Well this thread come into my mind after i have find up this female fronted band - Gretchen .
And yes girls do rock. I, myself , is a great fan of all female fronted bands especial cause i prefer the melodic metal and most are female fronted bands. But also other metal types , girls do thier outmost to perform well. So what do you think?

I know several all girl metal bands and they all kick ass big time they are all very talented

I have a lot of friends (including female friends) who think that women can't make metal...
they think that metal is just for guys, that women only like gothic metal and we just love handsome guys and pretty girls, and we don't know anything about music... In the other hand they say that women in a metal band just sing and... well, they are the "face" of the band... My ex say that he haven't hear one female guitar player that beats a male...
But what the fuck!!! As far as I know, there are a lot of girls who likes Black metal, Heavy metal, Power, Death... well, not just Gothic... and about woman in a band... I have a lot of good examples:

Angela Gossow. She is not just a pretty girl, she sing in a different way, not the operatic voice... she is so aggressive, but she still being a woman.
Female guitar.. I know Samantha Escarbe, the guitar of Virgin Black...
Female bands, not female fronted bands I know the Iron Maidens, a tribute band... And Astarte, Kittie...

to be honest, i dont think that girls can play metal. well... not sing it anyway. coz i plainly dont like the bright voices that women have. but i mean, if a girl could sound like a guy, then fine... but playing instruments, i dont think that there is anything that separates man and woman in an obvious way. its not like its in the mens' genes to be better in playing for example guitar...

Bullshit! Women can sing, play, rock all the way and even do it better than men!
I used to be a huge fan of fmeale fronted bands and I can list a huge number of females who can rock!
And what up with the ''bright'' voices? Why couln't women growl? You have, as Aloqua already said Angelo Gossow and Cadaverio, there is more of them out there who can growl, Even I was doing growls in a band couple of months back and I would still do it if it hasn't been for the circumstances that made me leave the band.

As for playing - you can go over the MS band base and check it out how many females are not just the frontwomen, but also musicians. Or take for example Kittie who are all-girl band (bash me for this, but I love them!).

It's kinda stereotypical that metal is male domain.... I mean, yes, it's true that there aren't nearly as much women in metal and rock music as men and even if you look at fans, there are more males that love metal than women, but goddamnit, that is no reason to discriminate women in metal music! Ag!

its not a matter of "girls not being able to rock", its a matter of girls in metal falling into their usual role as the groupie or the eye candy rather than as a serious musician.

i don't discriminate against women in metal though ill inevitably be labelled as sexist for this post. im just making an observation. i have respect gallhammer and astarte though they do still try to exploit the fact that they are female

I can't stand most female fronted bands,Not my cup of tea,but i have many friends who are girls who can rock!! .women can play the guitar as good as men can,sing as good as men can (if not better),and just plain rock as good as men can,but like i said,female METAL bands arent my cup of tea.

There's no reason why girls can't play a significant role in metal. The simple fact is that because the proportions of the gender split in metal favour guys, there are fewer females in metal to begin with. Look at the proportions of this forum-there are significantly more males than females. And the role of the female in a metal band traditionally falls into the part of female vocals, due to the naturally higher pitch of the female voice-it makes a good counterpoint to harsh male vocals. There are few women who can growl effectively, because for the large part most women have voices that are too high pitched to be used effectively in death growls. Obviously, there are exceptions-Karen Crisis and Angela Gossow are two that come to mind. But because there is a poor representation of women as anything other than clean vocalists, many believe that that is their limit.

OK, just like my friends! Just because there are a lot of female fronted bands it doesn't mean that all the woman sing in this "operatic" style... There are a lot of woman who sing LIKE A WOMAN (why should girls sing like a male?) and have powerful voices. In the same way that there are a lot of woman who sing like a male. But well, why don't you take a look to other metal style. For another example:
-Kimberly Goss from Sinergy. she is not into this stereotype "beautiful face, operatic voice..." That woman ROCKS (even if I hate her I have to admit she is unique)
-Doro Pesch... Don't forget this one!

tommy tee There you got a point! But again that is some girls, not ALL girls... About the groupie, that is true, a lot of woman do that, but also a lot of males... Like some guys who say I like NIghtwish or Lacuna Coil just because the have this gorgeous woman, but what they can do if the are beautiful, is not their fault to be like that but the have a good VOICE too... and then some people, not just woman, forget the music...

I don't think that metal is a male-only domain, but it's defentely dominated by males... and not because men are better, they just tend to be involved in this more... and trough is i have never seen a girl that really can play the guitar! I mean with the solos and everything... just riffing from my point of veiw is basicly nothing... you can learn to riff in a few months if you really want it... otherwise I like to see girls in metal... like Cristina Scabia from Lacuna Coil - great voice, much better than her male counter part in the band... also i like bands fronted by a growling lady like Arch Enemy, Otep and Kittie... but trough is that this is a very rare thing...

anyway, I think sexism is pretty lame and it is lame also when it's the other way around and girls go all beating thier chests how many good metal musicialns are female... the correct answer is very few and that's the fact... just boys are obviously more interested in doing it and do it more often or try harder... that's it

Well, As to where the male to female ratio of talented musicians is greatly imbalanced in the males favor, I still believe that A woman Can be one kick ass Rocker. Just look at angela Gossow.
but in that same context, not all female musicians do kick ass, just look at kitty, but male musicians can suck just as badly, look at slipknot or korn.
most of the time when a band is female fronted, it's generally overated and blown out of proportion, you shouldn't asume just because they're a woman that they're good musicians, they should be thought of like any man, think of them by the caliber of their musicianship. not their gender.

There is an album that came out recently called "Liquor & Poker- Girls Got Rythm"... (get it??) hahah funny name... but the album is purely female bands doing tributes to hard rockin and smoe metal songs.. Like the aforementioned Iron Maidens, Foxey Lady, Cheap Chick, ThundHERstruck, Hells Belles, Ms.Fits, Zepparella, and The Ramonas. I think Women can rock, just not as hard or agressive as males.. Ladies, I love em, but they just can't make music as heavy as guys..

Why? what the hell is different in women? why don't you think we can be really aggressive, hard, that we can ROCK??? is there something that make women disable to play metal? or to enjoy hard music?

Written by [user id=5217] on 13.08.2006 at 01:13

Why? what the hell is different in women? why don't you think we can be really aggressive, hard, that we can ROCK??? is there something that make women disable to play metal? or to enjoy hard music?

I agree with you 100%

Written by [user id=15104] on 12.08.2006 at 12:22

to be honest, i dont think that girls can play metal. well... not sing it anyway. coz i plainly dont like the bright voices that women have. but i mean, if a girl could sound like a guy, then fine... but playing instruments, i dont think that there is anything that separates man and woman in an obvious way. its not like its in the mens' genes to be better in playing for example guitar...

Man, If you wanna hear a female voacalist that sounds like a dude, Just listen to Arch Enemy, Angela Gossow has by no means a "Bright Voice", and She's fuckin' hot!

the only girl in the topic is getting offended... bad!

anyway, girls can rock as hard as anybody else... for me Algella Gossow and Critina Scabia are proof enough... and I think nobody should recieve less or MORE respect for what they can just beacuse of thier gender... and I don't think that it's difficult for girls to make it in metal... I think it's actually easier cause they stand out from the pack...
Still, I think the tribute shit is crap... I think tribute bands do not deserve no fame at all, because of thier lack of creativity and seeing them make it, just becuase they are girls is pissing me off a bit, cause it's not right... as Arian Totalis said, we should judge them by the musicanship, no the gender... and being in a tribute band, you're not doing anything interseting muscially...

So bottomline for me: girls CAN rock, but it rarely happens... and I think it's the choice of the girls...

i can't fuckin' believe some sexism i have seen in this forum, how is it possible to believe that women can't sing or play or do metal... of course they are fully enabled to do it, and they rock the shit when they do it, take Angela Gossow for example or Sonya Scarlet and you'll see... so i cant't believe that in 21st century there's still people that believe that females aren't capable of doing some things... uugh makes me sick

i want to further explain what i mean: i do believe that girls can play metal. i do believe that they can sing too... its just that i dont like bright voices. but i mean, the singer in arch enemy, she's a real badass, really cool. although, i dont like arch enemy's music, but the singer deserves my respect. and im not saying that u HAVE to growl just because ur playing metal. for example the former singer in nightwish did a great job. she's a great singer, but i just dont like the bright voices.

i mean, its a matter of taste. some people like power metal some dont. some prefer coca cola instead of fanta. i dont want to be called a sexist just for preferring one thing before another.

marinBG Ok, sorry, I feel insulted in some way because I hate when people talk about woman like we are something completely different (and most of the times weak or something like that) than males but well i must respect other opinions...
About what you say, the tribute was the first thing that comes to my mind and i like them but is true what you say about the lack of creativity... but they IMO they still really good!
And well, at least someone think that if we are talking about music we should talk about musicians, not about female and males...
And the last thing is THE truth.

Well, I think girl not only can, but MUST rock. And those ones who actually do it are great: like Tarja Turunen, Christina Scabbia, and no one has mentioned Elisa Canderas Martín, one of the greatest power metal singers alive. She has built some great bands like Dark Moor and Fairyland, and her voice slams.

Women who make metal have my admiration and respect, because most times they do it better than men, also, is good for bands to have someone who actually looks good with long hair Sorry, only joking. Anyway, any man who says that girls can't rock and ca't do metal deserves to be raped by a crazy goat and then be catapulted to a well of shit, because girls DO rock, and in most times, better than men.

Written by [user id=5217] on 13.08.2006 at 17:32
And well, at least someone think that if we are talking about music we should talk about musicians, not about female and males...
And the last thing is THE truth.

agreed

btw, Reinhardt, easy with the raping stuff

of course girls can rock:P.. they also have there long hair with them:p.. great headbanging XD.. Tarja was certainly a good rocker:p.. dont know what she is doing now.. I thought she want to become a opera vocalist or anything:P

Written by -tom- on 12.08.2006 at 13:10

its not a matter of "girls not being able to rock", its a matter of girls in metal falling into their usual role as the groupie or the eye candy rather than as a serious musician.

i don't discriminate against women in metal though ill inevitably be labelled as sexist for this post. im just making an observation. i have respect gallhammer and astarte though they do still try to exploit the fact that they are female

Well said.

I do think Achor had a point though. Women may not be able to produce such a deep sounding growl as males do. Angela Gossow seems to be the running example, but I don't even like her that much as a vocallist. She does have more of a higher pitched growl. I don't think that women don't have a place in metal or anything, it's just that they are sometimes seen as the 'singing pair of tits' and like tommy said "...they do still try to exploit the fact that they are female".

Bolt Thrower has a female bassist and Novembers Doom used to have one too. And there are of course the all female metal bands like Astarte. I do wish I could see a rise of females playing all kinds of instruments in all sorts of metal subgenres. Of course they exist but they're not in abundance.

Anyhow, to an extent, I agree with the conflicting views here. Some women in metal bands seem more interested in selling their image than their music. What really annoys me is when an album cover depicts just the female vocalist and no other members at all. How many face of men do you see on album covers, not band photos, but one particular guy (solo projects/bands immediately excluded)? The percentages differ greatly. And I don't like it when bands seem to have a female singer just for the sake of having a female singer. I know a couple of local bands that put a female singer in the band because one of the members are dating her or something.

On the other hand, women in metal CAN sing/growl/scream (maybe not all though) and some in my opinion are greater than various male counterparts, it's just a matter of whether you like it or not. It's not sexist to say you don't like it either. That's objective and perfectly fine.

The whole topic of female fans -- that's an interesting one. People always get surprised when they learn the tip of the iceberg of my metal knowledge whereas males don't get the same treatment. As a girl, they assume you know less for some reason abou various bands. One guy bought me a beer at a gig once because I was a girl who was actually there for the band rather than accompanying a boyfriend. It's still pretty amusing to watch people's surpised looks.

Well , a female is always a female. I mean it is thier natural act to be like a "show body ". Most singers in a female fronted metal band are awesome for the eyes but it is not the case. In metal , most important are the bands' sound and not the imageof a member.

ABout the growl , i think that in this case female voicalist is under a male voicalist. No women produce a growl like a man do . It is not a dicrimination against them but facts is a facts

The reason why I don't like girls in metal, is that, you allways have to find out, that they are GIRLS. I mean they make a big deal out of it. They should not. Music should not now gender. But it does. At least the fans are so exited to like a 'female band'.

Opera IX was the band where the focus was not on the sex of Cadaveria, as she had an awsome voice, and that was all that mattered. TO bad other bands don't think the same.

I like the swedish girl band Crucified Barbara which opened up for Sepultura and In Flames some months ago, they were pretty good but their drums were embarrasing since they had a minimal drum set right next to Roy Mayorgas gigantic drums! Then I of course love Nightwish and Arch Enemy but it feels pretty lame to mention those bands.

I don't mind girl metal bands, as long as they're good, but I don't know any good of them.
All I know is I can't stand the female vocal in metal (Tarja in Nigtwish for example, Lacuna Coil..).. Except the Arch Enemy of course, but it doesn't heard like a tipical female voice.
I think metal always was and always will be leaded by males, and I have no suggestions on that..

Some men in metal are even a lot more dramatic than women in metal, I don't see Tristessa throwing a fit every 10 seconds like a certain power metal singer *cough*Kotipelto*cough
anyway, that was a bit off topic, please continue...

The best Females in the Metal world (IMO) are the chicks from Zeenon - a Death Metal band from Norway.
All members, except for their drummer; are females.

Vocals: Linn Pedersen
Guitar: Linda Aurland
Bass: Elin Henden

They totally kick ass! I mean seriously.... they rule.


And Olivia Scemama; the new bassist from Aborted.... she is so god damn amazing.

And not that I like Arch Enemy; but Angela - the vocalist; she can growl like crazy.