When you are looking for new bands, what do you mainly look for in the vocalists? What defines a good vocalist above all else to you?

These are few options I came up on my own:


Unique voice: A voice that is inimitable (unable to be imitated), sounds different from other vocalists.

Ability to scream: That ability to do a spine-chilling metal scream.

Ability to growl: The ability to do death growls and such well.

Vocal Range: The range of pitches the vocalist can perform.

Technical Skill: The vocalist's knowledge of musical theory/technique and ability to apply it in their singing.

Ability to sing "clean" and "dirty" well: Pretty self-explanatory I think.

An expressive voice/singing style: The vocalist's ability to express feeling in their singing.

An interesting voice: You just like something about the vocalist's voice!


Feel free to add/extrapolate from there.

Daniel Heiman, formerly of Lost Horizon, is what exemplifies vocal power in my mind. he has an angellic voice that fits perfectly with what the lyrics are saying and the music that is being played.

on another note, Valfar has a KILLER scream and is a multi instrument playing savage so he has his own category entirely.

but if you want thoroughness, read hrothdane's description. he does it better than me.

Power, simple as that. To me it should sound like they're putting their full ass into it.

Most of the time, it's all about the "uniqueness" of the voice. Usually when it's unique it's great, e.g. Bruce Dickinson, James Hetfield, Jonathan Davis, Robert Plant, Dio, Michael Akerfeldt, Freddie Mercury... a few famous names... I don't think you could say anyone of them was singing not from inside the soul or without emotion.

For me the most important thing is emotion, or feeling. I don't care what you do or how you do it, but how much emotion you can put into it. Take Attila Csihar on the Ordo Ad Chao album, he screams, growls, wails, howls, cries, anything you can think of. And it sounds amazingly awesome. Live, his performance was even weirder, squeakier, but again very very good.

Another vocalist that does a great job his Kvarforth, on the fourth and fifth album. Some people complain that on the last album he was screaming too much, but in my opinion he does an excellent job. He really rips his throat out.

In summary: I don't care what you do, as long as it sounds awesome.

The vocals must suit the music in a perfect way.
And like some guys already said, The vocalist should put his soul into his vocals, that's all I need to enjoy their voices.

A good DEATH vocalist needs to be unique, You have to know its them when you hear it (ex. Immortal). For me the best death vocals have to be clear but not so clear that it takes the lyrical wonder away (ex.Opeth). That helps me to take from the song what I want to take from it. They also have to have fairly good range. Just enough to not be one note though (Hypocrisy).

As far as CLEAN Vocals go, they need to be clear (My Dying Bride) have great range (Opeth). and The most important thing to me, emotion (Primordial). If a bands vocalist has these things then they will most likely be good. But the instruments are just as important.

Written by Lucas on 27.09.2008 at 20:36

In summary: I don't care what you do, as long as it sounds awesome.

Haha well said. I'm on the same level as yourself when it comes to vocalists in that emotion is what defines a good one, but also power. Although as you said I'm not too fussed as long as it sounds decent and isn't 'angsty'.

Written by K✞ulu on 27.09.2008 at 09:13

Most of the time, it's all about the "uniqueness" of the voice. Usually when it's unique it's great, e.g. Bruce Dickinson, James Hetfield, Jonathan Davis, Robert Plant, Dio, Michael Akerfeldt, Freddie Mercury... a few famous names... I don't think you could say anyone of them was singing not from inside the soul or without emotion.

Totally agree, in fact there are a lot of great voices, but I preffer one "not that good tecnically" but unique, I mean, in power metal for example, there are a lot of good vocalist, but a lot too sound the same. Maybe Kai Hansen is not the best singuer ever, but I hear him and I can say, "It's Kai, It's Gamma".

Then the performance, maybe the vocalist is a born voice talent, but if he/she don't make a good show on stage, it doesn't mean metal for me.

Cheers!!

Written by Lucas on 27.09.2008 at 20:36

For me the most important thing is emotion, or feeling. I don't care what you do or how you do it, but how much emotion you can put into it. Take Attila Csihar on the Ordo Ad Chao album, he screams, growls, wails, howls, cries, anything you can think of. And it sounds amazingly awesome. Live, his performance was even weirder, squeakier, but again very very good.

Another vocalist that does a great job his Kvarforth, on the fourth and fifth album. Some people complain that on the last album he was screaming too much, but in my opinion he does an excellent job. He really rips his throat out.

In summary: I don't care what you do, as long as it sounds awesome.

For the most part, I'm with Lucas on this one! That and vocal range. I mean that in a way that I hope everyone understands. Not screaming and then doing high vocals (of course thats kinda included...). For example, I saw a band with Horna that played Burzum-esque kinda black metal. The problem is, singers like that STICK to the same stlye scream! Its just 'RRRRRRAAAAAAAAA.......RAAAAAA.........RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA' and nothing special.

An example of EXCELLENT singing is Kvarforth, he always brings an unusual thing of his own to life. He has a powerful voice and very captive moans. His voice is really one with the music!

To me, it's depth and the ability to raise and lower without dificulty.

Right now the two Vocalists I have in mind are Ensiferum's original vocalist Jari Maenpaa, and Septic Flesh's Spiros.
They have the ability to keep their vocals in rhythm with the music, and the layers of vocals they emit in a single voice is amazing. They most likely use some form of computer editing, but I'm just trying to express the sound.

Unique voice,he must be creative enough to put lyrics on best place in songs,good voice abilitys of course,and as example i will give james hetfield when it comes to attitude and energy.He must know how to make crowd go wild I probably miss some stuffs but this is for me main part .

Well I like vocalists that can sing both clean and harsh vocals and I prefer them with a long range. Well for me it depends on the genre, I have an ideal kind of voice for each genre and of course I take notice of the intensity of the emotions that he pours in his voice, so for a vocalist to be fully recognized I think he must sing to some good music if not, we cant fully appreciate thus cant comprehend truthfully the capabilities his voice. For example Attila Csihar and personnaly I like Neige (Amesoeurs, Alcest, Lantlos...) he sings both clean and harsh vocals.

Brutal or epic vocals.

Good lyrics as well

It doesn't matter if it's clean, harsh or whatever, for me the important thing about a vocalist is the feeling he puts into the lyrics to be able to truly express what they are saying. Like previous posts have said, it's about the feeling.

Outside the realm of death grunts and pitch shifted toilet vocals, I'm going to have to agree with everyone saying it's about the feeling. Kvarforth is one of the most emotive vocalists out there as far as I'm concerned, if not just for his work on Halmstad. The vocals of Neige on the Mortifera full length are some of my favorite also. They sound almost as pained as they are painful.

It is very hard, because there are so many area you could judge someone on. ie, what have or havn't they done before, have they tried? What style of music are they singing for?
I suppose the main fields I look at, although I must say there is nothing formal about this.
1 - Variation/Style (Need to know before you can put a singer into a character, because comparing say Bruce Dickinson too Chuck Billy or Chuck Schuldner would be completely stupid and pointles as they have nothing in common.
2 - Effort (Do they put 100% effort into everythign they do in their singing or do they slack off in areas, this is they big area where Tarja Turunan used to fall down for me a lot. Great voice, but seemingly very lazy.)
3 - Experimentation/Growth (How has the voice change or grown or altered over the years.
Beyond they areas it would then depend on the style as to what area I judge on. And I consider lyric very important from a singer.
Power/Heavys singer i judge - control, range, power, variation, emotive (How convincing they are in what they are singing)
Growlers - Power, control, variation, emotive, length (How well they can hold the growl)
Screamers - Control, variation, emotive (Vocal style is much less imortant that the music in these type of bands and I tend not to take as much notice.

I have same thought with Lucas dude, but I Want to STRESS that if I can ably feel the vocalist his own feeling then evidently, that is why I have my own DEFINITION about good vocalist-standard.

But I think what are the requirement for good vocalist from the Topic creator is too hard or en-perfectionization. I am not sure but MAYBE there is not a lot of such case. Some I would say to you if you like in case you WANT or Have a chance witness; vocalist of Swallow The Sun, and the one from The Fall Of Every Season.

Metal vocalists should first and foremost compliment the type of music and message the band is trying to portray....The vocals should be varied and become another instrument of some sorts. To me vocals is one of THE MOST important facets of any band and should put you right in the middle of what is being sung, hence, add to the emotion and atmosphere of the whole.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 27.09.2008 at 21:07

The vocals must suit the music in a perfect way.
And like some guys already said, The vocalist should put his soul into his vocals, that's all I need to enjoy their voices.

Thank you! I had no idea how I should put my thoughts into words about this. But you did it for me.

The main things I look (listen?) for in a vocalist are contrast and originality. You could be the most skilled singer in the world, but if you don't sound original who's going to care? A good example is Whiplasher from Deathstars. No one expects such a deep, powerful voice from such a little man.

Unique voice good, lyrical writing skills, good screams/growls, being able to do high and low pitch and overall good fronman;D

What defines a good vocalist also would be the ability to sound exactly like the vocalist you are taking place of...there are a numerous number of bands that did a great job hiring a vocalist that sounded exactly the same after some sudden event happened making the previous vocalist no longer available...

Unable to imitated... i was going to say bon scott...

Nattefrost > All

It depends on the genre/sub-genre of music though generally, good range of high and low, placement of vox within the music, some diversity to keep things interesting, lyrics, stage presence & performance, ideology and actions.

Recent favoured vocalists: Corvus, Erik Danielsson, Galge, Meyhnach and Vindkall.

For any vocalist of any genre, I'd say the two most important things are adaptability (being able to change the singing style from song to song according to what's necessary on different songs) and being able put his soul and emotions into the music. If the vocalist can do these two things, it will almost allways sound good.

The luck to be able to do (when growling-screaming) or to just have unique vocals is very important. for example imo the vocals of Mille Petrozza is one of the best examples ere. his screams especially in kreators first 5 albums are all awesome. he sounds total inhuman. also the good abillity and techniqe is important. it can make a not great voice or growls sound very good.

I enjoy a vocalist who has intensity and unpredictability. The original vocalist for Kataklysm, Sylvain Houde, is my favourite.

Written by Lawre on 05.02.2010 at 00:04

For any vocalist of any genre, I'd say the two most important things are adaptability (being able to change the singing style from song to song according to what's necessary on different songs) and being able put his soul and emotions into the music. If the vocalist can do these two things, it will almost allways sound good.

well, i'd like to call it "KNOWLEDGE" .. talent means nothing without knowing how to use it.

plus, the hot looking

power.