nailz
Member
Well I guess that answers that. Awesome, I think I have a new band to pay more attention to.
Forgive My Ignorance ..Growl Lovers Wanted
- Thread starter FatesFan
- Start date
Well I guess that answers that. Awesome, I think I have a new band to pay more attention to.
Mosquito
oh noes!!
I will give the same advice I give to others who are looking into the world of the growl. Stop trying to discern words. Just listen to the growl as if its another instrument. That solves most problems. I rarely know what's being said, but the emotion is still there.
WarriorOfMetal
Shroud of Bereavement
+1....most of the time, i don't even pay attention to the lyrics in bands with clean/melodic vocalists. i'm just not into lyrics in general at all, though, unless it's something that particularly bothers me (like preachy stuff, or painfully stupid), or catches my attention as interesting or amusing. as a musician, i'm far more interested in what they're doing melodically and the sound of the voice and other instruments.
Kimavir
Metal Hippy
- Nov 13, 2003
- 412
- 0
- 16
I'm going to let the other guys teach you about growling in the more extreme genres/different styles/performers. I'm going to educate you from the perspective of someone who used to hate growls as well. However, I kept running into bands I loved that used them on occasion. Eventually, I've actually grown quite fond of them, because some of my favorite songs wouldn't be what they are without growls. No one was ever able to make me understand, I just have to experience them the right way.
The wrong way to understand them is by just jumping into genres you don't like anyway. Let's stay away from Black or Death metal, since those genres obviously aren't you cup of tea anyway. Pick up some Elvenking (just randomly picking a band in a genre I assume you like, I'll pick a different one if you'd like). Let's look at the song Dreadful Strain off their first album in particular. It's not really a growled song, but the last two lines of the chorus is growled. Listen to the song a couple times, and then imagine them trying to pull of that line with clean vocals. It just wouldn't work as well. There's no other way to make "In their tracks I walk - a Dreadful Strain" sound quite so dark. That Elvenking album is just one example of an album that I loved proving to me that growling isn't so bad.
Grab the latest Threshold album and listen to the third track, Elusive. Again, this is a genre and a song that should appeal to you. One of that song's most outstanding features is the back-and-forth calling between the clean and growled vocals.
Finally, after you've spent quite a bit more time with other songs in the Prog/Power genres that are light on the growls, get Follow Through by Lilitu (free download here: http://www.theendrecords.com/label//index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=17&Itemid=77). Once again, I'm just randomly picking a song here, there are others that could work. There's a lot more growling here. However, its definitely a song that should appeal to Prog fans.
After a few songs and albums like these, you'll just start to understand on your own terms (if my experience is any indication). Don't ignore the lyrics, don't think about your vocal chords, and just enjoy these great songs that wouldn't be complete without a growl here and there.
The wrong way to understand them is by just jumping into genres you don't like anyway. Let's stay away from Black or Death metal, since those genres obviously aren't you cup of tea anyway. Pick up some Elvenking (just randomly picking a band in a genre I assume you like, I'll pick a different one if you'd like). Let's look at the song Dreadful Strain off their first album in particular. It's not really a growled song, but the last two lines of the chorus is growled. Listen to the song a couple times, and then imagine them trying to pull of that line with clean vocals. It just wouldn't work as well. There's no other way to make "In their tracks I walk - a Dreadful Strain" sound quite so dark. That Elvenking album is just one example of an album that I loved proving to me that growling isn't so bad.
Grab the latest Threshold album and listen to the third track, Elusive. Again, this is a genre and a song that should appeal to you. One of that song's most outstanding features is the back-and-forth calling between the clean and growled vocals.
Finally, after you've spent quite a bit more time with other songs in the Prog/Power genres that are light on the growls, get Follow Through by Lilitu (free download here: http://www.theendrecords.com/label//index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=17&Itemid=77). Once again, I'm just randomly picking a song here, there are others that could work. There's a lot more growling here. However, its definitely a song that should appeal to Prog fans.
After a few songs and albums like these, you'll just start to understand on your own terms (if my experience is any indication). Don't ignore the lyrics, don't think about your vocal chords, and just enjoy these great songs that wouldn't be complete without a growl here and there.
Jasonic
Doom On!
1) Get off your computer
2) Head to your nearest metal CD store
3) Purchase anything you can find by Novembers Doom
2) Head to your nearest metal CD store
3) Purchase anything you can find by Novembers Doom
mëtålspëd
Umlauts ist Krieg
I think everyone should listen to Dimmu Borgir. Shagrath has probably one of my favorite 'vocal stylings' of the extreme stuff. I can't get into the particulars that you all have, because frankly I do not listen to a lot of the extreme stuff... but they just kick ass.
The Serpentine Offering (off their new disc... Hellhammer on drums)
Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
The Serpentine Offering (off their new disc... Hellhammer on drums)
Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
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skyrefuge
Member
Ha, no fair. First, those three are almost custom-tailored for you to know, and second, I'm pretty sure you've actually played this guessing-game at some point years ago!
I wasn't even intending to make it a game this time around, but since you guys got 'em all anyway, here are the complete answers:
1. Amorphis - Elegy - Better Unborn
2. Solefald - The Linear Scaffold - When The Moon Is On The Wave
3. Edge of Sanity - Crimson - Crimson (that roar is done by Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth)
4. Dark Tranquillity - Haven - The Wonders At Your Feet
5. Night In Gales - Thunderbeast - Perehelion
Nice job on the Night In Gales, that's the tough, "rare" one! And yeah, I know the Amorphis growl isn't quite grindcore burping, but this was formed from my sources of wussy melodic metal at the time, and that's about as far as you'll hear growls go with a melodic band.
Neil
There's another style, that I guess you could say falls under Cookie Monster. Don't have a cute name for it, but the bands that use it are:
Deeds of Flesh
Disgorge (California not Mexico)
Goratory
Brodequin
Prostitute Disfigurement (Silly name but the last album was GOOD!)
And there's yet another style that everyone I know refers to as "REE" because all it sounds like they're saying is "Reeee Reeee Reeeeeee," and I think Devourment is the first one that comes to mind of bands who do this.
The more growly it gets, the fewer consonants you hear.
Deeds of Flesh
Disgorge (California not Mexico)
Goratory
Brodequin
Prostitute Disfigurement (Silly name but the last album was GOOD!)
And there's yet another style that everyone I know refers to as "REE" because all it sounds like they're saying is "Reeee Reeee Reeeeeee," and I think Devourment is the first one that comes to mind of bands who do this.
The more growly it gets, the fewer consonants you hear.
RiffDaemon
Member
I'm much like Mosquito in that I don't really discern the lyrics to anything I listen to. I just listened to the entire discography of Rhapsody, and I probably couldn't recite you one verse from any of it. Even if you asked me to spit one out right after listening to one of their songs, I still couldn't do it. BUT! I could probably recite the vocal melodies to 99% accuracy 
As far as grunts go, I didn't used to like them ... at all. I'd hear this great riff, amazing solo, and then this guy would come along and "ruin" it all. This changed when I heard Moonshield by In Flames. The guitar lines were just so damned beautiful that I just tuned the vocals out. After a while, I didn't mind them .. kinda got used to them. Then I started reading about the origins of Black Metal, and that's when I came across Bathory. I read about Quorthon's life story and all that, and I downloaded "A Fine Day to Die." That changed everything, and I still get chills when I hear it. I read into Death metal, and I came across Chuck and the boys in Death. I listened to "The Philosopher" .. and I was hooked.
So there's the short version of it. Now I don't mind so much when I hear growls, grunts, gremlin scratches, etc.... unless it's American. With the exception of a few, most American grunters/growlers aren't my cup of tea. Those I hear from across the pond usually appeal more to me. And now that I think of it, I actually feel the same way about all vocals, really. Oh well
As far as grunts go, I didn't used to like them ... at all. I'd hear this great riff, amazing solo, and then this guy would come along and "ruin" it all. This changed when I heard Moonshield by In Flames. The guitar lines were just so damned beautiful that I just tuned the vocals out. After a while, I didn't mind them .. kinda got used to them. Then I started reading about the origins of Black Metal, and that's when I came across Bathory. I read about Quorthon's life story and all that, and I downloaded "A Fine Day to Die." That changed everything, and I still get chills when I hear it. I read into Death metal, and I came across Chuck and the boys in Death. I listened to "The Philosopher" .. and I was hooked.
So there's the short version of it. Now I don't mind so much when I hear growls, grunts, gremlin scratches, etc.... unless it's American. With the exception of a few, most American grunters/growlers aren't my cup of tea. Those I hear from across the pond usually appeal more to me. And now that I think of it, I actually feel the same way about all vocals, really. Oh well
edgeofthorns
24 Hours Ago...
FatesFan and I are both in the same boat on this subject. Personally, I have found myself warming up to growling a little, but not by leaps and bounds. The one band that I think is just fantastic and also uses growls is, Into Eternity. I've been flirting with buying some of their stuff and just haven't yet, so I give those guys props. In addition, the old In Flames stuff is very appealing to me musically, but the vocals have always steered me away. Like I said, I'm slowly warming up to the use of growls though. Lastly, I said sometime back that I can understand the appeal of Dimmu Borgir, because I think they're an exceptionally talented band.
~Brian~
~Brian~
mtndewqueen88
Mark the Music
I won't repeated what others have explained, but I read somewhere that harsh vocals are better viewed as a percussive instrument (along the lines of what Mosquito was saying, I guess). Perhaps that will help your understanding.
I use to be a growl/scream hater, but one band changed my mind, and that band is Borknagar. I heard the Genuine Pulse off of their Empiricism cd and Vintersorg's vocals just blew my mind and so has everything else he has done. All of Vintersorg's solo stuff is mind-blowing.
The best growlers/screamers IMHO are Peter Tatgren from Hypocrisy, of course Mikael from Opeth, Vortex(Dimmu clean vocals, ex-borknagar, arcturus), Bjorn from Soilwork(one of my top 3 all time fav singers), Tomas Lindberg from At the Gates and ex-nightrage, I really like the guy from the black dahlia murder, Chuck from Death, Devin Townsend screams like no other with such emotion, Miseration, all of Swano's especially on Moontower, Ihsahn from Emperor, Corey from Slipknot, I liked the singer from the first Zyklon, I also like Proscriptor from Absu especially considering he plays drums and sings live, Angela from arch enemy, and so on...
The best to start with are Vintersorg(or I like to call chameleon, he has the most screams/growls/spoken word/cleans/and everything), Tatgren, Akerfeldt, Vortex, and Bjorn.
The best growlers/screamers IMHO are Peter Tatgren from Hypocrisy, of course Mikael from Opeth, Vortex(Dimmu clean vocals, ex-borknagar, arcturus), Bjorn from Soilwork(one of my top 3 all time fav singers), Tomas Lindberg from At the Gates and ex-nightrage, I really like the guy from the black dahlia murder, Chuck from Death, Devin Townsend screams like no other with such emotion, Miseration, all of Swano's especially on Moontower, Ihsahn from Emperor, Corey from Slipknot, I liked the singer from the first Zyklon, I also like Proscriptor from Absu especially considering he plays drums and sings live, Angela from arch enemy, and so on...
The best to start with are Vintersorg(or I like to call chameleon, he has the most screams/growls/spoken word/cleans/and everything), Tatgren, Akerfeldt, Vortex, and Bjorn.
Purveyor Of Evil
Heavy Metal, INC.
Mosquito
oh noes!!
Never ever been impressed with her. Wages of Sin had a few good tunes but thats it. I think she gets way more recognition because she is a female in a predominately male genre, not because she has some great growl talent.
J
- Dec 18, 2004
- 1,667
- 0
- 36
Both those songs are killer musically speaking. I do struggle with the vox a bit. It's a shame because the music smokes and the vocals on the chorus of both songs is very good. I like the second one quite a bit.
...AndTimeBegan
Member
- Nov 6, 2007
- 543
- 0
- 16
Every growl is different. If you can't tell the difference between Carcass' vocals and Death's vocals... well you need to pay close attention.
DoomsdayZach
The Professor was right
Heh... way to leave the newest Dimmu video off. That is a visual abortion that rates extremely high on the unintentional comedy scale.
[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=F9cqKafnUrk[/ame]
