Growling!

Why do you hate it? I've never quite understood why it isn't more accepted.

I know it's something that some people have to let grow on them before they begin to enjoy it, but I've always liked those vocals. From the moment I first heard it in music, I thought it was awesome, and my opinion hasn't changed at all since discovering it.

I think the intense, evil feeling of it fits the music underneath it perfectly and makes it sound much more aggressive overall. When someone says that a Death or Black Metal band would sound better with a clean singer, I just laugh.

Certain types of music go well with regular singing, while other types work better with aggressive vocals. I don't like all growling/screaming vocals (for example, I dislike most Metalcore vocals and people like Corpsegrinder and I guess Pig Squeals too), but in genres like Death and Black Metal, I think it's great.

So, what don't you like about it?
___________________________
By the way, anyone who listens to Amon Amarth and then dismisses growling is still putting Amon Amarth down, in a way.

It sounds lame. You can't understand what they sing and gives the music no melody.

Rokai wrote:

It sounds lame. You can't understand what they sing and gives the music no melody.

Yeah, that's your opinion, but why put it down?

I pretty like growling.

Metallhead123 wrote:

Rokai wrote:

It sounds lame. You can't understand what they sing and gives the music no melody.

Yeah, that's your opinion, but why put it down?

You asked me what's wrong about it and I told you.

Rokai wrote:

Metallhead123 wrote:

Rokai wrote:

It sounds lame. You can't understand what they sing and gives the music no melody.

Yeah, that's your opinion, but why put it down?

You asked me what's wrong about it and I told you.

Thats true.

joplajop wrote:

I pretty like growling.

i pretty like grammar!

balrog wrote:

joplajop wrote:

I pretty like growling.

i pretty like grammar!

i pretty like dutch.

Rokai wrote:

balrog wrote:

joplajop wrote:

I pretty like growling.

i pretty like grammar!

i pretty like dutch.

i pretty like english.

I adore growling.
For me, metal is the instrumental's land.
It's to create an atmosphere.
Obviously you can't make the music Amon Amarth makes and expect to sing like a nancy.
I love clean vocals, don't get me wrong, but you have to know the diversity of metal spans wide.
When it was restricted to proto-black, thrash, NWOBHM, and power.
Now we have Viking/Folk, Melodic Death, Symphonic, Progressive, Symphonic Black, Blackened Death, Sludge, Stoner, etc.

Each of these have a sound to emulate, I don't listen to music for the lyrics. I don't need to understand them, but I adore what sound comes from the entire band working together to achieve ONE single sound and effect, the atmosphere.
If I wanted to listen to words often I could easily just listen to spoken word poetry or comedy, first and foremost, metal for me must have a brilliant instrumental sound. This means the drums, slamming with the power of a thousand horses, guitars furious and melodic at the same time, bringing light into the composition whilst the bass keeps the pace. The vocals are of my last importance, but I treat it as another instrument, it needs a certain sound.
Growls are perfect for the metal it can present.
Imagine this scenario.

We see the 4 non-drummers of Amon Amarth headbanging in synchronicity.
All of a sudden Lundström unleashes a steady galloping assault on his bass, Söderberg and Mikkonen unleash their double flurries of droning guitars, burning away flags and buildings with the power of the sound, all awaits Johan Hegg, to bring out the mighty bellows of Odin.
All of a sudden he unleashes a high falsetto and the crowd goes away.
Oh boy, Amon Amarth just lost FANS!

i love it

Growling. I knew this one would show up sooner or later.

The bands that growl and scream that I like:

Children Of Bodom
Slayer
Turisas (well, Turisas only sometimes use the odd cannibal corpse vocal, so they are accepted by me)

The rest of them I either just not listen to or completely hate.

Cannibal Corpse and Job For A Cowboy both suck major ass imo.

What's metal if you can't understand anything the vocalist is saying?

Absolutely nothing.

Even if the lyrics smacked me over the head I still wouldn't be able to tell what they are saying.

My favourites for growling are:
in no particular order

Christian Alvestam
Helge Stang (when he growls)
Nergal
Richard Sjunnesson


and although Corpsegrinder would be quite a bit further down the list in my opinion, you gotta give him credit, because he is one of the most influencial and he has helped set the bar

Best growlers:

Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth, Bloodbath)
Jari Mäenpää (ex-Ensiferum, ex-Arthemesia, Wintersun)
Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth)
Ville Viljane (Mors Principium Est)
Chris Barnes (ex-CC, Six Feet Under)
Tapio Wilska (Sethian, ex-Finntroll)
Mathias Vreth Lilimåns (Finntroll)
Petri Lindroos (Norther, Ensiferum)
Alexi Laiho (COB)
Nergal (Behemoth)
Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad, The Devin Townsend Band)
Peter Tägtgren (ex-Bloodbath, Hypocrisy, Pain)
Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)
Pekka Kokko (Kalmah)

Bolded names are ones you MUST listen to, for they are artful gods.
As for Jari, well, he is the God of the gods.

Quote :

What's metal if you can't understand anything the vocalist is saying?

Absolutely nothing.

That is where you are mistaken.
Metal is an instrumentalist's primetime, the vocals to me, are merely to compliment the atmosphere of the piece. That being what guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, perhaps if you are folk metal, accordion, violin, bagpipes, and other strange instruments, brought together to form a musical masterpiece.
Metal is never 'nothing' until you take away Metal's most valuable asset:

-Its potential for exploring musical boundaries and sounds

WinterSon wrote:

Quote :

What's metal if you can't understand anything the vocalist is saying?

Absolutely nothing.

That is where you are mistaken.
Metal is an instrumentalist's primetime, the vocals to me, are merely to compliment the atmosphere of the piece. That being what guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, perhaps if you are folk metal, accordion, violin, bagpipes, and other strange instruments, brought together to form a musical masterpiece.
Metal is never 'nothing' until you take away Metal's most valuable asset:

-Its potential for exploring musical boundaries and sounds

You really don't get it do you?

It's not what he says, it's the melody of the vocals. Like, as you said before, another instrument.
For example, a 4 man band without a singer. The drummer starts playing, the bassist too, but they all fade into the background because of the awesome rythm guitar riff. All of a sudden the lead guitar starts playing random, deep sounds, ruining the whole song.

Metallhead123 wrote:

Why do you hate it? I've never quite understood why it isn't more accepted.

I know it's something that some people have to let grow on them before they begin to enjoy it, but I've always liked those vocals. From the moment I first heard it in music, I thought it was awesome, and my opinion hasn't changed at all since discovering it.

I think the intense, evil feeling of it fits the music underneath it perfectly and makes it sound much more aggressive overall. When someone says that a Death or Black Metal band would sound better with a clean singer, I just laugh.

Certain types of music go well with regular singing, while other types work better with aggressive vocals. I don't like all growling/screaming vocals (for example, I dislike most Metalcore vocals and people like Corpsegrinder and I guess Pig Squeals too), but in genres like Death and Black Metal, I think it's great.

So, what don't you like about it?

__________________________
By the way, anyone who listens to Amon Amarth and then dismisses growling is still putting Amon Amarth down, in a way.

I TOTALLY agree with you! For some songs clean vocals are great, for other songs growling vocals are great! I myself LOVE and respect both ways of singing

Btw, I growl myself

Rokai wrote:

WinterSon wrote:

Quote :

What's metal if you can't understand anything the vocalist is saying?

Absolutely nothing.

That is where you are mistaken.
Metal is an instrumentalist's primetime, the vocals to me, are merely to compliment the atmosphere of the piece. That being what guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, perhaps if you are folk metal, accordion, violin, bagpipes, and other strange instruments, brought together to form a musical masterpiece.
Metal is never 'nothing' until you take away Metal's most valuable asset:

-Its potential for exploring musical boundaries and sounds

You really don't get it do you?

It's not what he says, it's the melody of the vocals. Like, as you said before, another instrument.
For example, a 4 man band without a singer. The drummer starts playing, the bassist too, but they all fade into the background because of the awesome rythm guitar riff. All of a sudden the lead guitar starts playing random, deep sounds, ruining the whole song.

However, Growling is perfect for many genres. Genres that AREN'T power metal.
I can attest if you put say, guttural growls into a piece with 3 power chords being repeated, it isn't necessarily going to sound good at all.
Now I am asking to see if you have even heard of pieces inside Melodic Death or anything as such, because I can't imagine pieces as aggressive as such being complemented by clean vocals.
Again, you have to some extent a point, certain things don't blend into certain things. However I am speaking from my point of view, as I am indeed more of a fan of Melodic Death, Folk/Viking, and Black Metal more than I am a fan of Power Metal.
I am used and I LOVE the aggression of the pieces, the demonic shrill and thrill.

Growling adds variety to metal. Bands that use both clean and growled vocals are my favorites (like Scar Symmetry, Wintersun, newer Norther). And as for melodies, that's why there are two guitarists. Some bands, like Kalmah, have complicated, melodic rhythm guitar parts under those leads too, adding another spot for melodies.

metal to me is a art form where u can pretty much do anything and u will be accepted by most metal heads, except maybe nu metal cause well come on it sucks IMO, and well w/ this art form you can even do grunts or death growls i guess you can say. Well w/ this type of singing it can give you more feeling into a certain song. Like in a wintersun song jari would do both clean vocals and grunts, but w/ the grunts he does in his songs he gives off more feeling and just like wow w/ it and then other songs where he does clean vocals like in death and the healing it's just amazing and spine chilling. So for certain songs you just need these grunts to make them amazing. Also in opeth songs where u usually have a change in the song at certain unsuspecting times and when he does the grunts you get a feeling of going to hell some what and just plain awesome. You need these grunts or songs would just not be the same or as bad ass. even in the song Boris the spider by the who there is a grunt like part in it. if that part wasn't in there then it wouldn't be as memorable as it is. or well if u heard the song it wouldn't be as memorable if there wasn't grunts.



:fakehorns:

kbjami wrote:

metal to me is a art form where u can pretty much do anything and u will be accepted by most metal heads, except maybe nu metal cause well come on it sucks IMO, and well w/ this art form you can even do grunts or death growls i guess you can say. Well w/ this type of singing it can give you more feeling into a certain song. Like in a wintersun song jari would do both clean vocals and grunts, but w/ the grunts he does in his songs he gives off more feeling and just like wow w/ it and then other songs where he does clean vocals like in death and the healing it's just amazing and spine chilling. So for certain songs you just need these grunts to make them amazing. Also in opeth songs where u usually have a change in the song at certain unsuspecting times and when he does the grunts you get a feeling of going to hell some what and just plain awesome. You need these grunts or songs would just not be the same or as bad ass. even in the song Boris the spider by the who there is a grunt like part in it. if that part wasn't in there then it wouldn't be as memorable as it is. or well if u heard the song it wouldn't be as memorable if there wasn't grunts.


:fakehorns:

just wanted to point out that was an epically long first post. thank you very much

WinterSon wrote:

However, Growling is perfect for many genres. Genres that AREN'T power metal.
I can attest if you put say, guttural growls into a piece with 3 power chords being repeated, it isn't necessarily going to sound good at all.
Now I am asking to see if you have even heard of pieces inside Melodic Death or anything as such, because I can't imagine pieces as aggressive as such being complemented by clean vocals.
Again, you have to some extent a point, certain things don't blend into certain things. However I am speaking from my point of view, as I am indeed more of a fan of Melodic Death, Folk/Viking, and Black Metal more than I am a fan of Power Metal.
I am used and I LOVE the aggression of the pieces, the demonic shrill and thrill.

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

Clean vocals for an agressive song.

Rokai wrote:

WinterSon wrote:

However, Growling is perfect for many genres. Genres that AREN'T power metal.
I can attest if you put say, guttural growls into a piece with 3 power chords being repeated, it isn't necessarily going to sound good at all.
Now I am asking to see if you have even heard of pieces inside Melodic Death or anything as such, because I can't imagine pieces as aggressive as such being complemented by clean vocals.
Again, you have to some extent a point, certain things don't blend into certain things. However I am speaking from my point of view, as I am indeed more of a fan of Melodic Death, Folk/Viking, and Black Metal more than I am a fan of Power Metal.
I am used and I LOVE the aggression of the pieces, the demonic shrill and thrill.

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

Clean vocals for an agressive song.

Rokai, c'mon. Peace Sells...aggressive? O.o

Metallhead123 wrote:

Rokai wrote:

WinterSon wrote:

However, Growling is perfect for many genres. Genres that AREN'T power metal.
I can attest if you put say, guttural growls into a piece with 3 power chords being repeated, it isn't necessarily going to sound good at all.
Now I am asking to see if you have even heard of pieces inside Melodic Death or anything as such, because I can't imagine pieces as aggressive as such being complemented by clean vocals.
Again, you have to some extent a point, certain things don't blend into certain things. However I am speaking from my point of view, as I am indeed more of a fan of Melodic Death, Folk/Viking, and Black Metal more than I am a fan of Power Metal.
I am used and I LOVE the aggression of the pieces, the demonic shrill and thrill.

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

Clean vocals for an agressive song.

Rokai, c'mon. Peace Sells...aggressive? O.o

Not really...

80s thrash is somewhat bland to me.
It's somewhat weak, repetitive, and totally unoriginal. Megadeth are quite an exception, but there is greater aggression on the tide of the 90s and the new century.

"...We're ardent, we're burning down!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tbIuzlKH9o

"...nightmares made flesh..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3VVrai_lH4

"...she rose...screaming at closed doors!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlhahNSszlU

"...deathbringer from the sky!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAw0OFlEunY

joplajop wrote:

Metallhead123 wrote:

Rokai wrote:

WinterSon wrote:

However, Growling is perfect for many genres. Genres that AREN'T power metal.
I can attest if you put say, guttural growls into a piece with 3 power chords being repeated, it isn't necessarily going to sound good at all.
Now I am asking to see if you have even heard of pieces inside Melodic Death or anything as such, because I can't imagine pieces as aggressive as such being complemented by clean vocals.
Again, you have to some extent a point, certain things don't blend into certain things. However I am speaking from my point of view, as I am indeed more of a fan of Melodic Death, Folk/Viking, and Black Metal more than I am a fan of Power Metal.
I am used and I LOVE the aggression of the pieces, the demonic shrill and thrill.

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

Clean vocals for an agressive song.

Rokai, c'mon. Peace Sells...aggressive? O.o

Not really...

Listen to the song not the title.