So SpectreNectar made a blog about some Canadian (if that stupid word filter is still on, then eskimo = "cana dian" and "that cold place" = "cana da") bands, and I'm now inspired to write a blog about music. Specifically, metal bands with female vocalists, who scream. I absolutely love it, and I thought I'd share a list.
This is far from a "complete" list, but these are some good ones that I happen to have. I'm not a huge fan of girls just singing (or any metal with clean vocals, really), so it's a pretty small list. I'll list them first, and then give a sample of one of their songs. I won't really go into the history of the band or anything though. Lastly, I should clarify that half of these aren't really all that metal, but c'mon…It's a girl screaming…That makes up for the way the music is played.(Band - Singer)Arch Enemy - Angela GossowIwrestledabearonce - Krysta CameronOtep - Otep ShamayaCerebral Bore - Simone "Som" PlujimersCircle the Sky - AshKittie - Morgan LanderStraight Line Stitch - Alexis BrownThe Agonist - Alissa White-GluzWalls of Jericho - Candace KucsulainOrphan Hate - Sina NiklasHoly Moses - Sabina ClassenPicture me Broken - Layla Brooklyn AlmanEths - Candice ClotAstarte - Maria "Tristessa" KolokouriLight This City - Laura NicholCadaveria - Cadaveria (that's the name she goes by)cmkin29 - Kin LinArch EnemyWhen you think "female screaming", this is probably the first band you would think of. Definately the most commonly cited band for this sort of thing. Nemesis:IwrestledabearonceThe band has a sense of humour, but it's got a lot of clean vocals, and electronic stuff, which I'm not too fond of. It's definately one of those "not quite metal" bands, but it's still pretty good.You know that ain't them dogs' real voices:OtepOtep is one of the few nu metal bands that I really like (death to most nu metal! *shakes fist*). Her albums feature really heavy songs, some softer songs, and even some spoken word "poetry" (stories about murder and brutality, basically). About a third of her lyrics are really good too, talking about abuse and stuff. She has a really good vocal range to top it all off - throaty raspy screams, shrieks, growls, whispers, clean vocals…Fists Fall:Cerebral BoreThis is a pretty new band (well, they're actually almost 7 years old, but they only got the vocalist, and released their debute album, in 2011), featuring "Som" on vocals. She was around on youtube (her channel. You'll have to go back maybe 20 videos to get to her older stuff) doing awesome vocal covers of Dying Fetus and stuff before she joined the band. Most of the other bands I mentioned are on the cleaner side of metal, but Som is much more on the grind/death side of metal, with really deep and throaty (exhale?) screams, and even does pig squeals. And on top of it all, she was only 19 when she did the album (and was doing the youtube stuff before that). Speaking of youtube, there's another awesome youtube channel singer down below.The Bald Cadaver (she does some pig squeals from 1:23 and 1:29):Circle the SkySpeaking of young, Circle the Sky is an Australian band (a lot of good metalcore stuff comes from Australia too. Spectre was on a Canadian kick, or something…He should look at Australia next), with a 16 year old singer. "The band emerged in 2006, shocking crowds by the petite young lady producing brutal vocals". And they are pretty brutal.Shark Etiquette:KittieThis (all girl) Canadian band was probably the first band with a female screamer that I had ever heard. She's got a good scream (raspy), but sadly she does a lot of clean vocals, so I don't listen to them too much.Cut Throat:Straight Line StitchA female screamer is pretty rare, and a black one is even rarer! A little Asian girl is probably the rarest (further down)Black Veil:The AgonistAnother Canadian bandThank You Pain:Walls of JerichoA Trigger Full of Promises:Orphan HateWhen she's not doing her clean vocals, she has a really good, deep, growls.This Child (skip to 0:43 to start the screaming)Holy MosesAlright, so I've only been alive for about 2/3s or how long this band has been alive. It was one of the first German thrash metal bands, and definately one of the first female fronted metal bands.World Chaos (live):Picture me BrokenI found out today that one of their songs is on Rock Band (DLC). My RB drum set is destroyed, so when I either get my Rold drum kit setup to play Rockband, or I buy a new kit, I definately have to buy it. I'm going to put that video on here to remind myself to buy it. It doesn't really showcase her screams until after the break down (you can skip to 2:30, then she goes between clean vocals, and screams)Dearest (I'm So Sorry):EthsA French metal band. The Agonist is from Montreal (in the Canadian province of Quebec, which is French), but Eths is French vocals, from France, and it is absolutely awesome.Crucif´reAstarteAn all female black metal band. Pretty awesome, eh SpectreNectar?Black Mighty GodsLight This CityI only recently found this band, so I haven't had much time to listen to them, but I love them so far.The Unwelcome SaviorCadaveriaThis is actually a pretty weak band to end on. Her "scream" is really more of a yell for the most part. This is also a band I just started listening to, and I haven't really found any songs that stand out yet in my casual listening to them. I'm not really a fan of Symphonic metal (there's never enough power and speed coming from the drums. T_T), and this band is just on the verge of being too symphonic for me.The Dream (skip to 2:15 for her "yelling")cmkin29Alright, this isn't a band, but if you head over to cmkin29's youtube channel, you can see this little Korean girl (I'm sure there's tons of Japanese girls who can do this too…'Cause Japan's weird like that) belting out covers from absolutely amazing singers/bands. From Lamb of God and Arch Enemy, to The Black Dahlia Murder and Job for a Cowboy.There's quite a few really good female vocalists on youtube, but I thought she was pretty cool.Cover of "Entombment of a Machine" by "Job For a Cowboy"And that's that. If there's other bands you know of, let me know, 'cause I love this. If you want more information, or other songs (or albums) to "get into" one of these bands, let me know.
LAR: Just click them, it's beautiful. =D
Spectre: Otep is probably the one I've listened to the most from this list. She's got a fairly large catalogue, and most of them are good songs.For Australian stuff, I'm drawing a blank (and I'm at work, so I can't really do much looking-up), and the only two I remember are I Killed the Prom Queen, and Parkway Drive (they actually did a split together).I like a lot of young bands too, but sadly Circle the Sky broke up.I'm at work right now, but I'll watch those youtube vids when I get home. =DAnd yes, I must use the phrase "get into". Angela from Arch Enemy really does scare me, but most of the others are pretty cute. ;)I was lacking this "woman metal insight" as well, until a few months ago. I stumbled across a list of "top 5 female fronted metal", and at first I assumed it was clean vocal stuff, like Nightwish, but then Cerebral Bore was on the list (and I listened to it), and it sent me on a hunt to find more that night.Leemcd: YES! I LOVE THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE! (And they're Canadian). I love it when her vocals go dark. Most other bands where the girl does that sort of thing, are otherwise awful to listen to, but TBM is good all around, even with the clean vocals and synths. And it doesn't hurt that her clean vocals are often sung in an almost "little girl voice", about dark stuff. (Like in the actual song "The Birthday Massacre" and "Lovers End")Juju: It adds a lot more to the song. When it's flat out screaming through the whole song, it's just an extra layer of energy (like having a drummer with two bass pedals). There's a whole art to both performing and listening to/appreciating screaming, and it can take some time to get into it. Peoples' attitudes towards it are kind of like classical music - to most, it all just sounds the same, and it sounds boring or annoying. But when you actually listen to it, and learn the difference between different vocal styles, and the way a singer pronounces certain things, and the way it acts like another instrument, you learn to love it. There's the higher pitched shrieking-style, like Spencer Chamberlin's vocals on Underoath's "They're Only Chasing Safety" album, and there's the lower pitched growling like Corpse Grinder Fisher of Cannibal Corpse, and they both compliment their backing music very very well.What probably turns a lot off people away from screaming right away, aside from "it all sounding the same", is that they can't understand the lyrics at first. But for the most part, a really good vocalist can scream very very clearly (Spencer on Underoath's newer albums probably has the most understandable screams I've ever heard), and for a lot of the more popular bands, the screaming is kind of like an accent. As you pick up some words, you begin to catch on to how the singer pronounces certain things in his screams, and the lyrics start to fall into place. You can accelerate this learning process by reading lyrics along with some of the songs, so you don't have to try figure things out intially.But when you find a new band, and you catch on to the lyrics of the screams really quickly. Maybe I should make a blog about understanding screaming all together, because I can go on and on about this.Toast: I'll watch that video when I get home. Also, you can either pick up on what the "cookie monster" vocalists are saying, and if you can't, you can love the music, memorize the lyrics (it's not hard), and as you hear the screaming, your brain automatically "understands" what each growled sylable means, even if you can't actually make out what word is literally being said.Juurian: I'll watch that later too.Xemic: As the creator of this website, I have not tried to remove it, because I'm lazy, and semi okay with it.Lastly, I forgot a HUGE female fronted band: In This Moment. I'll add a video of them to the blog when I get home.I should also mention "Red Bacteria Vacuum" for both mmo and juurian. It's a Japanese all girl garage punk band, with screaming. (eg 30 seconds into "Future's Door")Are you going to see them? =D
I can understand the majority of the screams I listen to. If I can't figure it out, I look up the lyrics and try to learn to understand it.I know a few songs by Arch Enemy and Kittie. I watched a video of Arch Enemy once and Angela Gossow scares the shit out of me!
I'm not huge into the whole screaming thing unless there are some clean vocals, I'm more of a fan of metal bands like Machine Head, Mastodon, Trivium, and Deftones.But speaking of female vocalists (non-screaming), I think Lzzy Hale of Halestorm is fantastic.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmkHqUwa4zg&ob=av2nClick that link. She's hot…So you're saying that screaming (which is a woefully underdescriptive term) is a new way of singing?
Bah, I went to bed early (had to work early today), and didn't get a chance to watch the videos.
I'll watch them tonight!Juju: That's not really what I meant. It's a way of singing, in the sense that it's how the lyrics are performed, I suppose…I'm saying screaming (which is about as underdescriptive as "singing") is like any other instrument or something. It adds to the feel of the music.i love extreme metal. only band here i know is Arch Enemy and i'm not a big fan of them. the music can be pretty good but her screaming isn't all that great. it's OK but it's not great.
i usually don't like females trying to sing a male style, i dislike it as much as i dislike men trying to sing like women. (though i'm tolerable to both, i just think both should stick with what's more comfortable to their gender) I'm not the kinda metalhead that loves female bands because there's a female in it. the ONLY female singer in a metal band i've actually liked enough to own, is Nightwish. basically i don't give any extra credit because there's a female, the music still has to be amazing or i'm not buying into it.only band here that impressed me is The Agonist. i might consider looking deeper into that band. i like their style. Astarte and Light This City were interesting as well. as for the rest of the bands, nothing too impressive for me.nice blog though, i like getting the chance to listen to some new tunes and hopefully find something good to add to my collection. so i thank you for this opportunity.Yeah, I like finding lists like this too, and it's fun to make.
Unlike you, I do give extra credit to these bands, because there is a female singer…Sort of. It's not the point where if the band is complete crap, I shrug it off because it's a female singer. But if I wouldn't normally like the music (for example if iwrestledabearonce has a male singer, I wouldn't like it because of the instruments), I find that the girl's vocals can redeem the music, and actually make the music fit together better.I do that with male voices as well, though, so it's not just a female thing.I hate most prog metal, and anything similar to it, but Underoath's newer stuff is a lot different from their old stuff, but because of Spencer's screams, it makes the whole music a lot more listenable.I understand you. I doubt I'll come to like it any time soon but you make a sincere argument.
Yeah, it's kind of an acquired taste. I found some songs that I loved (Linkin Park songs), that had screaming in them. I got used to the screaming, and even looked forward to those parts. Then I went searching for more songs that had screaming like that - and was promptly greeted with full on metal and stuff, which I was totally not prepared for.
I then spent another couple years listening to a lot of pop punk stuff that had a lot of screaming in it (particularly higher pitched screaming, which was better than what I perceived as the monotone and indistinguishable growling of most metal), and slowly moved towards metal. It was actually the driving double bass that initially made me dive into metal again, and not the screaming, but now I love a lot of the vocals now too.I don't really expect anyone to be able to be convinced to like screaming, however on the rare occasions I'm able to talk about screaming, or metal, or whatever, I try and help people understand there's more to it than just some guy leaning over, and growling out "huuurgh whaaa bluuurgh diiiie".