Thoughts on screaming/growling in Metal?

is it lazy? i'm not really sure what to think about it. I just can't help but think it ruins something like pic related

am i wrong for thinking this?

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as long as vocals are good and fit with the music i dont care what type of vocals it is

for your case, maybe you just dotn like the style

to me, its like putting your words in ALL CAPS and underlining them to make them more extreme. why not say some extreme shit or put some effects on instead

I generally like screamed and shrieked vocals but something about low pitched growling turns me off. I'm a big fan of black metal but I could never get into death metal because of this.

>Is it lazy
Why would it be?

Growling ruins metal and yes its lazy. Mastadon doesn't need to do it, because they can all sing.

Plus, you cant expect to be able to scream right on.... Heard Phil Anselmo lately? He struggles to get through his old shit.

Also, listen to me screamers; a little goes a long way. If your jackass lead guitar player soloed through the entire duration of every song you would find it redundant and obnoxious. Same goes for screaming.

Harsh vocals are appropriate for otherwise harsh music. It's an overused metal trope, but sometimes it's the best option. Blackwater Park may have worked with purely clean vocals, but would, e.g., any Immolation album?

Also, a mixture of clean and harsh rarely works, but I'd give Unholy as an example where both styles are absolutely necessary in their music.

This. Especially in some metal genres where vocals are mostly treated as another instrument.

they really fucked up the drums on this one, though

Harsh vocals are like any other style of singing, they have a place.

Good times to use harsh vocals:
>If you're trying to add a specific texture to the mix
>If you're trying to convey brutal vibes or emotional intensity
>If you're experimenting with contrasting vocal sounds as part of the music

Bad times to use harsh vocals:
>If you use a bland midrange scream as a substitute for writing melodies
>if you're trying to add aggression or heaviness to music that can't back it up
>If you're trying to be shocking or "extreme" for no reason

A lot of harsh vocals are just poorly-performed. In more popular metal where harsh vox are used it's usually just a very bland sort of shout, which is monotonous and weak, and is used out of laziness.
Good metal can incorporate really extreme vocals (shrieks and low growls) into the music by either matching the extreme music or using it as intense contrast.

Here's one of my favorite harsh vocal performances, he's screaming his lungs out alongside driving, heavy instrumentals, and the mixing allows it to act as another layer to the dense arrangement.
youtube.com/watch?v=SVmujg4wnwE

listen to pic related for some god-tier growlz

pic related is terrible anyway, fuck Opeth

it's often pretty boring and monotone, so like, remaining on the same pitch, which takes the intensity out of it

i like when a metal vocalist mixes their performance up with whatever fits dramatically
pic related is a great example of this

that or vocalists that still remain their intelligiblity, like

It basically ruins everything it touches unless its used sparingly like in some QOTSA songs or Devin Townsends stuff. I understand you are an angry teenager but having your eardrums screamed into is gonna get old sooner or later.

If the lead singer can sing clean and then make a clean note turn into a growl or scream its fucking cool.

>If the lead singer can sing clean and then make a clean note turn into a growl or scream its fucking cool.
examples of that?

It's just another texture. It can be done well or done poorly, just like any other instrument.

>Mastodon doesn't need to do it
And yet they do it anyway

10/10 screams

>...put some effects on...
isn't that what they are doing?

>Growling ruins metal and yes its lazy
it's not easy to do, so i'm not sure you could call it lazy.

It had to grow on me. I first listened to Opeth and didn't give them a second chance.
A year or so later I got into Children of Bodom through a fucking world of warcraft pvp video.
I grew to like the screaming and over 6 years later finally gave Opeth another try and fell in love with them.

>>If you're trying to convey brutal vibes or emotional intensity
This. Unfortunately, in most mainstream metal it is simply done for the fuck of it. On the other hand, i can't imagine for instance Eyehategod with clean singing, harsh vocals just feel natural in some music.
Also,

>SHELL OF A MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

Growling is pretty hard to master. If you do it wrong you'll fuck up your voice forever.

>say some extreme shit
they already do, and it's usually a lot less powerful than using a monstrous voice.

Your analogy is flawed since "effects" would translate into "all caps and underlined"

Same goes for screaming
inaccurate analogy again.
Screaming is the vocal equivalent of using distortion and playing loud. Which is absolutely crucial in Metal. It's not the equivalent of soloing.

It took me some time to get used to
Actually Ipeth and In Flames made me tolerate them

Completely agree. I felt like Blackwater Park was a musical masterpiece, but growling always takes away from the seriousness to me.

Do you want music that sounds like it's made by a wimpy human or do you want music that sounds like it's made by an ogre?

If you want the former why are you even listening to metal?

ZIS IS HUH
WOW

ARRAAAG AAAARGGH AAAAAGAARH AAAAAAAGRRH

I lie wounded on wintery ground*

What do you think of vocalists like this
youtube.com/watch?v=KREGPRhgwG4

youtube.com/watch?v=NKjzDU7V7es

I fucking hate those clear vocals. They're trying to be melodramatic and shit but it just comes off as something out of a pop ballad.
Even when you're doing clear vocals you should be putting some real power behind it. Otherwise it's gonna sound like a teenager whining about his feelings, instead of sounding all operatic and grandiose.

>i can't imagine for instance Eyehategod with clean singing

I like Lamb of God's vocalist's screaming

he's got a pretty mediocre goth rock voice and a mediocre growling voice.

Yeah that was my problem with Scar Symmetry but Avlestam was a top tier vocalist

>Stanne
>mediocre vocalist
You have no idea what you're talking about mate

>this fucking thread
jesus christ reddit

youtube.com/watch?v=Jwi9fxHBphU

Nah, Green Day isn't bluesy enough, i think Three Days Grace is closer to Eyehategod's sound.

I just think he sounds very contrived, like he's forcing himself to growl and forcing himself to croon.

When you listen to other goth crooners or growlers, they sound perfectly natural and more powerful.

Growls sound goofy and/or offputting at first but once you get used to them, you just can't imagine metal without them without losing some of its impact. I actually still can't appreciate thrash metal style shouting too much but I couldn't even imagine death or black metal without their trademark vocal styles. They're essential for the atmosphere, with clear vocals the style of the music instantly gets much more mellow. Clear vocals is the special effect which should be used sparingly in this type of music, not the growls.

From harmonic/melodic POV growls and screams are pretty much always inferior to traditional sung vocals, but hey, it's rhythm music we're talking about.

Fuck off rapfag nu-male

this is literally a top 40 song with occasional distorsion

>Opeth
>In Flames
>Scar Symmetry

>shilling melodeath that isn't Edge of Sanity

It sounds more like heavier Depeche Mode song

Swano produced this great album
youtube.com/watch?v=eWQ_tHmZlRQ

Depeche Mode was literally in the top 40.

Yes I know
DT sounds more like more abrasive gothic rock

This sounds like pop music with growling

Ihsahn and Enslaved
youtube.com/watch?v=kjS8SR6OcXg
youtube.com/watch?v=sFsa9rlC0mU

>Ensodomized

Fuck off /metal/

Screaming in heavy music definitely has its place, as many people have already said, if it's bad, it's REALLY bad, but good screams and growls provide an intensity that clean vocals just can't. If it's used as an emotional expression as a contrast to clean passages, it can be great and take songs to another level.
That said I very rarely listen to bands that exclusively scream, I prefer a mix of both.
I also think it's one of those things that you kind of have to listen to for a while to actually start to like it, the first song with screaming that I really liked was Icarus Lives by Periphery, and I hated that song to begin with, but went back to it occasionally until I got used to it, and from there I slowly started to appreciate it.

>if it's used as an emotional expression and as a contrast to clean passages
this isn't how it works.

Clean vocals are the contrasting element that should be used sparingly in extreme music.

>I also think it's one of those things that you have to listen to for a while to actually start to like it

Only if you're a normalfag with no natural affinity for harsh music. The kind of normalfag who listens to Periphery. Most metalheads don't need to "adjust" to harsh vocals, they either don't like them, or like them from the first listen.

>pleb: the post

>reverse the meaning of words in order to confuse and discredit your opponent. His attempts to correct your misuse of words will make him seem pedantic and out of touch.

fucking plebs

le who are you quoting

(You), of course

I just used to hate them but now I find them normal, is that hard to understand

No it's not, I'm just pointing out that you're generalizing your case in a way that's largely irrelevant to Metal.

It takes more control of your voice to growl, do gutturals, and scream than it does to do clean singing, user. Guttural vocals are a form of throat-singing.