Distorted/Growling vocal styles.

Karl Hungus

I've been meaning to start a thread about this for some time. I would say there's a few people who are curious to know what the appeal of that kind of vocal style, but never asked. I guess for me, when it's done well, it can be extremely powerful and sounds absolutely huge, and can really add great depth to the overall sound of a song. Some would surmise it's about sounding angry or 'scary', but I would certainly say that's not what it's about at all, no more than a distorted guitar is about those things, but like a distorted guitar the throaty, growling vocal style carries with it a texture so to speak, so it fits in with the heavy music.

Now, I find quite often that it's an acquired taste, or at least it was for me and quite a few people I know. I used to hate Death Metal bands, and the precieved incomprehensible vocals. Even getting into the music, I very often would love the music itself, the guitars and drumming, but still didn't like the singing.

How I started to appreciate the more distorted vocal styles wasn't through Death Metal at all, but through the Goth Rock band Fields of the Nephilim. Singer Carl McCoy has this incredible voice that can go from this calm, ethereal style to incredibly dissonant, rough, distorted and throaty styles and I thought he sounded absolutely astonishing. I'll give you an example, here's the song At The Gates of Silent Memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcdotRkKPmY

McCoy's vocals just nailed it for me, I hadn't heard anything quite like them at all, and it sounded so powerful. I still think, to this day, that he's one of the best singers alive. Anyway, after Fields of the Nephilim broke up, Carl McCoy went on to form a metal band simply called 'Nefilim' who had only recorded one album. Here's the song Penetration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hIr2K9PHQ

Here, McCoy's vocals just sound incredibly powerful and heavy, but as always, had fantastic clarity. This was really the bridge for me, this extremely heavy style, but extremely clear sounding. In that one album, Nefilim were hugely influencial on quite a few Death Metal bands, they pretty much inspired Polish band Behemoth's entire sound and lyrical content, they even did a cover of the above song, which you can listen to here. I think it definitely helped out that Behemoth were one of the first Death Metal bands that I really latched onto with their album Thelema 6, so there was a very straight progression there. Of course I had heard the likes of Deicide before, but never really liked them all that much.

Death were certainly a huge thing for me, Chuck Schuldiner's vocals were just right for me at the time as I was starting to appreciate Death Metal bands a lot more, and the clarity of Chuck's vocals was just fantastic. This was around 2000 or so, I wasn't a fan of Death for long before Chuck died, but at the time, they made a huge impact on my musical taste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAGF1HS4TQI

Opeth's Blackwater Park was another massively influencial album for me, I think Mikael's vocals are just sheer perfection, it rarely gets better. Along with that, Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance, Akercocke's The Goat of Mendes, In Flames' The Tokyo Showdown and Decapitated's Winds of Creation were some of my earlier Death Metal albums.

Morbid Angel are another of my favourites, but because of Beavis and Butthead, I had heard them long before the likes of Nefilim, Opeth and Death, and as such, didn't like them at all. But after some time I checked out Covenant and Domination and I was absolutely blown away! Dave Vincent's vocals sounded incredible to my ears at that stage, I could make out what he was singing perfectly, where before I thought they it incomprehensible muck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-dSKJ3gdEw

That really put the final nail in the coffin, I loved growling vocals, and when it was done well, it just sounded unreal. Of course, that's not to say I like any old growl or roar, some singers still sound like muck to my ears, and even still, very few sound as good as Mikael Akerfeldt, Carl McCoy or Dave Vincent and the like. I still don't particularly like Glen Benton's singing.

Anywho, thoughts? Has this thread brought a little insight, or have you anything to add? Any questions perhaps? For those who like the style, how did you come to appreciate it and what got you into it?

Karl Hungus

Hmm, I'm actually starting to get a big nostalgiac buzz right now, thinking of all the bands I was getting into back in the early 00's and before that. I definitely liked a lot of the Swedish melodic death metal bands at the time, Dark Tranquillity and At The Gates were fantastic.

buck65

Good thread Karl. Would like to get into this more in depth but as I'm at work might have to run.
Got into death metal from the start really. I suppose when Beneath the remains came out , I heard this growling singing for the first time.
Luckily I had 3 or 4 mates mad into metal and we would swap tapes. I remember hearing Napalm Death when I was very young and being blown away by the intensity and singing!
From Sepultura we got into Death ,Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Deicide, the heavier the better!
When I left school in 91 we were listening to Entombed Bathory Nocturnus Obituary and a load of extreme music. But as I got older I was exposed to lots of new music in college - such as NIN, Pearl Jam etc and death metal really paled into the backround until the past few years when I dusted off some tapes and CDs.
Alot of thhe lyrical content was well dodgy and I refuse to listen now to garbage satan lyrics but a bit of Nile or Carcass now and then is great.
I really loved the intensity of the death grunt and as a youth certainly intensity and non mainstream things appealed to me.
To agree with you Karl - a good death voice is an amazing thing and to be cherished. Davd Vincent John Tardy Max Cavalera would be my favourites.

Undergod

Nailed it, Carl McCoy (now I know his name!) has a great voice, and Akerfeldt is probably among my favourite singers, as regards both clean and growled vocals. What really impresses me about Akerfeldt is how he can sing growl vocals that sound melodic without losing any of their heaviness or harshness.

I'm also a big fan of Lord Worm, if you listen to "Open Face Surgery" by Cryptopsy you should probably figure out why; Angela Gossow is also very good; and Chuck Schuldiner is also up there.

I never really liked John Tardy's singing though, it never seemed to fit somehow.

fobster

Haven't listened to a lot of Opeth but have to agree Akerfeldt's growl is killer.

Pugsley

I was at that Morbid Angel gig

Have to say I love growled vocals, they add so much power to the music. The singers that got me into the growl were Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquility, who is one of the greatest vocalists to grace the metal scene, he can do savage growls and slow melodic pieces brilliantly, a good example would be the change in style in 'Nether Novas'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhnDHC8Iwbk

Early In Flames, At the Gates and Carcass were also a big factor, but as far as getting into growls, would have to be Dark Tranquillity.

Mental Mickey

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I've been meaning to start a thread about this for some time. I would say there's a few people who are curious to know what the appeal of that kind of vocal style, but never asked. I guess for me, when it's done well, it can be extremely powerful and sounds absolutely huge, and can really add great depth to the overall sound of a song. Some would surmise it's about sounding angry or 'scary', but I would certainly say that's not what it's about at all, no more than a distorted guitar is about those things, but like a distorted guitar the throaty, growling vocal style carries with it a texture so to speak, so it fits in with the heavy music.

Now, I find quite often that it's an acquired taste, or at least it was for me and quite a few people I know. I used to hate Death Metal bands, and the precieved incomprehensible vocals. Even getting into the music, I very often would love the music itself, the guitars and drumming, but still didn't like the singing.

How I started to appreciate the more distorted vocal styles wasn't through Death Metal at all, but through the Goth Rock band Fields of the Nephilim. Singer Carl McCoy has this incredible voice that can go from this calm, ethereal style to incredibly dissonant, rough, distorted and throaty styles and I thought he sounded absolutely astonishing. I'll give you an example, here's the song At The Gates of Silent Memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcdotRkKPmY

McCoy's vocals just nailed it for me, I hadn't heard anything quite like them at all, and it sounded so powerful. I still think, to this day, that he's one of the best singers alive. Anyway, after Fields of the Nephilim broke up, Carl McCoy went on to form a metal band simply called 'Nefilim' who had only recorded one album. Here's the song Penetration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hIr2K9PHQ

Here, McCoy's vocals just sound incredibly powerful and heavy, but as always, had fantastic clarity. This was really the bridge for me, this extremely heavy style, but extremely clear sounding. In that one album, Nefilim were hugely influencial on quite a few Death Metal bands, they pretty much inspired Polish band Behemoth's entire sound and lyrical content, they even did a cover of the above song, which you can listen to here. I think it definitely helped out that Behemoth were one of the first Death Metal bands that I really latched onto with their album Thelema 6, so there was a very straight progression there. Of course I had heard the likes of Deicide before, but never really liked them all that much.

Death were certainly a huge thing for me, Chuck Schuldiner's vocals were just right for me at the time as I was starting to appreciate Death Metal bands a lot more, and the clarity of Chuck's vocals was just fantastic. This was around 2000 or so, I wasn't a fan of Death for long before Chuck died, but at the time, they made a huge impact on my musical taste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAGF1HS4TQI

Opeth's Blackwater Park was another massively influencial album for me, I think Mikael's vocals are just sheer perfection, it rarely gets better. Along with that, Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance, Akercocke's The Goat of Mendes, In Flames' The Tokyo Showdown and Decapitated's Winds of Creation were some of my earlier Death Metal albums.

Morbid Angel are another of my favourites, but because of Beavis and Butthead, I had heard them long before the likes of Nefilim, Opeth and Death, and as such, didn't like them at all. But after some time I checked out Covenant and Domination and I was absolutely blown away! Dave Vincent's vocals sounded incredible to my ears at that stage, I could make out what he was singing perfectly, where before I thought they it incomprehensible muck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-dSKJ3gdEw

That really put the final nail in the coffin, I loved growling vocals, and when it was done well, it just sounded unreal. Of course, that's not to say I like any old growl or roar, some singers still sound like muck to my ears, and even still, very few sound as good as Mikael Akerfeldt, Carl McCoy or Dave Vincent and the like. I still don't particularly like Glen Benton's singing.

Anywho, thoughts? Has this thread brought a little insight, or have you anything to add? Any questions perhaps? For those who like the style, how did you come to appreciate it and what got you into it?

Dave Vincent looks like something out of an S&M video now!! What's with the pvc etc??? Went to see them in McGonagles waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in '91, and actually met Vincent, Sandoval and their original guitarist, Richard Brunelle. They were all pretty cool guys, but Vincent has turned out a tad weird, imo. He reminds me of Pete Steele from Type O Negative too!!

EDIT: I was big into this music in my teens, but don't listen to it at all now.