Clean Vocals or Death Growl? (Modern Prog)

shaan123 wrote: hello,make healthy  voice.make healthy throat

There are techniques for doing growls.So,don't worry.Also the growls are great.

New guy's opinion, anyone?

keiser willhelm wrote:   This thread started out mocking not just the GROWL but the whole range of stuff, from boris the spider (seriously?) to symphony x. I think its a valid comparison - distorted voice distorted instrument. Its not perfect, but the non-nonsensical bashing of the death growl is comparable to a nonsensical bashing of the distorted guitar. its just silly and uninformed. Pretentious bashing of harsh vocals, which have their place whether or not you like them, is equally silly.

Wanorak wrote: Clean all the way for me:) I think Opeth would be amazing if Akerfeld sang cleanly! I can't take the cookie monster growls seriously and it ruins the music.

keiser willhelm wrote: thats what i was trying to say. Saying electric guitar lacks artistic merit / takes no skill to play is just like saying growling or screaming or scatting (mike patton) takes no skill and lacks artistic merit.

I f you meant my comment, I was joking. Fripp, Hendrix, Howe etc are masters and innovators. They even came up with some decent songs!

But the growl is pretty limited. It's there for teenage buyers who are either so stupid they buy into that or thought to be stupid that they will buy into it. The variety of content is limited.

Anyway playing guitar hoping FX obscures bad playing doesn't work. FX highlights mistakes and sometimes exaggerates them. The scope and range of guitar players on elctric is huge. Al Di Meola, Zappa, the master of undistorted heavy guitar Page...

What's happened is that rock music has been well overtaken by technology. Rock when ambitious is deemed pretentios. So when you get  alot of unambitious rock acts trying not to be pretentious you get a bunch of clones. Then they get sl*g.ed for that as well (if anyone notices...)

Once upon a time I taped every veriosn of Train kept A riollin' from Aerssmith, yardbirds Zeppelin etc I could find. And Motorhead. It was played at a party and no one mentioned they thought they were hearing the same song for an hour. I wasnt there but the music guy (tape DJ) was waiting. It seems to be very easy to fool general public. (Oo-er that's elitist innit and therefore a bad thing!) Toughski. Just look at the public "need" for same-ness in top 40 situations. Do wes till have that? Any hit pop song would get downloaded for free so why bother making 'em...

thats what i was trying to say. Saying electric guitar lacks artistic merit / takes no skill to play is just like saying growling or screaming or scatting (mike patton) takes no skill and lacks artistic merit.

I hated growls for a long time...some of them are still terrible, but they can work in certain places.

It has taken me a while to appreciate most Cookie Monster vocals but with the loving care and help from those nice chaps in Opeth and Meshuggah, I feel that I can appreciate the aesthetic at last.  

I think the idea of HEAVILY distorted rhythm guitar is that it produces plesant sensations on a chemically (narcotic or alcoholic)  informed leisure oriented cerebrum. Another reason is why guitar solos dies a death about the time of Metallica's Reload. Even Clapton noticed that only his music on the radio had the only string bending around. Apparently good (lead) guitar playing is "dated and boring" according to the Metallica top two and their producer. That may have changed since.

Electric over driven sounds (Page) are good but detailed guitar work needs to be as clean as possible (Howe, Hackett. )

As for growls.... it's just a fad. No longer funny (unless some who can't growl do try (S. Wilson, FOABP tour.)  I had the "interesting" experience of listening to Cradle Of Filth recently. After I nearly died laughing (the growls made the lead singer (Bronski Beat on Steroids) sound real good -  I then nearly died of bordom at the blandness of it all. Oh well it wasn't my money down that drain. The metal was actually well done speed metal but it's kind of painted itself into a corner. Where does it go from there? More of the same I suppose.

And it's not some growling... it's a lot of growling. Every metal band every album? Gimme Miles Davis, FZ and Crimson any day. All day come to that...  

Vocals shmocals. Give me instrumental music any day.