Best vocalists in metal

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jpoon

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Mikael Akerfeldt (OPETH) to me has one of the very best metal voices. His voice is clean and he has excellent range, then he sounds just awesome when growls and screams are needed.
 

open trap

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Onyx Oblivion said:
Bobbie Wright from Brocas Helm.

I'm not much of a metal head, as my only real knowledge comes from Brutal Legend's soundtrack.

But this...this is fucking awesome.

My view of metal expanded from Brutal Legand but i was always into Metal before that, but that guy is an amazing singer.
In gonna say Eric Adams from Manowar
 

De Ronneman

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Well, it's not a complete top 10, but it seems noone does, so who cares?
1) James Hetfield: the old one. Do I need to explain? He sounds awesome in, say metal militia, but also sweet and soothing in fade to black. These days he's getting a bit out of the old shape...
2) Till Lindeman: Rammstein's lead singer: awesome voice, compare "Frühling in Paris" and "Stein um Stein".
3) Alexi Laiho: Could potentialy be number 1, but he can only do 1 thing good(except angels don't kill), which is be amazing.
4) Bruce Dickinson: He's a freaking sirene! He's not higher on the list, just because of personal preference in songs.
5) Tom Araya: Slayer. He needs no introduction or explanation. He rules.
6) Hansi Kürsch: He's great, he's tough, but never get's to a point where you can't hear the lyrics anymore. BTW, he's Blind Guardian.
7) Rob Halford: Judas Priest, his singing is weird, scary and shrieky, what more could you ask for?
8) ZP Theart: Formerly DragonForce. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, but I saw them live, and his singing is pretty damn sweet.
9) Tarja Turunen: Nightwish. I don't like the new singer. She's good, but not the original. To bad she was, as far as the open letter [http://www.nightwish.com/en/article/6] can be believed, a massive greedy ***** with an annoying husband...
10) Alice Cooper. Is Alice Cooper metal? Who cares, he sings awesome. More of an honorable mention, because he's not even close to being one of my favourite bands, but hey, he's history and "along came a spider" was agreat album.

EDIT: It kind of became a full top 10 anyway...
 

aruseusx

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TheRightToArmBears said:
Mustaine is a good singer? It can't just be that thinks you must be crazy. I guess it's your opinion, but seriously? He sings like his lips are trying to escape out of the side of his face and it sounds tolerable at best. I would go as far as to say he's one of the worst vocalists in metal, but then I personally dislike the sond of most death metal singing.

John Bush (Anthrax) is far better, Zakk Wylde sounds strikingly similar to Ozzy these days and as much as people are going to hate me for saying it, James Hetfield is a good singer. And the absence of Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God) on your list makes me a sad panda. Admittedly he's not got great range, but he's good at what he does.
Calling me crazy for liking Dave Mustaine then saying Randy Blythe is great. Lamb Of God are crap period. Randy Blythe sounds like a fucking redneck, just because you can hear him clearly, does not mean he is good.

Calling Megadeth death metal made me giggle.

Anthrax's best singer will always be debatable (Neil Turbin is the best in my opinion). James was way better in early Metallica, Mustaine's voice, while not the best has always remianed constant compared to James.
 

Twinny

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In no particular order.

Tarja Turunen; Former singer in Nightwish.
Till Lindeman; Great singer from Rammstein.
Anders Fridèn; Vocalist for In Flames.
Mikael Stanne; Singer in Dark Tranquility
Christian Älvestam; Former vocalist from Scar Symmetry.
 

TheRightToArmBears

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Hey! I just noticed, no one has said Tom Araya (Slayer). Seriously, the scream from Angel Of Death, the fear inducing chant of Seasons In The Abyss... The man is a metal god, and a bassist to boot too!

EDIT:
aruseusx said:
TheRightToArmBears said:
Mustaine is a good singer? It can't just be that thinks you must be crazy. I guess it's your opinion, but seriously? He sings like his lips are trying to escape out of the side of his face and it sounds tolerable at best. I would go as far as to say he's one of the worst vocalists in metal, but then I personally dislike the sond of most death metal singing.

John Bush (Anthrax) is far better, Zakk Wylde sounds strikingly similar to Ozzy these days and as much as people are going to hate me for saying it, James Hetfield is a good singer. And the absence of Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God) on your list makes me a sad panda. Admittedly he's not got great range, but he's good at what he does.
Calling me crazy for liking Dave Mustaine then saying Randy Blythe is great. Lamb Of God are crap period. Randy Blythe sounds like a fucking redneck, just because you can hear him clearly, does not mean he is good.

Calling Megadeth death metal made me giggle.

Anthrax's best singer will always be debatable (Neil Turbin is the best in my opinion). James was way better in early Metallica, Mustaine's voice, while not the best has always remianed constant compared to James.
I didn't say Megadeth were death metal, but I can see why it might look like that. I mean to say that I think he's a terrible singer, but there are a lot of death metal singers that I like less.

Well, I personally think that if you can clearly hear what the singer is saying it mkes them a better singer, because the song has some context. That's not even a tenth of why I like him, and I'd struggle to explain, but his voice appeals to me and that's the way it is.

You might think I'm crazy too because of that, but that's fine because people have different tastes. I don't like Mustaine, you don't like Blythe. Unless one of us murders the other, there's not much we can do. And please don't murder me, I wouldn't enjoy it too much.


Jesus christ, I sound lovey-dovey.
 

CNKFan

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George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and Chris Barnes are two of the best death metal vocalists on the planet. Also Till Lindemann from Rammstein is like the best all around vocalist in my opinion.
 

Frybird

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Jorn Lande hasn't been mentioned yet? WHY?

Also, James LaBrie from Dream Theater
 

asinann

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1. Amy Lee, because no matter how fat she gets, that voice makes her hot.
2. Axl Rose one of only 4 voices in metal that can't be imitated
3. Lemmy, because Lemmy IS god
4. Ozzy, high pitched screaming goes great with dark music
5. Rob Halford, because his voice can do almost anything
 

Lowbreed

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fluffybacon said:
This guy:


[HEADING=2] I win.[/HEADING]​
Big Chocolate is best indeed, always laugh at the thought that he also Djs.. (to a certain extent yes yes).

Peter Tätgren from Hypocrisy and the more known Pain.
While effect heavy the dude from Soilwork (no I don't care enough to go look it up).
The obvious: Dio, Lemmy, Ozzy (Never Say Die is the best album kthanks), and of course Hetfield, Garage Inc really shows this (if you ignore the Motorhead covers).
 

primitivescrewhead

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Dec 16, 2009
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Not going to give you ten but:

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Best death metal growl there is, and an amazing clean singing voice
Warrel Dane - He has a godly range
Devin Townsend - He can do it all
 

Arkhangelsk

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Mar 1, 2009
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1. The one and only:
He is millions times better than the singers below. Although they still kick ass.

2. Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity)
3. Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom)
4. Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)
5. Matt Heafy (Trivium)
6. William Clapp (Adversary)
7. Rob Zombie (um...Rob Zombie?)
8. ZP Theart (Dragonforce)
9. Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
10. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)
 

Banana Phone

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Brent Hinds of Mastodon has one of the most epic-sounding voices in all of metal. He doesn't yell or shout, he fucking bellows. At least on their early albums.