There are some others i could throw into this list without too much trouble, but this is what i consider to be the top 9. Although i havn't heard every singer so take your pick as too your favorite... and feel free to offer any suggestions on great singers and the bands they sing in.

For me ill vote for Matt Barlow, he is just such a versitile sing with great range and the guy can hold a anote as good as any. The emotion he put inot the music is amazing. But all of these singers are ver close and have different strengths and weeknesses.

Written by Guest on 11.06.2007 at 05:30

There are some others i could throw into this list without too much trouble, but this is what i consider to be the top 9. Although i havn't heard every singer so take your pick as too your favorite... and feel free to offer any suggestions on great singers and the bands they sing in.

For me ill vote for Matt Barlow, he is just such a versitile sing with great range and the guy can hold a anote as good as any. The emotion he put inot the music is amazing. But all of these singers are ver close and have different strengths and weeknesses.

"words of wisdom"...during his time in IE barlow was and still is my favorite singer of all time.
you forgot to put dio up there, I love his voice he comes second for me.

Mikeal Is mine from the list but i never really like Opeth but i loved him Bloodbath

Damn, can't choose. It's a tie between Turunen (her work in Nightwish will always be important for me), Åkerfeldt (since he vary his vocals so much, his growl is awesome and so is his clean voice) and LaBrie (one of the most beautiful and catchy voices I've heard).

Written by Guest on 12.06.2007 at 04:49

Written by Guest on 11.06.2007 at 05:30

There are some others i could throw into this list without too much trouble, but this is what i consider to be the top 9. Although i havn't heard every singer so take your pick as too your favorite... and feel free to offer any suggestions on great singers and the bands they sing in.

For me ill vote for Matt Barlow, he is just such a versitile sing with great range and the guy can hold a anote as good as any. The emotion he put inot the music is amazing. But all of these singers are ver close and have different strengths and weeknesses.

"words of wisdom"...during his time in IE barlow was and still is my favorite singer of all time.
you forgot to put dio up there, I love his voice he comes second for me.

Oh hell i knew id forget someone worth a mention... Dio is awesome... But then who would you rep;ace in this list... Dont worry i thought of Rob Halford, i just prefer "Ripper" Owens.

This is your top 9?

Okay, looking at Tarja, she never fulfilled her true potential. She has appalling mid-phrase breathing later on in NW's career, and the earlier stuff has very bad pronunciation. Yes, she was classically trained, but her voice is very annoying and not very good technically. Floor Jansen of After Forever has a much stronger, clearer voice, and Tarja always seemed to confident to try and improve her abilities. Certainly, by the time they dropped her classical overtones from the vocals, what was left was very underwhelming.

Simone Simons is another vocalist with a good voice, but not a great one. She has potential, but not strength in the upper ranges. With singing lessons (which she doesn't think she needs), she could acquire a very strong voice, because she has good natural tone. There are many moments in Epica's songs, though, that reveal the flaws in her voice (particularly the weaker vocal points on 'Consign to Oblivion')

As for LaBrie, his vocals are good on DT's older work, but Train of Thought? He wrecked his voice, and it shows. His voice is weak and watery, and in DT's attempts to appear heavier than they are, he just gets left behind. He's terrible live, as well.

I already talked about Owens in the Halford vs. Owens thread.

Hansi Kursch has a good, unique voice, but the ridiculous amount of layered vocals Blind Guardian use are really unnecessary. He has emotion and range, which is good, but the overproduction smothers this a lot in BG's later work.

Akerfedlt is a good vocalist. His clean vocals can be a bit overdone at times, but they're better than some harsh vocalists attempting clean, and he has a very strong, deep growl. Very unique, very emotional.

Geoff Tate. Good Dickinson-esque vocalist, not much more to say about him. He's in the upper range of good.

Matt Barlow, now there was a good vocalist (I say was, because we don't know what he'll be like in Pyramaze). His vocals in Iced Earth were versatile and able to convey many emotions; fear, loathing, anger, sorrow, even love. His stunning range and the sheer breadth of his voice is very impressive.

As to my top 10/11, it'd go something like this...

Johann Hegg (Amon Amarth)
Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity)
Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
Martin Walkyier (Sabbat)
Matt Barlow (ex-Iced Earth)
Jon Notveidt (Dissection)
Alan Averill (Primordial)
Morten Veland (ex-Tristania, Sirenia)
Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth)
Sean Harris (Diamond Head)

For female vocals, Vibeke Stenne and the aforementioned Floor Jansen have very good voices.

I vote for Klaus Meine... He's great!!! I like tarja too!!!

where is the "Other" option?
I have to go with Andre Matos (ex Angra and ex Shaaman) he is truly the best singer in the power metal scene

I'd like to see the "other" option here as well.....I haven't heard all of them you listed here so I can't judge very well....however....singers whose vocal abilities and characteristics are good in my opinion are Heri Joensen from Tyr and Melissa Ferlaak from Visions of Atlantis and Aesma Daeva....I would also point out Garm....I honestly admire his vocals on the two first albums of Borknagar....And how could I forget.....Liv Kristine and Lotta Höglin....really nice singers with lovely voices and awesome personalities....

But as you offered me these nine....well....what to choose....Tarja or Hansi? I think I'll go for the Hansi option because I bet that lots of people vote for Tarja anyway....btw...Tarja Turunen not Turunan.....

James LaBrie takes my vote i really like his vocals they are magical to me

Mikael Åkerfeldt, both his growl and his clean vocals are really really good. Weird poll, by the way

Matt Barlow, no questions asked. Iced Earth has never been the same after him.

Hansi. The guy's voice is just excellent. Good range and emotion. Matt Barlow is also very good, but can't beat Hansi.

My fav singer it's so dynamical subject, I can't figure one for all times, it really flows with the mood and times...but nowadays I'd say I'm again impressed with Ray Adler work in Redemption band, although Fates Warning is a bit quiet now, but new Redemption blown me away.

Barlow. Duh. Great singer. He's on my top. Here are my top vocalists:

Steve Souza (ex-Exodus)
Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica)
Dead (ex-Mayhem)
Hat (ex-Gorgoroth)
Tobias Sammet (Edguy)
Chuck Shuldiner (Death)
Kai Hanson (Helloween, Gamma Ray)
Chuck Billy (Testament)
Satyr (Satyricon)
Dio (Dio)
King Diamond (King Diamond)
Tom Angelripper (Sodom)
Matt Barlow (Iced Earth)
Messiah (ex-Candlemass)
Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
Tony Portaro (Whiplash)
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir)
Attila (Mayhem)
Mikko Aspa (Deathspell Omega)
Ihsann (Emperor)
Rob Dukes (Exodus)
Mille Petrozza (Kreator)
Nattefrost (Carpathian Forest)
Jari Mäenpää (Wintersun, ex-Ensiferum)

.....and many more, but I am tired of typing.

I would go for Mikael Åkerfeldt. He is great. Both his clean, and his growl vocals sound fantastic. Simone Simons is also very good.

from this list i voted james labrie. even though i know a lot people say that they don't like his voice, i think it's amazing. then, i guess i would say Hansi Kursch.

I voted Akerfeldt because I like his ability at dual vocals. But now I reconsider because I find these types of polls very annoying, polls should be a battle with a purpose or meaning, like which is a superior thrash band? or the best brutal death metal band? then list the most popular brutal death metal band. I dont think the forums should be used for a pointless poll such as this that no one will really give a shit about, but hey thats just me.

Mikeal Akerfeldt is my favorite out of those, because of his clean/growl vocals.

Written by Doc G. on 18.06.2007 at 01:00

I voted Akerfeldt because I like his ability at dual vocals. But now I reconsider because I find these types of polls very annoying, polls should be a battle with a purpose or meaning, like which is a superior thrash band? or the best brutal death metal band? then list the most popular brutal death metal band. I dont think the forums should be used for a pointless poll such as this that no one will really give a shit about, but hey thats just me.

So what your saying is that unless the poll has to do with death metal you think its pointless (joking for the less intelligent)... I intentionally searched several genre's for great singers, why? because i wanted to do something that wasn't the same as "Which album is the best" or "Which singer of x band do you like more"... all i'll ask you is why shouldn't open threads like this... if you think its spam than report it. But then if this gets reported for spam, then that means i could report 3/4 of the threads in here for the same reason. The idea of the arena is food for thought about metal.

oh my, such a hard choice, but i tihnk im going to ahve to go with the obvious on this one and go with Hansi, i jsut love his vocals and his style, not including Blind Guardians or Demons and Wizards newer stuff which i am not to fond of vocally, but still, seeing him live redeemed him of that, he did a great job, much better then i ever could ahve imagined, its jsut such a good powerful voice and really lets you feel their music

Matt Barlow...but I'm missing Ville Laihiala, he just has that charming, trully charismatic voice...

Akerfeldt from Opeth. Great vocals...i like his clean vocal and also growls, which is not so easy to do...growl, and clean and again growl and so on. Of course their songs are usually very long so he can have some break in it ...

Oh, and Warrel Dane is growing on me more and more with each listening of Sentient 6

I go for MAtt Barlow. He can go soft and shriek and up and down and sing he has this sort of charisma that makes everyone to like him, his voice is very deep and he did an awesome job in Iced Earth, and I'm looking forward for his debut with Pyramaze.

Man : Hansi,James LaBrie,Kai,Kiske,Andre Matos

Woman : Tarja,Floor Jansen,Elisa C. Martin,Simone Simons,Julie Kiss

i´m somehow missing Eric Adams, Bruce Dickinson and Tobias Sammet...at least - than Damnagoras from Elvenking, Fabio Lione from Rhapsody and others and others...

My vote goes like this Matt Barlow (Iced Fuckin Earth!) - reason: Pure power, I mean, no need to comment him, or I will writte 3 pages....

Followed by Hansi....

Tony Kakko and Bruce Dickinson are the best singer ever. there are other singers, like Hansi and from other power metal bands

I don't like any of those. My favourite are Corey Taylor (Slipknot/ Stone Sour), Rob Helford, maybe Matt Barlow, Robert Flynt (Machine Head dude, not sure about the name), Sulley (Godsmack). Till Lindemann, Sharon den Adel, Sandra Nasic....