Vocal timbre

[Jean-Pierre]

Basically, what sort of overall sound do you like a vocalist to project?

I absolutely love to hear a vocalist adhering to the bluesy/soul/rock vocal style mix that Metal is known for: multioctave ranges with a classical sense of delivery, but a lot of strong emotion, power and aggression. The coolest part is if the vocalist can let off a sense of uniqueness while staying within that style.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I like Fleshcrawl's vocal timbre lots. Of course, context always helps.

 

[lord667]

Basically, what sort of overall sound do you like a vocalist to project?

I absolutely love to hear a vocalist adhering to the bluesy/soul/rock vocal style mix that Metal is known for: multioctave ranges with a classical sense of delivery, but a lot of strong emotion, power and aggression. The coolest part is if the vocalist can let off a sense of uniqueness while staying within that style.

Yes, I like that sort of timbre too. When it comes to growl vocals, one of my favourites is the singer from Coffin Texts. His voice has a sort of airy and a little bit dusty tone which is much more effective for me than standard death growling. Lee Dorrian's Cathedral vocals are another favourite; deep and rich with a touch of the old gravel.

 

[Spirit In Black]

for death metal i like vocals that are powerful, ugly and evil sounding yet still intelligble...Ross Dolan being my favorite

 

[10293847]

David Vincent on Blessed are the Sick is the best.

 

[TehLeperAffinity]

for death metal i like vocals that are powerful, ugly and evil sounding yet still intelligble

I second that.

 

[Life Sucks]

My favorite kind of vocals are harsh, higher pitched death metal vocals, such as those of Arghoslent, earlier Morbid Angel, Angel Corpse, Before God, Evil Incarnate, etc. Aside from that, one of my favorite vocalists in general is AA Nemtheanga of Primordial. His vocals are neither growls nor totally clean, and he often chants, as opposed to sings, in a mid-range voice, with lots of emotion.

 

[Edgecrusher]

His vocals are neither growls nor totally clean, and he often chants, as opposed to sings, in a mid-range voice, with lots of emotion.

From the song The Burning Season


"Bring the women
and children before me
Let us make rivers of their blood
Bleed for me... I wish it so
and streams shall meet such rivers
and seaward they shall flow.

See the shorline scattered
with their precious skulls
See the tide come in
as blood to meet their bone
A grotesque promise
Beneath a crimson sky... a seasons birth.

We'll drown the newborns like unwanted dogs
and comdemn them to their desparate gods
We'll take a needle, to the arm of the world
For it is our season."

All of that is sung in a clear and intelligibe voice, and yet he manages to make it sound so chilling.

 

[Death Aflame]

For clean vox, Devin Townsend pops into my mind immediately he always puts so much emotion into his songs vocally which is what I love about clean vocals.

For Harsh vox I think Matthew Chalk was my favorite for his schizophrenic, yet very skillfully delivered performance on Scepter of the Ancients, lots of range within the harsh style.

 

[Life Sucks]

From the song The Burning Season


"Bring the women
and children before me
Let us make rivers of their blood
Bleed for me... I wish it so
and streams shall meet such rivers
and seaward they shall flow.

See the shorline scattered
with their precious skulls
See the tide come in
as blood to meet their bone
A grotesque promise
Beneath a crimson sky... a seasons birth.

We'll drown the newborns like unwanted dogs
and comdemn them to their desparate gods
We'll take a needle, to the arm of the world
For it is our season."

All of that is sung in a clear and intelligibe voice, and yet he manages to make it sound so chilling.

I love that song. It is so fucking dark. Gods to the Godless is like that, too. That whole CD is excellent. Primordial are a great band. Their only song I don't really like is Solitary Mourner.

 

[Slayed Necros]

I don't really care what it sounds like, it just must have a lot of power and conviction, and of course, suit the music.

My favourite vocal performance is that of Mikko on Si Monumentum... So unbelievably powerful. Or perhaps the three psychotic vocalists on Dark Tribe's In Jeraspunta...

 

[abrasiverock]

I like a dirty blues style vocal, a raspy (without growling) thrash vocal, or a clean female vocal. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part that is what I like.

 

[Doomwatcher]

I mostly enjoy vocals that are varied between delivery and tone. The performance by Jason Oliver on Infester’s To The Depths… In Degradation stands as one of my favourites with an almost uncanny ability to range from baritone growls to truly chilling screams as if he is been mutilated.

 

[Majesty]

Howitzer from Gospel of the Horns (Like the the wicked rrrrrrrule the weak,like all conqerours have their keep)
K.K Warslut from Deströyer 666 (Grrraaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuunchain the wolves unchain the wolves)
Glen Benton from Deicide (This is hell we´re in)
Varg Vikernes from Burzum (Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! (= lyrics from hvis lyset tar oss) )

If you somehow mixed these vocals you would have THE SUPERVOCALS!

 

[byrne]

I tend to like a rasping / whispy hoarse sound in general. Also as stupid as this may sound, I tend to like contrast done well (*derrr*). But in saying that I am precluding shit like Avenged Sevenfold and all those emo-core bands who have a girly type clean vox for the chorus and then a b-grade death growl for verse (or vice versa). Same with bands like Dungeon, where you have decent clean "multioctave" (as JP put it) vocals and then out of place death growls/grunts.

The contrast I am talking about is something more like Tom Araya's early vocals on Show No Mercy, where he could hit the high notes.

This is all in general, but I think when you get a lot of emotion or passion from the vocalist, the vocals will be good/great (see Tomas Lindberg AtG), or even when they are unique but fitting - see Danzig!

Finally I don't think I post in a vocals thread without mentioning Matt Chalk, whose vocals are nothing short of awesome.

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

Best vocal timbre I've ever heard is Messiah Marcolin's.