A good balance between character and power in the voice. Sometimes just having a lot of character in the voice is good enough, but it can be really annoying if they just plain suck at singing.

The best example of good character but not a lot of power is Ozzy. For me there isn't too many songs he sings where I say "Wow, he's an impressive singer". But he's just got that character in his voice which makes him awesome.

A vocalist needs to be versatile....thats one of the main reasons I dont listen to any brutal death because it just always sounds the same album in, album out and its severely tedious. A vocalist therefor needs to compliment the other instruments and add emotion to the music.

I agree with the original points said. One of my fave vocalists in metal is Hansi from Blind Guardian because his vocals ( to me anyways) are so different and versatile. Like I usually listen to bands mainly for the instruments but his vocals are just amazing.

I think the good vocalist should have ability to change her/his voice indifferent part of songs where it needs
unique voice is not really important for me
i know a lot of vocalist that have ordinary voice but they can sing very well

Depends really, vocal quality is genre dependant entirely for me. For most melodic metal, simply having a good voice is good enough to make a great vocalist, the likes of Tony Kakko, Jorn Lande, Hansi Kursch and Yama-B [Ex-Galneryus, excellent vocals] are simply great singers, are therefore great vocalists' of melodic metal.

But when it comes to extreme metal I think variety is the most important thing, good extreme vocalists like Vintersorg, Maenpaa and Ihsahn have a great vocal range and that's what makes them so great, so it's tough.

As long as the vocalist can properly fit the atmosphere of each specific song they perform, I consider them a good vocalist. A great vocalist is another story, but I don't have high standards for vocalists to be considered "good".

A good vocalist for me is one who can growl good but is still understandable 90% of the time.

The most important thing is that I can make out what the singer is singing. Not on the first listen of course. But if I can't make them out after listening to it multiple times and reading the lyrics at the same time, the singer sucks. Also there has to be some melody and diversity, if the singer sounds exactly the same in every song that's not good. It might not put me away completely, if he sounds good though. I also prefer high screams over low growling.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.02.2011 at 16:12

As long as the vocalist can properly fit the atmosphere of each specific song they perform, I consider them a good vocalist. A great vocalist is another story, but I don't have high standards for vocalists to be considered "good".

Totally agree with this. You can have all the vocal talent in the world, but if your style doesn't complement the music it doesn't matter - it won't work!

As for 'great' vocalists, they can nail a style that sounds exactly right for the music they're singing to. Of course, you could spend years changing a workable vocal style looking for something unique and end up sounding like a whiny teenager - I'm looking at you Anders Friden!

Can't reallt describe it but the vocal that I usally like are powerfull on every level of the scale the he use....exampel many power metal singers can do the high pitch scream very well, but you can hear that well up there he really doesn't have the power to stay there for very long....or the other way the singer sounds very weak and whiny when he sings normal, but when he start to do the high pitch singing he's got the power to stay there (Fabio Lione)
Perhaps someone can help me define it.

type of vocals i do like are similar to Daniel Heiman (Lost Horizon) and Jonny Lindkvist (Nocturnal Rites)

For me, a unique sounding voice that doesn't sound like anyone else. My example of this is Nils Patrick Johansson from Wuthering Heights. Some may argue that he sounds like Dio, which he does, to an extent, but he sounds much dirtier and it puts him in a category all his own.

Abra macabra, baby!

A good vocalist got to have a singular voice, his own style.
He must know too how to handle a song, the impact or feeling he can reach by that song.
And one thing is important, if you can't scream, or reach high tunes, don't do it.
Stay on your confortable zone, only go for what you can reach.
As i am a vocalist, i learned that the hard way.

For me its the ability to Scream and sing (example: Killswitch Engage)

Some vocalists i can say that can sing like any others, and are the top for me:

David DeFeis (Virgin Steele) - He manages to uses drives, and to do a light growl (if i can call that way), sing cleans, sing in falsetto, and etc. He's a full vocalist, and a great musician. He put all his soul to music.

Meat Loaf - One of the best non-metal vocalist, even if his band is very rock and roll, almost prog sometimes. He have a great range and a amazing sense of interpretation of the lyrics.

Jon Oliva (Savatage, Jon Oliva's Pain, Trans-siberian Orchestra) - Not the most tecnical, better saying, not tecnical, but very visceral. He can growl, he can scream, he can sing. Clean or harshing, he got the most unique voice in the metal universe. No one will ever sound like him.

Zak Stevens - Emotional, full of felling, and with a great versatility. From the agressive ways of Tauting cobras, to the emocional feeling in ANymore, he can do it all.

Freddie MErcury - The Master. No Ones can reach this man. He's the god of the vocalists.

Vintersorg - A man who growls and sings clean. Very deep voice, very nice ascent. Interpretation is very deep too.

People who have a distinctive voice, and who are versatile. But the main thing I think it needs to do is feel the music it is playing. Vocals are another instrument, and a lead instrument at that. If it's an angry, balls to the walls song, the vocals should be harsh, and energetic. If it's a sad song, the vocalist should be the one who feeds your depression, with their intense emotional conveyance.

My favourite vocalist would be Randy from Lamb of God i think he have a very unique voice.

I.C.S Vortex. End of story.

^ It's about what makes a great vocalist, not who your favorite vocalist is.

The name "Floor Jansen" defines a good vocalist above all. That means: power, range, ability to perform songs in any number of different genres (metal, rock, pop, prog etc.) and do it with grace and conviction and above all: passion. Even a very good vocalist can bore me out of my skull, if he/she lacks passion for the material he/she is performing. Also, accents can be fun

Written by [user id=105293] on 13.03.2011 at 21:59

The name "Floor Jansen" defines a good vocalist above all. That means: power, range, ability to perform songs in any number of different genres (metal, rock, pop, prog etc.) and do it with grace and conviction and above all: passion. Even a very good vocalist can bore me out of my skull, if he/she lacks passion for the material he/she is performing. Also, accents can be fun

Well said, even though I'm not a big fan of hers.

Hair and teeth. a good, proper front man needs to have the mane of Samson and teeth that are whiter-than-white.

Written by Xim on 16.02.2010 at 16:58

A good balance between character and power in the voice. Sometimes just having a lot of character in the voice is good enough, but it can be really annoying if they just plain suck at singing.

The best example of good character but not a lot of power is Ozzy. For me there isn't too many songs he sings where I say "Wow, he's an impressive singer". But he's just got that character in his voice which makes him awesome.

Very good example. Example of power: Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson

Written by [user id=1909] on 17.02.2010 at 00:25

A vocalist needs to be versatile....thats one of the main reasons I dont listen to any brutal death because it just always sounds the same album in, album out and its severely tedious. A vocalist therefor needs to compliment the other instruments and add emotion to the music.

Damn right...!

Written by [user id=100342] on 04.02.2011 at 20:56

A good vocalist for me is one who can growl good but is still understandable 90% of the time.

Hard to find specimens... --_--

Written by whatsacow on 18.02.2011 at 21:52

People who have a distinctive voice, and who are versatile. But the main thing I think it needs to do is feel the music it is playing. Vocals are another instrument, and a lead instrument at that. If it's an angry, balls to the walls song, the vocals should be harsh, and energetic. If it's a sad song, the vocalist should be the one who feeds your depression, with their intense emotional conveyance.

Agree...

A great delivery, if there is emotion in their voice it makes a huge difference. Also if you look at the singer's/vocalist's voice as another instrument instead of someone trying to sing it changes your perspective alittle bit.

I think as long as your not doing shitty death/metal core garbage most bands will have some variation in screams. I really like Makael Stanne vocals though, sometime I think the band puts too much emphis on him, opposed to their guitarist, drummer, etc.

Karl Sanders/Dallas Toller-Wade have demonstrated extremely deep and awesome vocals as well.

THe original post pretty much sums it up. Everyone body is different (in terms of shape size, etc. Obviously we all have the same bells and whistles) which sometime's can have an effect. But I find tone come from how you shape your mouth and lips sometimes. When I scream in terms octaves, it's about midrange (Tenor I think...) So it's hard for me to get really deep, or do some crazy high pitched screams.

I could really care less what they sound like, as long as they aren't pig squealing to one noted breakdowns. :/

To put it simply: you have to be Jens Carlsson. ^^

But seriously, I think first of all, a good vocalist has to hit all the right notes (duh) and keep his singing from becomming boring. The most obvious way of achieving the latter is probably variety. Variety can be achieved in many way: mixing growls and clean vocals (Jens Carlsson), using much more than the basic two octaves every singer should be capable of reaching (Hansi Kürsch) or simply being weird sometimes (Ilja Jalkanen) are just some possibilities. Also, some really high pitched vocals (Lance King) and extraordinarily well-sung clean lines (Roy Khan) are alway nice. ^^

A real singer, vibrato, range, projection. Roy Khan, Midnight, Urban Breed.

Calling Hansi's straining falsetto ridiculous range is.......a stretch.

haha that aside I must disagree, I'd much rather hear a singer who can actually sing. I love death metal but often the vocals are in the child's play range as far as ease goes. There's really nothing unique about vocal aggression, nearly every singer can do that. Metal has a sound, it's not just an emotion.