My username is actually directly related to this topic.
I've been a metalhead most of my life and listen to most "traditional" sub-genres of it, including all of those that SirMetalhead mentioned. I grew up on heavy and thrash metal, but in my college years got really into power metal (with melodic, often high pitched vocals). After college I started my first "serious" band that lasted for almost a decade as a writer/guitarist and sometimes back up vocalist (clean mostly, but eventually added growling). I won't post the name of the band but it was considered a power/thrash metal band and many compared it to (Barlow era) Iced Earth.
Example of an IE track we actually covered a few times live:
I took singing lessons so I kind of "know" a little bit about singing. From being around other people in the industry i started to get into melodic death metal. In Flames was actually my gateway band to this. I didn't like the vocals but the heavy (Iron) Maiden-esque dual guitar work really sucked me in, so I "put up with" it. I eventually got into other death metal (melodic or otherwise) and soon learned I actually did like some growling vocals, but I never did like the In Flames vocals.
So what I'm getting at, is that growling vocals were an acquired taste for me, but just like any singer, I think there are "good" and "bad" growling vocals (I'm mainly talking subjectively here). I don't like the hoarse sounding or higher pitched screaming stuff (like most metalcore I've heard), but I do like low and mid-range growls, and some of the more treble-y black metal vocals.
@ Alin I've always liked the vocals for Draconian.
Another slower (doom) band I really like death vocals is Saturnus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RcxDpjbMVc
At this point in my life I listen to bands with more growling vocals than I do melodic. I like to growl too. Some people think that anybody can do it, but in my opinion very few people can do it well. There is also a skill involved to do it properly without killing your vocal chords and actually uses most of the same techniques as proper singing. It also takes practice and just like singing, if you don't use it, you lose it.
So anyway, Rainbow Jamz, why do I like this vocal style? Well, again, I think it is an acquired taste. Liking the music is probably a necessary condition for this. Part of it is the aggression, just like the music...it's like aggression on top of aggression! (I'm generally a calm person...maybe this gives me a healthy outlet to aggression so I don't have to carry it with me). However, just like you I need my melody! I think this is why most of the bands I like still use heavy melody in the instruments even if they do not do so in the vocals. In many cases, I think using melodic vocals would get in the way. In death/black metal I view the vocals as being almost like a percussion instrument. They do add a musical quality to me. Plus, growling is fun!
Here are a few examples of some of my favorite bands with growling style vocals:
Destroyer 666
Dissection
Craving (more recent band from Germany sings in English, German, and Russian):
OK that's probably more than enough for most to handle.
Sorry for the long dissertation. Hopefully somewhere in there you can get some insight into why someone might like this vocal style.
Thanks for the interesting topic.
