Clean Vocals or Death Growl? (Modern Prog)

That's not a good comparison, a cello is just a deeper, more low pitched instrument, it can essentially etch out a moving - in the physical and not emotional sense - melodic line just like a violin.  Death growls usually centre around the same notes, performing a very similar function to metal riffs in fact.  While it is eminently suited to some forms of music - and indeed I wouldn't want Cannibal Corpse without Chris Barnes's guttural 'emissions'  -  it is also a limited style of vocals compared to clean singing as a whole.  In essence, it's not even a fair question because death growl is just one style within the larger subset of harsh vocal techniques while clean vocals is a whole wide basket by itself.  I would have to assume there's something wrong with the tastes of someone who prefers "death growl" to clean vocals because he would be limiting himself to a very narrow range of vocals.  If by clean vocals, only one specific style of clean singing is meant, it is a more pertinent question.

By the way, I do prefer music with clean guitar, especially jazz guitar.  Er, not because I find distorted tones strange but because clean guitar seems to accompany more harmonically interesting music as a general rule.   I get a bit bored of listening to the same ( not to be taken literally!!!!) riffs over and over and I hope that doesn't sound oh so prejudiced to you.

Exactly! That's what I'm saying: sometimes you prefer violin to cello, and sometimes the other way around! It depends on musical context, and your mood etc. But you can't say "violin is superb to cello always" or something like that.

Same with growling. Sometimes it's done so-so, sometimes it doesn't fit, sometimes the context is bad. But sometimes not. One of the best examples is Opeth.

I think one should not try to get into growling vocals itself, but into music where it's suitable. Get into Opeth music. Not the "cookie monster" noise that singer is making. By taking growling out of context you make it sound funny, in context it is beautiful/atmospheric/emotional.

You know, after I listened to Opeth "once", I didn't like it at all. Same thing with Genesis, Tool, Cynic, Bjork, Townsend and many others. It takes time to dig into it. I did, and now they are one of my favourite bands. I always recommend not to discard a band after only a few listens.

 

Absolutely ...

 

I just describe what I see and felt -- and in the case of the King Crimson story ... what I knew and saw at the time when it came out ...

 

I don't tell you to go listen because this lady (or guy) has great gams for you all to shudder over! ... my opinion is that too many of those "reviews" are not reviews at all and should be removed. I have made that suggestion to the admins, but I think that could be one of those issues ... when some of those words taken out would make the board look to imp'ish and close minded ... instead of a board that has everyone's thoughts and opinions. My preference? ... the democratic way ... and there will be garbage ... you have to leave behind. But I'm sure you can see and identify the pearls when you see them!

 

Close your eyes is one secret ... just close your eyes and listen!

So my vote is obvious... even if the best thing, IMHO, is a clean vocal with just a trace of dirty...

Because there are all those mellow parts accompanying the growls which supposedly makes the growls more palatable. Oh, and the lyrics are so "intelligent" unlike typical death metal lyrics, that too.  Opeth is mostly death metal for people who don't like death metal but would still like to listen to it . Personally, I find growls really incongruous when they crash into a lush, acoustic landscape. At least with really fast music with mostly crushing riffs, one could argue only growls would suit such music. 

Not just modern prog. Classic prog as well.

"Death growl" can mean a lot of things. There's actually a pretty wide range of things you can do with it musically. While there's the cliche,limited Akerfeldt type growls, there are also more talented and diverse death growlists. It's as valid of a singing style as anything else.

Chuck Schuldiner had a beautiful voice, not despite being death growl, but because of it. 

The death growl spectrum for me also includes some of the older classic prog vocalists. Lots of them have voices that have detriorated into growl teritory, and honestly the music is made better for it. Listen to some later Kansas recordings for some great examples of this.

Steve Walsh's vocals are pretty much in death metal/black metal territory at this point, and it adds to the tension and intensity of the music in a way that benefits it.Honestly I prefer these newer live recordings to their studio counterparts. Fish and Peter Hammill are also great at this.

Clean vocals can go to hell. Give me the raw passion and intensity of a death growl any day of the week.