Growly Screamy Music

[MysterionMuffles]

Hey does anybody listen to any metal or screamo, or any other type of genre of music that has growling or screaming as the primary vocals? If so, can anyone reason out the appeal for me? And if there's anyone else out there who has an aversion to this type of music or just doesn't listen to it, what are your thoughts?

 

Let me put forth the caveat that I used to listen very aggressive music that had a ton of growling and screaming, but have since opted for more melodic vocals. I still listen to a couple of metal bands, but they utilize clean vocals 98% of the time, which is the way it should be. I don't mind the occasional scream or growl, but I prefer to hear a melody if lyrics are to paint on the canvas of instrumentation.

 

I've been trying to get back into distorted guitars and heavy instrumentation because it's the kind of music that got me into music to begin with, but everything I keep finding gets ruined by the flipside of 98-100% of screaming and growling. 

 

It's a weird thing for me. Back in 2005 I used to be really into Alexisonfire and the long line of screamo bands that tried to do what they do, but couldn't do it as well as they could. In that band, for those who don't know, there are 3 vocalists: George, Wade, and the now uber famous Dallas Green aka City and Colour. George was the screamer and lead vocalist. He had great quizzical lyrics, and for their first couple albums, odd song structures and scattered placement for their vocals. George would be screaming something completely different from what Dallas or Wade would sing at the same time, and I dunno, even to this day, I still think it's awesome how they achieved it.

 

When I first stumbled upon this music video, I was perplexed by how such a great riff was ruined by some long haired geek was screaming over it, and even the guy singing normally I couldn't even understand what the hell he was saying, but then I got into them. A friend of mine suggested a song off the record and I got into them BIG TIME!

 

 

Looking back now, I realize that when I would listen to their records, I would really be anticipating for Dallas to come into the song and shed some melodic vocals over the riffs, while I only chose to put up with George. But back then, I had myself convinced that I actually liked screaming, and then would find more bands that utilize it, so long that there were clean vocals "to wait for" and savour. I would even find underground screamo bands that had sub par clean vocals and screaming, but the sub par vocalist would only sound SO good in comparison to the other guy puking over the mic.

 

That video I just linked...to this day I still find enjoyable because it means something to me. But any new music I find that tries to replicate this, or at least has even harasher and stronger vocals, I can't stand it.

 

What are your thoughts on this vocal style?

 

Comparison of what I prefer, and what I want to avoid:

 

I prefer this:

over this:

 

I found Affiance through recommendations on Youtube after watching a Protest the Hero music video, which is a Canadian mathy metal band that utilizes clean vocals. I was so relieved to find Affiance. They have more structure than PTH but they remind me of another band I used to listen to called Killswitch Engage that has the same sound, almost the same kind of vocals when they WOULD use clean vocals.

 

August Burns Red on the other hand, I really really love their guitar work and I think instrumentally, they are actually superior to Affiance, but because of the guy puking over the mic, I can't listen to them. It's not that I don't want to, I just physically can't stand too much growling and screaming now lol. I woud actually be really into ABR if they utilized clean vocals, they would sound great.

 

Anyways that's the end of my rant, sorry if I sound like a music snob. 

[Alin]

Try Draconian

 

[Wuzzums]

I think it's essential to differentiate between the two types of metal that use the growly voice, i.e. between death metal and melodic metal. Never liked the first, but the latter is an acquired taste. I enjoy In Flames and Haggard a lot. Misery Inc. is great too. In Flames I think is the best of all, the vocalist does these great transitions between clean and growly singing. And their acoustic pieces are very memorable.

Oh, and another recommendation seeing that you like metal. I came up on Midnight entirely by accident, in 2005 he released an album, Sakeda that's literally genre defining. Unfortunately the artist passed away years ago and that album remains the first and apparently last album of said genre. Here's the song that got me hooked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6qX0UXILVA

[SirMetalhead]

I like all sorts of death, thrash, black, power and doom metal.  Although, like Rainbow Jamz, I've been listening to more clean singing lately, like Liege Lord, Candlemass, Omen, While Heaven Wept, Solitude Aeturnus, Solstice, etc.  

 

[growler76]

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.

[QueechoFeecho]

Yes moreso in college. I liked the energy that came with the vocals and distortion and rolling doublebass.

 

Examples:

Dismember

Unleashed

Malevolent Creation

Death

Candiria

Emperor not as growly

[MysterionMuffles]

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.   

 

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.

 

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! 

Hey thanks for the elaborate response! I haven't gotten around actually checking them all out just yet but I get a basic idea.

 

Yeah I dunno. Sorry if this is repetitive of me, but I understand how much of an acquired taste it can be. I have some new music that has very minimal screaming, but there's something about primary screaming and growling that I can't wrap my head around anymore. Like I get it's supposed to emphasize the aggression or power of that part of the lyrics, but it's kinda like...

 

To me it's like an action flick where it's non stop bullets and bloodshed for an hour and a half, without so much of a break to build on the narrative of the movie. You need that breath of fresh air, and those seem to be far and between for some screamy bands. The breath of fresh air I guess can be the incredible instrumental breaks, but then the growling comes back and I can't seem to stand it anymore. I forgot what it was like to be on that side of things where screaming and growling was wholly preferred and accepted rather than required with little to no use for me. I'm just starting to prefer melody over the instrumentation rather than a distorted voice that may or may not be decipherable in terms of content.

 

And yeah growling IS fun...I still do it from time to time to ruin soft songs for fun lol. I don't put it in my music anymore because I would get out of breath real fast and get pain in my throat (I know I never learned how to do it without the strain) and since the case of Alexisonfire, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, and All That Remains--and my own songs--I would always look forward to the clean parts to contrast the noise. Then I finally realized what I really like IS the clean parts and wanted to search for more music like that and write more songs where I can actually play and sing the same time. I know it doesn't always have to be lightning fast riffs with screaming, but it's how I used to write until I found such joy in slowing things down and singing soft enough to hit some proper notes.

[James Dean]

To me my appreciation of music has always been focused on the lyrical content rather than the genre or how the lyrics were voiced. To this end I like any music that is about something meaningful, everything from trip-hop to the blackest of black metal. Here's my take on screamed vocals.

 

If you're an English nerd like me, and have read a lot of poetry, you could obviously see the difference between a sing-song and rhyme laden verse and something less conventional, that might not rhyme, but the emphasis is all in the meter. The stresses and rests that wouldn't usually be there in normal speech make some of that 'free verse' poetry very interesting and very pleasing to the ear. This is kind of how I view screamed vocals, they may not be rhyming and sing-songy (which is automatically pleasing to the ear, our brains are wired to like it) but they punctuate words, they emphasize different things, they have a whole other aesthetic quality for them that accents the meaning of the song. That really is the kicker for me. If the song is about something meaningful, the vocal quality is less important to me.

 

Now I know you got a bunch of links already. When you say you don't like a certain type of music people always assume that if you just heard this one song, it would change your mind. But here's my suggestion... if you think we might be on a similar page, listen to these next songs while reading the lyrics, and try to think of how the vocals punctuate and accent the words, the meaning, the stress... see if that enhances your enjoyment. If not, hey, we all like different stuff.

 

 

[JanneW]

Just from my emotional reactions, I'd say that through screaming and growling the singer is expressing anger, rage or hate. Melodic music cannot express these kinds of feelings very well. In melodic music, you could try to express anger through the lyrics, but that feels like repressing your anger or like passive-aggression to me if you set angry lyrics to nice melodic music. In screaming, even though I can't make out the lyrics, the emotion gets transported directly.

 

Melodic music can express the beauty of life, or sorrow, or compassion. All of these are of value to a strong empathic person, as are anger and hate. Certain situations demand that you can feel anger and your love for beauty at the same time. Like when I'm frustrated with my spouse, I need to be angry enough to stick to what's important to me, yet connected to all the beautiful things that we have built together, to not be reactionary and stay empathic with her while staying connected with my frustration. When confronting my parents as a child, I needed to be very angry to overcome my enormous fear, yet connected to the hope for a better life - else, why bother? This fight to hold on to two very different emotions at the same time, to me is expressed in music like Alexisonfire's and other examples in this thread. That's why it is important to me that this kind of music switches between melodic/clean with screaming/growling.

 

Thank you, Rainbow Jamz, for these questions! Thank you everybody for the great music suggestions! I'm very emotional right now and it feels good!

[growler76]

I appreciate everyone's responses and it's interesting to hear about different perspectives on this topic.  I think we all find different things that we get out of music which seem almost as varied as our tastes on the surface. For me I'm generally drawn to the sonic quality first, and I don't  necessarily have to find the lyrics compelling, although sometimes I do.  There are definitely certain songs I feel emotional about or more attached to because of the lyrical content.  

 

I like your analysis JanneW.

[MysterionMuffles]

but what about Korn? Jonathan Davis is one of the most emotionally charged lyricist, at least for the first 6 albums. He sings and I think he still gets the emotion and anger out right. Barely ever will he do a scream or growl, but when he does, it's in good measure which makes me appreciate it more.

[Wesley B]

For me, its not really so much of a concern with the vocals. Its always been about the music for me. Of course I still think vocals are an extremely important part of the song but when I am trying to decide what I want to listen to, I decide that based on the music not the vocals. Sure I listen to death metal alot when I want to calm down or I am feeling "pent-up" but I make the decision to listen to something based on the music, not really the vocals or lyrics (for the most part).  For example, Some music with harsh vocals can be really fun and exhilarating, sometimes it can be very grim, and sometimes it can be very angry.

 

An example of an extremely fun song with (fucking awesome) harsh vocals:

 

An example of a grim, nekro, and some may say depressing song with harsh vocals (I just think its fucking awesome haha):

 

An exapmle of a (very) aggressive song with harsh vocals: 

 

Another agessive song with harsh vocals, this one is death metal:

 

And finally another fun song with vocals that aren't so harsh as some of the others but its definitely not singing:

 

Anyways, like I said I think vocals are extremely important (and don't get me wrong I love good harsh vocals done right) but the appeal to me was always more with the music and the riffs.

[growler76]

Good tunes Wesley B.  It is actually the same for me regarding the music and the riffs, even though my post above was focused on  talking about the vocals themselves. The vocals are just one part of the overall atmosphere to the music.  At least in my experience, it seems that bands (metal bands at least) that don't have a stand-alone vocalist (one of the instrumentalists does the main vocals) the music is written around the instrumentation first and can often go for long breaks without using vocals at all.  There are exceptions of course.

[nathanm]

Seems that wherever I go on the internet, I always find My People.  It might not be apparent at first, but they come out of the woodwork.  It will take awhile to get through this thread, but I am giving it the horns for now.  I felt a great disturbance in the Non-Initiation-Of-The-Force when that show came up with the caller complaining about his girlfriend's taste for 'screaming' music and the subsequent piling-on.  I knew my own rising hackles could not be solely my own.

[growler76]

Seems that wherever I go on the internet, I always find My People.  It might not be apparent at first, but they come out of the woodwork.  It will take awhile to get through this thread, but I am giving it the horns for now.  I felt a great disturbance in the Non-Initiation-Of-The-Force when that show came up with the caller complaining about his girlfriend's taste for 'screaming' music and the subsequent piling-on.  I knew my own rising hackles could not be solely my own.

 

I know exactly which instance you are referring to.  I can't remember the exact conclusions that were being drawn from it right now but at the time I felt like the metal culture was getting thrown under the bus in that moment.  I chalked it up to Stef pulling a Joe Rogan and just agreeing with the caller's bias.  My recollection was that it was implied as if "well, that explains everything". 

 

The topic was about the caller's wife who was from Europe and was currently living in Germany I believe.  I have never been to Europe but my understanding is that metal (I only mention "metal" as I realize death/black metal in particular is only one category of "screaming music' but it's what I am familiar with) is a lot more popular there overall than in the US (Germany especially), and there seem to be a higher percentage of European women into metal than American women. Now, there might be some correlation with this woman's disfunction, and her musical preferences, but they made it seem like it was such an obvious symptom.

[Wesley B]

I know exactly which instance you are referring to.  I can't remember the exact conclusions that were being drawn from it right now but at the time I felt like the metal culture was getting thrown under the bus in that moment.  I chalked it up to Stef pulling a Joe Rogan and just agreeing with the caller's bias.  My recollection was that it was implied as if "well, that explains everything". 

 

The topic was about the caller's wife who was from Europe and was currently living in Germany I believe.  I have never been to Europe but my understanding is that metal (I only mention "metal" as I realize death/black metal in particular is only one category of "screaming music' but it's what I am familiar with) is a lot more popular there overall than in the US (Germany especially), and there seem to be a higher percentage of European women into metal than American women. Now, there might be some correlation with this woman's disfunction, and her musical preferences, but they made it seem like it was such an obvious symptom.

 

Having been to Germany i can definitely confirm that metal is more accepted and normal within the culture. If you are in America and go to say, a Wallmart, the music or CD section will only have the most mainstream and well known metal bands like Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Etc. If however you are in Germany and go to a Müller, (kind of the German equivalent to a Wallmart but on a smaller scale) the music section there has a vast selection of all kinds of metal ranging from well known bands to very underground bands. It was a really cool experience for me as an American when I first went to Germany and going into the music section of a "normal" store and finding some pretty underground bands. It was something I was not used to at all.

 

I too remember that call in show where the caller was talking about his wife and how she listened to "screaming music". Sure his wife was a horrible person, but when someone loves to listen to metal no one should ever immediately correlate that to being dysfunctional. Within the metal/punk scene where I live I have indeed met some dysfunctional people, but I have also met many people who are totally awesome, empathetic, polite and have huge integrity in the music the listen to and/or play. I think underground / extreme metal has a different appeal to everyone but like I said, the fact the most of the time it is immediately correlated with dysfunction is bullshit. 

[MysterionMuffles]

I know exactly which instance you are referring to.  I can't remember the exact conclusions that were being drawn from it right now but at the time I felt like the metal culture was getting thrown under the bus in that moment.  I chalked it up to Stef pulling a Joe Rogan and just agreeing with the caller's bias.  My recollection was that it was implied as if "well, that explains everything". 

 

The topic was about the caller's wife who was from Europe and was currently living in Germany I believe.  I have never been to Europe but my understanding is that metal (I only mention "metal" as I realize death/black metal in particular is only one category of "screaming music' but it's what I am familiar with) is a lot more popular there overall than in the US (Germany especially), and there seem to be a higher percentage of European women into metal than American women. Now, there might be some correlation with this woman's disfunction, and her musical preferences, but they made it seem like it was such an obvious symptom.

 

I must confess I was only quick to agree with it because I had spent years being friends a huge metal head. Well I don't want to disgrace the term metal head, when really, he was a music nazi. My bias comes from hanging around this guy who would listen to nothing but metal and would dog on my music if it wasn't aggressive. He himself was a very aggressive and abrasive person, so I thought his interest in aggressive and "abrasive" sounding music was a reflection to his dysfunction.

 

So I think that's where my initial dislike for primary screaming and growling probably came from; being around an overall shity person who just so happened to overplay that type of music, in contestment to everything I liked, thus making me lose my taste for it because he was always portraying anything "lighter" as crappy or for old men, even for things like The Reign of Kindo--who in their own right are still pretty heavy for a jazz rock band.

 

[growler76]

Rainbow Jamz

 

Your post got me thinking a little more, so here are some more thoughts, and I'll try to touch on the aspect of assumed dysfunctionality among metalheads.

 

I have to admit to having been in the music nazi group for much of my younger life, or what is usually termed an "elitist", so I think I might have some insight to this type of group. I have always been open and accepting of most music outside of metal, but the closer music gets to metal without being actual metal, the more it gets attacked by elitists. This might extend to anything that is somewhat "heavy" which would make sense to me why your friend trashed your music preferences.  It's almost like it's encroaching on his territory or something and he has to get all defensive about it.

 

Perhaps the most prominent example of metal elitism in my experience was when "nu-metal" came out (the only band name example I can think of right now is Limp Bizkit).  I am more accepting of music that I don't care for now days, but just to give some perspective of the elitist attitude, let me explain this example a little bit.  Nu-metal was mainly a "mainstream" morphing of hip-hop with heavy guitars, that was being passed off as a sub-genre of metal.  In the opinion of the metal elitist, this was not metal as it was not derived from or did not musically share the same elements in composition that make up most metal music.  As an analogy, if I started playing a banjo it would not be considered bluegrass because I have no real understanding of bluegrass music and what I would come up with would probably not incorporate the music elements that most people consider bluegrass, or at least people who are really into bluegrass. Perhaps people that were not really into bluegrass might call it bluegrass though. Another example might be country fans that do not accept any of the top 40 pop "country" artists to be country at all.

 

On the really extreme end of metal elitism, there were some people split into the Metallica camp or the Megadeth camp after Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica.  I mean, there were rival fans between two bands that played very similar music, arguing about who was better. Even back then, (as a kid) I thought this was stupid, and I enjoyed both but I think it illustrates how music elitism can be very much like sports team/hero worship. 

 

So I can definitely see how there could be some dysfunction in some metalheads (maybe more than other genres?...I don't know) but there are lots of people that enjoy the music and realize it's just their personal preference like with anything else.  I think this could be compared to someone that enjoys sports but that doesn't have to identify themselves as a "sports fan".  I actually gave up on team worship when I was in junior high and there were a few different professional league strikes that year, and I was like "F these guys".  I still watch college sports (football/basketball) once in awhile because I enjoy the game itself but no longer follow specific teams, and don't watch pro sports.

 

Now this is just my biased opinion, but you might find some dysfunction among people that are part of the metal "scene".  Not everyone, mind you, but I think that there are a subset of people that go to shows and parties and what not just for the social aspect or to belong to a certain group.  There is a derogatory word for that among metalheads: posers. I had a view into this simply because I played in a band for a long time, and there were definitely some "regulars" at shows that didn't even like any of the bands playing. It might be possible that the caller's wife in the show referenced earlier, might fall into this group, but I can't say for sure.   I didn't smoke or drink (still don't) and hated hanging around in bars, so I was only there to play or to see a particular band I liked and then leave.  There were lots of people I knew who were similar, and those are the people I mainly would associate with. Believe it or not, despite the stereotype, there were actually always sober metalheads I could hang out with at shows.

 

Lastly, I think the majority of people (no matter what music they like) are probably not chronic concert goers desperately trying to be part of social group, but just like listening to recorded music, and I think this crosses the biggest and most diverse spectrum of the population. 

 

 

Edit: Just listened to that Reign of Kindo clip.  I can appreciate the musicianship and I like the jazz elements. No idea why anyone would bash on that. I can understand someone maybe saying a certain metal band isn't aggressive enough for their taste or something, but your example isn't even the same ball park.  To say it sucks because it's not heavy enough doesn't make any sense.  It's like saying this ice cream isn't hot enough.  If it was it wouldn't be ice cream. To me it sounds pretty unique.

Edited November 11, 2014 by growler76

[MysterionMuffles]

damn growler! thank you very much for opening up and sharing that. That was a lot for me to take in, I'll add some more comments when I've processed your post.

[MysterionMuffles]

Alright I think I've processed it just a bit more and I love what you say about people dividing between camps, like with Metallica and Megadeth. I mean I like Megadeth a whole lot more just naturally, it has nothing to do with Dave Mustaine leaving Metallica, I just think Megadeth sounds better to me. I think what drives this division from other genres, or at least between bands within metal, is this drive to assert identity. The elitism seems to stem from the desire to stand out and much like fanboys for Xbox(whatever) vs PS(whatever), they want to wear their preferences on their sleeve. I believe this mentality of identifying strongly with music (video game console, literature, film franchise) preferences is like a reclaiming of one's voice. Which may be why metal music is so loud and full of aggressive vocals, clean or otherwise. Tons of lyrics by the vocalists are about rising up and speaking up for ones self, and I think that might be linked to how they may have been silenced as children, and so to regain their voice, it also means raising the hell out of it.

 

And then that seeps into a division within the same genre with people fighting over which band is better than the other instead of letting live let live. Since I see our taste in media as a reflection of ourselves, how strongly we assert our preferences, sometimes at the expense of others, is the degree to which we may have been silenced as children. 

 

Thanks for your thoughts growler, they are totally welcome and jam packed with a ton of food for thought.

 

I have lately discovered a band called Bring Me the Horizon and the vocalist sort of screams, but he still retains a tone amongst the raspiness to still lend a melody to it, and I love it. I tried listening to their older stuff which was more traditional screamy metal and I just couldn't get into it, but their 2013 albm Sempiternal is a nice departure from their old style. Still heavy, but moving closer to cleaner vocals. And recently the lead singer has announced that after his life long battle with drug addiction, he has gone to rehab to clean himself up. Here's a video of him accepting an award for album of the year: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3clsyGp-W7g#t=2m38s

 

and I just love how he sees after cleaning up, he no longer wants to scream, rather sing from the rooftops. Now this isn't proof of anything, but in Oli's case, I think his screaming over the years was a crying out for attention and catharsis to get a ton of pain out of his psyche. Here's the degree of screaming I'm able to tolerate now. He is so close to losing his tone and turning all raspy, but he walks a real tight line between traditional screaming and actual singing so I love it.

 

 

I'm gonna go take a listen to all of your suggestions now. You've opened my mind enough to accept a bit more of what I used to like in terms of vocals. I can't promise I will get into it, but I will definitely take a hard listen to everything in this thread just to appreciate the musicianship.

[growler76]

Thanks for bouncing your ideas back. I can see how it might appeal to people that felt silenced as children, and you might be right about the case with the Bring Me The Horizon vocalist.  Maybe some people are drawn to either of these types of music for these reasons.

 

I just want to mention one other thing about my personal foray into metal. I don't think I was traumatized (too much?) as a kid, and in fact I was a very happy and expressive kid in grade school. I know this not just from memory but from videos that were taken for school plays and talent shows and things like that. I also got good grades and enjoyed learning, and had great relationships with teachers and even adults in my neighborhood. Now junior high was a little different story...I became more insecure and introverted during that time, and I'd say my parents failed to prepare me on a lot of counts. But, I had already started to get into metal when I was in the 5th grade with Metallica.  I was also listening to mainstream hard rock bands like AC/DC, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and the like from peers that introduced these bands to me. [side note: one of the kids that introduced me to some of these bands started hanging out with some other kids that did drugs, a year later when I was in the 6th grade, and I ended my friendship with him]. Going back even a few years earlier, the first song I ever declared as "my favorite" song on the radio was Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.  So, for some reason rock and metal just spoke to me.  In junior high I got into Megadeth and Slayer and it just took off from there.  

 

I didn't get into death metal, until several years ago when I had already been playing in a power metal band.as an adult in my mid 20s.  I think it really just is an aesthetic preference for me (and as I mentioned before, probably an acquired taste).  I'm picky about vocals as well...I don't really like most yelling or screaming (although the instruments usually can trump/override this anyway for me), but I like the growly vocals that tend to sound almost supernatural, demonic, or other worldy.  Why exactly?  i don't know.  If there is a psychological reason for this, it's something I'd have to really delve into to figure out, because I haven't thought about it before, but this discussion has got me contemplating it at least. Keep in mind, I still listen to power metal bands that have singing like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest (to name more mainstream examples).

 

Sorry that was longer than I anticipated, but I guess I just want to reiterate that I think sometimes there can be life events that might cause someone to like certain...art shall we say?...but sometimes it's just an aesthetic preference like flavor of ice cream, and that's why I don't take it personally if someone doesn't like the same things.  

 

And why do I keep bringing up ice cream?  I must really be craving it.

[McBeer]

Great conversation. For me, this type of music has primarily always been about the guitar work. I have not ever really found any other genre of music with such a high level of mastery of the instrument itself.  The layering of raw screaming vocals on top of beautifully precise and technical instrumental work has always confused me. I thought that maybe the point was to contrast of the good guitars and drums with the bad vocals to emphasize how good the drums and guitar really were.  When I first heard Howard Jones with Killswitch Engage incorporate actual singing with their guitar work it kinda blew my mind. I am glad that there are many more bands now with great singing with the drums and guitar I always loved.

 

I can see where the free market of the internet is finally allowing bands to come up with music that people want without having to go through the government enforced monopoly of the record labels.  Most of the best music in the world will never be heard on the radio.

[Mothra]

I'm not a fan of the growly screamy stuff. I was a musician for many years, mostly classical and jazz. I didn't discover metal until my 20s and got really into power metal. I agree that metal is one of the few genres where the musicians have any degree of technical proficiency on par with that of classical or jazz musicians. To me the melody is more important than the lyrics. Honestly, half the time I don't even hear the lyrics, although I do love that metal lyrics in general are about things besides the typical banal subject matter of pop songs. The growly screamy stuff I can't pick out a melody. It's the same reason I don't like rap.

[MysterionMuffles]

A little while back, one of my favourite bands (Affiance) made a post on Facebook asking their fans to ask them questions that they will make a Q&A video for. I asked a question and they answered it! i feel so honoured!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o--JdbOypU0#t=4m38s

His thoughts resemble mine. The over emphasis on anger aspect when it should be used sparingly.