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Topic ClosedClean Vocals or Death Growl? (Modern Prog)

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octopus-4 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 00:18
Originally posted by Mushroom Sword Mushroom Sword wrote:

Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

I don't like standardised things, Standards arethe countrary of progressive. I like Riverside's growling and I don't like too much the clean voice of Artension but what matters is that the two things are functional to the song, not to the genre. Can we consider Pink Floyd's One of These Days the first example of growling?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8dSBWysmnM
Great mention. I had totally forgotten this song. Sorry for Nick Mason who wasn't thr first...
I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 01:14
Opeth wreck their songs with death metal growling
 
 
There i have said it.
 
Its true - Opeth's music is amazing but the growling caustic vocals are abysmal!
 
Clean vocals are the best, and take more skill.
 
i know some death head will get on  here and spout on about how amazing death metal vocals are, and how it takes so  much talent to scream your vocals raw - but it is not the case.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 01:16
Old people.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 01:18
Originally posted by AtomicCrimsonRush AtomicCrimsonRush wrote:

Opeth wreck their songs with death metal growling
 
 
There i have said it.
 
Its true - Opeth's music is amazing but the growling caustic vocals are abysmal!
 
Clean vocals are the best, and take more skill.
 
i know some death head will get on  here and spout on about how amazing death metal vocals are, and how it takes so  much talent to scream your vocals raw - but it is not the case.
 
Over 30yrs of listening to all kinds of music......I have to agree.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 01:23
Well it does require some skill to do good growls.  You can't discredit them for that just because it's not your style.

I have no problem with people not liking harsh/growled vocals, but I don't like it when people discredit them entirelty or write it off as not being legitimate.  Granted, I listen to a lot of extreme stuff and vocals rarely phase me anymore (be it death metal roars or zeuhl screeches, I'm on both ends of the spectrum), but some stuff wouldn't work without harsh vocals.  A good amount of the time they're almost necessary to make the music more effective.  It's hard to say if I prefer growled or clean because I think both are necessary at appropriate times.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 01:56
Instrumental!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 02:10
Modern prog is a bad joke, and growling only makes it more stupid. Ditch the new garbage and stick to the classics.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 02:12
What took you so long, Walter? LOL
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 02:24
Originally posted by AtomicCrimsonRush AtomicCrimsonRush wrote:

Opeth wreck their songs with death metal growling
 
 
There i have said it.
 
Its true - Opeth's music is amazing but the growling caustic vocals are abysmal!
 

No, the application of growls in Opeth is wonderful and really embellishes the music.
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Clean vocals are the best, and take more skill.
 

To some extent, maybe, although that's still incredibly shallow to say. There's a massive majority of singers who can't growl like Akerfeldt, just like a lot of singers can't sing like Jon Anderson. They're both skills which require some practice at least and a skill which is usually developed to a degree. In both the above cases, you can here a clear difference in quality on earlier albums where either vocalist appears. Because you don't like harsh vocals it does not mean that they take less skill.
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i know some death head will get on  here and spout on about how amazing death metal vocals are, and how it takes so  much talent to scream your vocals raw - but it is not the case.

So if anyone disagrees they're wrong?

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 02:32
Clean guitar or fuzz? Church organ or stab the Hammond with knives? Trumpet voluntary or make the bugger scream and cry like Miles?
 
Clean vocals aren't exactly operatic or choir singing, most rock singing is head-singing anyway.


Edited by Dean - November 25 2010 at 02:33
What?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 03:07
For me, it's a mix of both. I get bored easily, mood changes through vocal and musical styling appeals to me very well. Maybe that's why I dig Into Eternity, Cynic and Opeth as much as I do. 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 03:13
Generally I prefer clean vocals, but I think the growl vocals are well placed in Opeth, and bring something really dramatic to the music. I can understand why some people find them comical, but interestingly no more comical than Geddy Lee's or Jon Andersons vocals seem to be, to most people who don't like prog...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 03:22
I like a lot of heavy heavy stuff, but I have gotten to the point that I would rather listen to instrumental pieces than put up with Cookie Monsters. As a matter of fact, vocals in general, aside from a handful of true masters, (Di Giacomo, Mercury...) are more likely to wreck a listening experience than enhance it.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 03:42
I don't understand people who mark things down because they can't stand death growls. When I started out listening (mainly to Opeth), I found the growls incredibly difficult to listen to as they made me wince very time I heard them. No, however, there are fews things that create such an explosive level of tension than a well placed growl in a mostly clean vocal song. A song wholly in death growls, however, can get a bit tiring, so I definitely prefer it when they alternate or are used sparingly in a song.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 04:14
As someone mention above, vocals are like other instruments, used right at the right time, is what works.
No way to set up a rule, can imagine how Jon Anderson could spoil quite a few good Rock albums whit his clean vocal. On the other hand, too much Grooooouuuwl and it get boring too.
 
The New Orphaned Land, would be a good example of how to use the right vocal at the right time, making the album, the vocaly best balanced albums i'we heard for a while.  
Cynic quite good at it too. 


Edited by tamijo - November 25 2010 at 04:15
Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 05:44
Black Metal shrieks > Death Metal growls
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 05:49
I prefer variation in my metal albums. That's why I like Opeth and Agalloch so much. Even Negura Bunget has variation, their recited parts compliment the music and the other vocals so much. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 06:09

At least growls ain't cheesy.

In the best examples (Opeth, Agalloch, Enslaved), it's the variation between both types of vocals makes them stand out so much.
But there are also a number of bands that work perfectly with just growls (Dissection, Entombed, Death come to mind)

If they are just average or cliché, then growls can be as annoying as melodious cheese vocals. It all depends on the album.


Edited by Bonnek - November 25 2010 at 06:13
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 06:15

Is it just me or did my kitty grow larger? Shocked
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2010 at 07:19
Definitely in the both camp.   HeadbangerBeer
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