Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Lazy_McDoesnothing on April 17, 2008, 08:58:34 PM
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I need some help with a new project I'm working on. The basic description would be a metal sounding band but with singing instead of constant unintelligable grunts, screams, pig squeels etc. I'm not talking about Judas Preist style high pitched warbling power metally sounding singing either. It's more along the lines of Maynard from Tool. Everyone in our band likes metal but the usual "vocals" are too much sometimes. Our singer can scream and probably will at certain points of songs but not all the time. Or I might do the some of the "cookie monster" stuff while he sings. We're going to be playing something like a mix of Metallica, Pantera, Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying, and Unearth.
Is there anything out there like I'm describing? If there is could some of you list them to get a better idea of where to go with this? Is this "Metal Heresy"?
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There's all sorts.
Screams and grunts seem to be going out of fashion anyway and most bands that employ it will inter space it with singing nowadays, even Opeth and they started off as a death metal group for crying out loud.
EDIT: Check out some more progressive bands as they are more often than not with real singers and can be as heavy as you like.
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Eidolon are a good band that don't scream or grunt but have very heavy riffs.
Outworld. New Outworld though, as the most recent singer was less 'Halfordy''
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Well, there are many epic metal bands I like; you should listen to these: Falconer, Sirenia, Sonata Arctica, Nevermore, Queensryche, Dream Evil, etc. :shock: Definitely listen to The Book of Heavy Metal by Dream Evil, and also Avantasia.
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This is exactly what the music i listen to tends to nowadays.
Check out periphery: http://www.myspace.com/periphery
and this smallish band called proceed who you may not like but it's metal with some beautiful singing: http://www.myspace.com/proceed
tbh looking at your description you may not like them. they're just two bands im really into at the moment. theres loads of bands you could check out. but generally what you described tends to be classed as something other than metal. but yeah proper metal guitars + drums + bass with an awesome singer who can actually sing (and not the warbling type lol) is where it's at...
Good luck with your band's direction. I'd be interested to hear some of your stuff.
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Thanks for the replies, keep 'em coming. I'm in the process of downloading everything mentioned to give an honest listen. Our main intention is for there to be singing on top of the heavy riffs mostly and have some screams once in a while. It seems a lot of bands stick to screaming over the heavy parts but when it's time to sing and mellow it out the rest of the band does the same. So it's heavy vocals+heavy music and singing vocals+mellow music. We want singing vocals+heavy music to be our main focus and still use parts with the normal heavy+heavy and singing+mellow since it does bring a nice contrast, just not as often.
I've just recently gotten into Periphery from watching Nolly's video cover. They're awesome and Bulb is the sh!t!
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God I love periphery.
Sikth are the ONE if you want to listen to good metal vocal stylings.
They're so styalised it can be nautious for a new listener.
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I've just recently gotten into Periphery from watching Nolly's video cover. They're awesome and Bulb is the sh!t!
Thats awesome :) Periphery rock very hard, and Casey is a fantastic vocalist.
Unfortunately there isn't too much of a precedent to follow, as far as heavy, technical bands with predominantly clean vocals is concerned, but that's a good thing in my eyes, certainly far better than copying other bands.
Protest the Hero have clean vocals for the most part, and it works amazingly. The singer has an incredible range, and one of the guitarists does occasional low screams, so their music pretty much runs the whole gamut as far as vocal styles go. Definitely check them out if you haven't already.
SikTh have some incredible clean singing parts, with some very very well thought out harmonies and rhythms. If there is one band everyone needs to listen to on a regular basis, it's these guys. The brilliant songwriting, combined with incredible musicianship and an entirely unique sound makes them my all-time favourite band.
Textures are an amazing band that not many people seem to have heard about. The singer has a great clean voice, and also does the whole range of other metal vocal styles. He was pitch-perfect when I saw them live last weekend as well.
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There are alot of metal bands with clean vocals.
All power metal, alot of Prog like Dream Theatre/Theater (can never remember).
And then there's the angry sort of "crunch" voice, meshuggah, machine head, etc.
Then there's the good harmonic screaming - In Flames.
And then the nauseating pulsating deep growl - Most black metal.
Then there's just awesome screaming from amazing bands like Dillinger.
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Metal's going back to a less screamy trend? yay i can like it again :D
I can't stand screamy shite.
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i don't think metal is definined the style of singing, its more about the special musicality of the guitar parts... power chords, minor key, blues roots, use of diminished intervals, rhythmic use of palm mutes, heavy overdrive. for me thats the metal forumula, you don't need double kicks or an intense singing style.
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you don't need double kicks or an intense singing style.
agreed.
its just that most bands starting out who want to be "metal" seem to think thats all that's needed. this band local to me had the poorest singer (he couldn't sing). and their drummer couldn't do anything with his hands. he struggled to hold a beat. but he was mega fast on a double bass pedal. so they had this guy growling in the worst way with this dominating horrible sounding kick drum and some fuzz (not in a fuzz pedal way. in a badly tweaked scooped marshall mg distortion way. the guy used the emulated out on the amp). and it was just horrible. i hear many bands that sound like that though.
real singing is where the pleasure is for me. some metal with screaming, while often musically good is just tiring and hard work to listen to.
and what i love about sikth is that the music just makes me grin and nod my head everytime i listen to it. its just fun music. awesome band.
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The thing is though, you can't tell anyone to be like Sikth - Because although its depressing to think it, I seriously doubt anyone other than them can pull it off.
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The thing is though, you can't tell anyone to be like Sikth - Because although its depressing to think it, I seriously doubt anyone other than them can pull it off.
the same is true of any musician or band though. everyones personaility is different :)
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The thing is though, you can't tell anyone to be like Sikth - Because although its depressing to think it, I seriously doubt anyone other than them can pull it off.
the same is true of any musician or band though. everyones personaility is different :)
Evidently that's not quite true - Loads of bands have ridden to fame on sounds directly copied from others.
Not saying it's a bad thing at all - Just saying I doubt the same could be done of Sikth.
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Evidently that's not quite true - Loads of bands have ridden to fame on sounds directly copied from others.
Not saying it's a bad thing at all - Just saying I doubt the same could be done of Sikth.
Maybe we meant something different. Of course one can take some ideas or try to play in the style of someone else, or even play someone elses songs, but the attitude and feeling is something you can't copy... Well, at least in my opinion.
Of course I talk about passionate music here...
(btw - i think Sikth are pretty cool :) )
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Evidently that's not quite true - Loads of bands have ridden to fame on sounds directly copied from others.
Not saying it's a bad thing at all - Just saying I doubt the same could be done of Sikth.
Maybe we meant something different. Of course one can take some ideas or try to play in the style of someone else, or even play someone elses songs, but the attitude and feeling is something you can't copy... Well, at least in my opinion.
Of course I talk about passionate music here...
(btw - i think Sikth are pretty cool :) )
100% agree, no cover will ever be quite the same to the original, and no band will be quite the same to another.
Personality is definitely a part of it.
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Sikth took a lot from experimental bands from the late '60s such as King Crimson, Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and updated it to a darker, more modern sound.
They are no more difficult to copy than any other band if you take this attitude. The only thing that sets them apart is their musicianship and their twin-vocal call and response songwriting.
For example have one player drone an augmented fourth and the other noodling in the whole-tone scale and then swap the two around.
This is very much the signature atonal sound of the band and is not difficult to achieve.
The timings and tempo are another matter though.
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Nevermore popped into my head as soon as I saw the thread title.
Still there. Capital - M Metal, with singing.
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id say in flames would be a good bet. if your into more "fashionable" hardcore theres a semi decent band called drop dead gorgeous who use singing and screaming, althugh the screaming is pants. As i lay dying seem to be using mroe and more singing too, which is just boss IMO. Even black label society are basically metal with singing if you think about it.
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just to mention, for all you periphery lovers, theres a new minute long demo of insomnia with casey's vox on it. he manages to find such good vocal lines over the music. ahhh i want them to sort an album. (not rush it though obviously)
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just to mention, for all you periphery lovers, theres a new minute long demo of insomnia with casey's vox on it. he manages to find such good vocal lines over the music. ahhh i want them to sort an album. (not rush it though obviously)
I noticed it yesterday.
Seems good - Would love to hear a verse.
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Wouldn't Mastodon count for such a thing?
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Black Sabbath :P
Opeth have a load of clean singing mixed in with the growly stuff. Sounds great when they do it.
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Iced Earth
What Metal is suposed to be.
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Wouldn't Mastodon count for such a thing?
newer mastodon, yeh kinda. Pre blood mountain is pretty much all screaming/grunts besides the odd track
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Bruce Dickinson is one of the greatest singers of all time, surely you knwo Maiden? :o
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Thanks for the suggestions guys, you've all done me a solid. I'm still making my way through all the downloads but I'll comment on what I've heard so far.
Protest The Hero - I'm liking there sound a lot although the singer does get a little high and slightly emo if you would call it that but still a good range. Good band and I like what they're doing.
Sikth - Good sh!t, definitely out of the box. Moreso than we're aiming for but they're going to stay on my playlist for a while.
Nevermore - Yes! Closest yet of what we're trying to get at. Our singer has a different style but this is still getting there. AND I'm expecting my new 7-string next week. :twisted:
Mastodon - Of the tracks I found with clean singing it was pretty good. I dig it.
Queensryche - Too 80's sounding(even their 90's stuff). We're after more of a modern sound.
Iron Maiden - Yes I know them. Epic or Power Metally sound isn't for us.
Iced Earth - Same kind of thing as Maiden vocally. Great playing though.
The rest was either too Epic or Power Metal sounding or didn't have enough clean singing over heavy parts that I could find. Keep in mind I'm not saying these bands are bad, in fact I still like them musically it's just not the vocal style we're going for. Also, even if it's not our style it still helps to hear examples of what could be done. I'm going to show this all to our singer and make him sing over some of these songs even if it's just humming or whatever.
I've listened to a lot of these bands before, it's just that when I'm looking for something specific I can never find it or forget where I heard it. :crzy:
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Nevermore - Yes! Closest yet of what we're trying to get at. Our singer has a different style but this is still getting there. AND I'm expecting my new 7-string next week. :twisted:
Go you!
More info on the 7 please.
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It's an Ibanez RG7621M-BOL(mahogany body with black oil finish). Apparently one of 12 made in 1999 with a certificate of authenticity. I got it for an opening bid of 400USD which was my limit being my first 7. I would have preferred the 7620M-BOL with the Edge7 instead of the fixed7 but I couldn't pass this up.
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You could get a shaller/kahler conversion without too much bother if you were desperate for a trem.
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Superjoint ritual?
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Just thinking of some cool singers in a metal band after reading this, i thought of Exit Ten, they aint really that metal but it gets less metal when singers start singing.
Also Mahumodo comes to mind as you said tool. They arent that similar but the are EPIC