I saw this thread in another forum and decided to copy it:

Improvements: Glen Benton and Mike from Opeth - both have a much lower growl than at first... I hate generic raspy growls. Others for me are Jonas from Katatonia, Attila Csihar, the current Kataklysm vocalist got a little stronger but still isn't that great, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. from Anaal Nathrakh because of experimentation

Declines: Chino from Deftones can't scream anymore, Ozzy of course, James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Ihsahn's harsh growls are weaker, Pest (Gorgoroth), Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder can't scream high that well anymore, Kvaforth (Shining), Chuck Schuldiner because he sounds fucking weird after the first few albums

Let me guess, you saw this at Metal Archives?

Anyways, I immediately have to name Peter Wiwczarek of Vader. When Vader was still a young band, I think his growls were simply awful. Really, they simply sucked. But over time they have improved. He's now a pretty good death metal vocalist, but on those first couple Vader albums....ugh.

Hmm, Johan Hegg from Amon Amarth, his growls have become more focused and gurgly than on the first album, just check out the songs "Victorious March" and then "Varyags of Miklagaard", the first lyrics of each track are enough.

now this is mostly about taste, but i think Rob Halford's vocals have improved dramatically over the years, especially in his solo project years. also Dio has a much rougher epic voice than in the 70s. every time he goes "mrrhmhmmm" it sounds like liquid orgasm to me.


as for declines, i fully agree on Phil Anselmo, that guy was so gifted, for 3-4 years he was the best metal vocalist of his day, but instead of preserving his voice he destroyed himself with cocaine and alcohol and whatnot. of all the declining vocalists his story is the saddest imo. now his incredibly low-pitched voice makes me lol, he who did stuff like the "Gaaaaaatees" scream in Cemetery Gates.

other declines: Brian Johnson - brilliant frontman but sadly he can't do those high pitched yells he used to do, same with Ian Gillan and Geoff Tate.

Danzig is one of the most obvious examples of vocal decline for me. The man should really stop singing, he sounds terrible nowadays.

George is still great in C.C., but he is out of place on Paths Of Possession.
And the flood of female vocalist needs to stop, unless we get a few more like Angela Gossow

Like Valentin said, J. Hegg has improved and his voice is even better now. Another improvement would be Tony Kakko, specially live. And I guess the most evident decline would be Laiho, though he wasn't THAT great, but his voice is totally crap now. And vocalists from classic bands obviously decline, but come on, no matter who you are age will catch up on you.

Written by jupitreas on 28.12.2009 at 13:33

Danzig is one of the most obvious examples of vocal decline for me. The man should really stop singing, he sounds terrible nowadays.

Yeah, it's kind of sad when a parody of him sounds better than his actual singing

One vocalist I think has really improved is Lee Dorian from Cathedral, he now sounds a bit raspier, I think that's a lot better.

The most evident decline, to me, is Corey Taylor. In the self-titled and even IOWA, his screams were real, cut-throating, and even complemented with the ''hip-hop'' clean vocals. Now scream sounds like too much of a suffering to him. Lots of studio aid to improove the power in his voice, even in the clean vocals. Most decadent vocalist.

Vintersorg is another one who has lots of problems with rough screams nowdays. John Edlund from Tiamat simply abandoned his original vocal style in order to almost ''speak'' through the music in the latest albums.

Attila Csihar looks like an improvement. In all of his works after Aborym (and as guest musician in lots of bands) his voice sound better than in the Mayhem early albums.

I have two persons which I'd like to mention: James Hetfield's voice sounds really bad live, I have no idea what the hell happened. From the other side there's Mikael Akerfeldt who growl for years and his voice haven't declined a bit and even got improved, he surely got me impressed live.
It's really strange because Hetfield haven't seem to stress his voice out through the years, so it came to me kinda as a surprise.