery
master of my enemy
let the purest stain of mind
wash the virtue from your eyes"

perhaps I just enjoy screaming along with that. Anyhoo...
 
Billy Corgan It's gotta be

mine too, i mean who else could write 5 different albums with almost all the songs being love songs and yet sounding very different:)

Jonas Renske from Katatonia because his lyrics are very similar to my life!

i think so too, but was slightly dissapointed when i found out Mikael co-wrote on discouraged ones and i think tonight's decision too, although i may be wrong about that one, but yeah great lyrics never the less, ''how could this go so very wrong, that i must depend on darkness'', and ''i live 'cause i need more light'':)

yeah Maynard Keenan writes great lyrics too, but the question is, who is the real mad man of the band? Maynard or Adam Jones ?
 
Mikael writes beautiful stuff
Maynard writes intelligent thinking stuff
I love them both :D

Jeff Buckley too...he wrote some interesting lyrics I think.
 
Right now? myself , I always have these Ideas in my head , when I put them to lyrics they come out much more in depth and more emotional . I love spendin my consumer studies class written lyrics , then I just read them and amaze myself with how in depth they are , I wouldn't ever use them in a song though , there my thoughts so FUCK YOU

"don't listen to me I'm a nutcase " - A friend