Male Death/Female Clean Vocals

[CF87]

Theatre of Tragedy-velvet darkness they fear
Draconian-arcane rain fell
Tristania-ashes

I'm generally picky about female vocals and also raspy/growled vocals and find these top notch.

 

[S<issors]

Except that there's not a single band out there that has ever used it as anything but a fucking gimmick, whereas there are legions of bands using death vox alone that can be pointed to as serious artistic heavyweights.



Yeah, there's no pseudo-gothic bullshit in THIS band:

I notice they're signed up for the 'Metal Female Voices Fest' in October, which is very possibly the most gimmicky thing I've ever heard of. Hey, it's a festival of chick singers! We're not promoting this on the basis of something totally irrelevant, or anything. Nosiree!

GAY!

Well thank God for serious, artistically credible bands like Summoning!

Oh, wait.

Oh riiiiight, this is metal.

Also, calling a festival for female singers a "gimmick" is so idiotic that I hardly think I need to point it out. It's no more gimmicky than grouping together a bunch of grindcore bands for a bunch of grindcore fans. As for being an irrelevant characteristic... well, if you really find vocal style completely irrelevant, then why the hell are you getting your panties in a twist over it?

Wrong about pretty much everything again.

 

[S<issors]

Also mentioning "pseudo-Gothic bullshit" on an Opeth forum is amusing to me (not that I don't love you, Opeth).

 

[Stilgar]

I've dabbled in the Beauty and the Beast genre, and I've found it mostly irritating. Neither vocalist tends to be particularly good at their respective style...like they couldn't cut it on their own being the sole vocalist of a band. Not for me.

However.... calling a festival that features female lead singers gay is way off. I was in a band with a female lead singer. Was it a gimmick? Partly. She was hot, and dudes would show up simply to see her. Dudes who were, obviously, not gay.

Hmm... You're either very picky, or I've been very lucky to not find any bands where neither of the vocalist is good.

Mainly I've listened to Theatre of Tragedy (older stuff) and Tristania (also their older stuff) and I find neither of them to have particularly bad singers. Especially Liv Kristine Espenaes in Theatre of Tragedy (former, since she left the band), has a beautiful voice. I even like her solo stuff.

 

[Hypnos]

a fine example how to deliver this male/female thing in a good way is the first album from The Provenance, '25th Hour; Bleeding'

 

[soundave]

Hmm... You're either very picky, or I've been very lucky to not find any bands where neither of the vocalist is good.

Mainly I've listened to Theatre of Tragedy (older stuff) and Tristania (also their older stuff) and I find neither of them to have particularly bad singers. Especially Liv Kristine Espenaes in Theatre of Tragedy (former, since she left the band), has a beautiful voice. I even like her solo stuff.

Hey, Stilgar. I might be really picky. I also may not have given the genre enough of a try. Bands I've tried: Sirenia, Penumbra, Battlelore... I feel like there's more... Anyhow, the snippets I've heard of other bands hasn't convinced me, and I feel like I was led astray when I followed recommendations and got discs by the above artists. I might actually believe you, though, Stilgar. Older Tristania is worth checking out? I feel like it's a genre that has potential.

 

[Stilgar]

Hey, Stilgar. I might be really picky. I also may not have given the genre enough of a try. Bands I've tried: Sirenia, Penumbra, Battlelore... I feel like there's more... Anyhow, the snippets I've heard of other bands hasn't convinced me, and I feel like I was led astray when I followed recommendations and got discs by the above artists. I might actually believe you, though, Stilgar. Older Tristania is worth checking out? I feel like it's a genre that has potential.

I'd recommend giving the following albums a try:
Theatre of Tragedy - "Theatre of Tragedy", "Velvet Darkness They Fear"
Tristania - "Tristania" (EP), "Widow's Weeds"

I'd recommend Theatre of Tragedy before Tristania though.

If you can find a website/store where you can listen to snippets or the whole songs, before you buy the album(s), that would probably be good, since you've had some bad experiences with the genre.

 

[Rocker0803]

I have Arcane Rain Fell by Draconian. I bought it after reading the good reviews on metalreviews.com. but honestly I didnt really like it that much at first. The female vocals are used very sparingly but are used pretty well. If they played the songs live she would be standing around twiddling her thumbs for the majority of the concert. Its definitly a grower. The bands everyone else mentioned are good and Id also reccomend the band Haggard. Thier probably more classical than metal but they use both death metal vocals and femal vocals and to good effect. Awakening the Centuries and Eppur Si Meove are good cds to start out with. Wintersun uses some female vocals but its mostly background choir sounding stuff. Its really good though. Theres several bands that have songs with female vocals in them, but the female singers arnt part of the actually line up. I could give you a list if you just want to download single songs off itunes.

 

[Liquid Tension]

Hammers of Misfortune's first disc...

The Bastard has growling and female vocals and is highly recommended...

 

[gabaghoul]

not a fan of newer Tristania or Sirenia (writing not as strong, death vox not as prominent) but these are great:

Tristania - Widows Weeds
Tristania - Beyond the Veil
Sirenia - At Sixes and Sevens
Sirenia - An Elixir for Existence

The Sins of Thy Beloved - Perpetual Desolation also has good stuff on it, check that out too.

and for a really different take on male death/female clean, try Augury. cosmic avant-garde/progressive death meets opera. it's out there.

 

[Stilgar]

The Sins of Thy Beloved is ok (I have their first album). But in my opinion not quite on par with Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania during the same years.

 

[gabaghoul]

The Sins of Thy Beloved is ok (I have their first album). But in my opinion not quite on par with Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania during the same years.

I agree w that; the first 3 songs of Perpetual Desolation are good (esp the first one) but the rest of the album blurs by each time I put it on.

Another male death/female clean I forgot - On Thorns I Lay: Orama. Before they turned into a fairly meh goth-pop band, they were an interesting progressive doomy/death outfit. This concept album - about Atlantis - is worth checking out. Mix is not the best - the bass is really distorted - but it's got some nice atmospheric elements throughout.

 

[Stilgar]

Another male death/female clean I forgot - On Thorns I Lay: Orama.

Oh yeah. I totally forgot about them. I actually have that album too.