Heavier Bands that actually sing?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by rowech

It's a little lighter than I was looking for but the problem is I wasn't finding any of the bands folks were mentioning all that great. What I'm looking for just might not be out there.

I think it might help if you describe the music more than the vocals. I tried to cover a whole gamut of different sub-genres. And by "singing," are you referring to melodic vocals, or the difference between 80s metal vocalists and the screaming/growling guys now? You can probably find something with vocals close to what you want in any genre, but if you don't like the music it really ain't gonna matter, you know?

[Lorena]

I'm so stuck in the 90's era of metal none of these bands sound familiar at all. Taking notes...

[Karlifornia]

I would like to apologize for my "Shitty Music thread" comment. It was an assholish, trollish thing to say, and I would shit on anyone who did that in a thread regarding one of my interests. My whole existence is predicated on humor, and sometimes I fail to find the line that separates being funny, and just being a jackass.

So, please, accept my apology, and have fun, and listen to whatever music you like.

Sincerely,
Karl

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

They're not big stars by any means but we've enjoyed the heck out of them here (in no small part I'm sure because they're a very rare thing: a band from Athens, GA worth listening to)

Michael Stipe didn't do it for ya?

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

All the European symphonic metal bands like Nightwish that have a female as the primary vocalist - Within Temptation being my favorite, but there's also After Forever, Angtoria, Sirenia, Stream of Passion, Epica, Tristania, Xandria, etc. Tomera is an excellent female fronted prog metal band with jazz influences, if you're looking for something a bit different (almost like a jazzy extreme metal version of Dream Theater fronted by a female). And then there's Therion, which uses both male and female opera singers.

Within Temptation is definitely the prototype. den Adel has an absolutely angelic voice.

On the male front, Symphony X-type bands include Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, Avantasia, Silentium, etc.

I was a little disappointed with Avantasia/Sammett's last album - the "single" (Scarecrow) was good, but the whole cd just didn't quite mesh as well as the first epic album he made. I'm an ADD iPod addict who can't listen to full albums straight, but The Metal Opera and Kezia are the two exceptions, and I still get irrationally mad at my friends when they don't understand how good songs like The Seven Angels are.

On the emo side are Protest the Hero. I love the vocals, but some do not. Music is insanely good, though.

If you are one of those people who does not appreciate PtH, please PM me your address so I can beat your ass while blasting either Kezia or Fortress (On a lesser note, I agree with an earlier KSyrup post - there is so much going on during their albums it can give you a headache. Totally worth it though.) Seriously, short of the guy from Dragonforce, their guitarist lays down 3-4 riffs a song I could never hope to replicate, and (at least on Kezia) its done within the context of a Russian literature novella. Even on the less put together Fortress, they're singing about Genghis Khan raping and pillaging. If that's emo, sign me up to go up the river and not across the stream.

The growly/screaming/death metal "cookie monster" stuff turned me off for years, but I've learned to accept it. Opeth is one of my favorite bands now, and the newer albums have more clean vocals than not, but the death vocals are still there. The music's too good to give it up just because of the vocals, though.

Without trying to put words in rowech's mouth, I feel like a band like Opeth is exactly what he is complaing about. Fantastic technical band and the occasional screaming just ruins it imo. They're clearly more talented than Within Temptation, Nightwish, or pretty much every band, but they'll never get popular and/or radio play if they keep the growling. Being my add self, I get annoyed because I love like 4 minutes of one of their songs, but its an 8 minute song. Oh well.


2 other bands I haven't seen mentioned are Avenged Sevenfold - they used to scream, but the singer blew out his vocal cords and they've become radio-friendly since, and actually the new Metallica album. I don't know what happened with St. Anger/etc., but they recovered in a good way.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, Avenged Sevenfold hit a homerun with City of Evil,and it was the worst thing that could have happened to them. That next album was an embarrassment. But CoE is a good mix of current metal style and 80s dual-guitars, although the vocalist gets into whiny/emo territory sometimes.

I hear you on Opeth. A ton of my friends on other sites can't get over the vocals. There's not much you can do other than try to deal with it. I've grown to like the growly vocals, but I also pretty much don't listen to anything before Blackwater Park. The influence that Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree has had on Akerfeldt (and vice versa) has made a big difference in accessibility, IMO. But those vocals will never totally be gone.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I think it might help if you describe the music more than the vocals. I tried to cover a whole gamut of different sub-genres. And by "singing," are you referring to melodic vocals, or the difference between 80s metal vocalists and the screaming/growling guys now? You can probably find something with vocals close to what you want in any genre, but if you don't like the music it really ain't gonna matter, you know?

I'm a big fan of Pantera and Black Sabbath. Like Iron Maiden. Like Overkill. Like Anthrax. I guess maybe those bands aren't as heavy as some mentioned here.

[Ksyrup]

You should check out some of the new stuff from the old school (Megadeth, Death Angel, Testament, etc.) bands. Maybe even some early-mid 90s Iced Earth (before the guitarist went insane and started firing his band after every album) if you like Maiden. If you like Black Sabbath, The Sword should be up your alley. Also check out Witchcraft if you want o hear authentic 60s-style Sabbath done today. Or maybe Trouble, the Christian/doom-turned-psychedelic-band out of Chicago? Monster Magnet?

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

You should check out some of the new stuff from the old school (Megadeth, Death Angel, Testament, etc.) bands. Maybe even some early-mid 90s Iced Earth (before the guitarist went insane and started firing his band after every album) if you like Maiden. If you like Black Sabbath, The Sword should be up your alley. Also check out Witchcraft if you want o hear authentic 60s-style Sabbath done today. Or maybe Trouble, the Christian/doom-turned-psychedelic-band out of Chicago? Monster Magnet?

Okay...you've hit up my alley on this stuff. The Sword especially. Witchcraft I thought sounded a little more Doorsish if they were darker. Trouble was good as well.

[mh2365]

Speaking of Within Temptation .... we saw a great show a couple of years ago with Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, In This Moment and Stolen Babies ... we hadn't actually heard of any band but Lacuna Coil but all 4 were fantastic and a bit different in styles.

Lacuna & Within were the most similar but ITM is a metal band and Stolen Babies were .... not quite sure but here is one of their vids

YouTube - Stolen Babies - Push Button

One of the top live shows from opener to closer I have seen.

From what I remember it was Within's first live show in the US

[weegeebored]

I have discovered some of the bands mentioned here just recently myself.

Love: Within Temptation, Hydrogyn, Eyes of Eden, Kamelot, Echoes of Eternity

Not-so-much: Nightwish, Sirenia, Lacuna Coil

On-the-fence: Unsun, Symphony X, Delain, Angtoria


Just an old fart's opinion....

[Buccaneer]

With Opeth and similar bands, I have come to pick and choose. In these days of single songs focus, as oppose to albums, that becomes easy to do.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

I'm a big fan of Pantera and Black Sabbath. Like Iron Maiden. Like Overkill. Like Anthrax. I guess maybe those bands aren't as heavy as some mentioned here.

And with the mention of Maiden you're right in my wheelhouse.

Unfortunately, it's been tough to find much that "sounds like Maiden" without saying "sounds like a cross between Maiden and ...".

Ksyrup's advice about not missing new material from the core artists is very big. In the case of Maiden I though 06's A Matter of Life and Death was good but not great but absolutely loved parts of [i]Dance of Death[i] in '03 ("Paschendale" and "Montsegur" are two of my all-time Maiden favorites) and nearly all of Brave New World in 2000. Granted those aren't new now but they did come after the U.S. heyday and other bands are putting out some quality stuff after their prime too. And the new Metallica is solid, maybe not quite up to their peak but well worth the time & money again. And the newer Judas Priest / Halford efforts weren't all that bad (again, not Screaming For Vengeance but what is?)

Speaking from experience as someone who has some parts of the 80's as their preferred musical era -- from Maiden on the heavier end working back toward the glam/sleaze bands -- it's hard work to find stuff to listen to today. There was about a decade or so where there was just nothing I had any interest in but as I've often pointed out to my son music tends to be cyclical and we are headed in the right direction again.

Not all of these are going to fit your own preference (most aren't heavy enough) but bands like Jet Black Stare, Black Tide, Eden's Curse, Airbourne and the aforementioned Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage have me interested in new music again. Heck I'll admit it, there's also some more mainstream stuff that I found enjoyable sitting on my iTunes, kind of the modern equivalent of liking a random cheesy song back in the day.

Search through & sample sites like last.fm and iTunes have been invaluable in helping me find things I like again, it just takes time & patience.

[Lorena]

I'm not a fan of the growling, it sorta freaks me out, but I LOVE heavy, hard, fast music. I see a lot of bands in this thread but I'm clueless as to which albums are actually worth buying?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lorena

I'm not a fan of the growling, it sorta freaks me out, but I LOVE heavy, hard, fast music. I see a lot of bands in this thread but I'm clueless as to which albums are actually worth buying?

Seriously, go play around with the samples on iTunes. I thought about your comment earlier in the thread when I was posting that last longer bit & I definitely knew the feeling of being kind of lost.

I only got back into actively looking for new music when my son showed an interest in the heavier stuff and we've spent the last half hour kind of sampling everything on the R&R active rock charts to see if we're missing something (local radio is pretty hit & miss about playing anything we like) and as it happens things we liked & hadn't found already were in short supply but the effort was worth it (to hear my now 11 year old sardonically say "gee, think they listen to Nickelback much?" in dismissing some newcomer was great). And from those listings I'll usually check out the "people who bought X also bought ..." bands that I don't have fixed in my mind. That's a no-sale about 90% of the time but occasionally I'll find something there and it navigates easily so no harm in sifting through the rejections.

Later I'll go do the same thing more for my own purposes on that site I mentioned earlier (melodicrock.com) and see what I think of anything I haven't checked out already. Heck that's the only way I know Joe Lynn Turner is still alive much less working.

edit to add: On a side note, I really wish Atreyu didn't growl so f'n much. Cut that shit out & I think I could probably like them. And if Trivium would eliminate the growling altogether I might really like them a lot.

[Buccaneer]

On Opeth's Watershed, I really love the songs Burden and Coil but some of the other songs are not that listenable. I just pick and choose the ones I like. But then again, I did the same thing with U2's latest album.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Have you messed around with the "bands like this" feature on last.fm ?

It's definitely not perfect but I've run across quite a few bands that fit my tastes just by plugging in the target artist and chasing my way around the connections it makes.

edit to add: Heck, since you've already been through quite a few suggestions, I'll go ahead and throw Theocracy out there for you to try. They're not big stars by any means but we've enjoyed the heck out of them here (in no small part I'm sure because they're a very rare thing: a band from Athens, GA worth listening to)

What are you talking about R.E.M. man! R.E.M....

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

What are you talking about R.E.M. man! R.E.M....

Mediocre lightweight noise from some pre-emo wimps with an overwrought sense of self-importance. I'd rather hear a dog bark about 95% of the time.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Seriously, go play around with the samples on iTunes. I thought about your comment earlier in the thread when I was posting that last longer bit & I definitely knew the feeling of being kind of lost.

I only got back into actively looking for new music when my son showed an interest in the heavier stuff and we've spent the last half hour kind of sampling everything on the R&R active rock charts to see if we're missing something (local radio is pretty hit & miss about playing anything we like) and as it happens things we liked & hadn't found already were in short supply but the effort was worth it (to hear my now 11 year old sardonically say "gee, think they listen to Nickelback much?" in dismissing some newcomer was great). And from those listings I'll usually check out the "people who bought X also bought ..." bands that I don't have fixed in my mind. That's a no-sale about 90% of the time but occasionally I'll find something there and it navigates easily so no harm in sifting through the rejections.

Later I'll go do the same thing more for my own purposes on that site I mentioned earlier (melodicrock.com) and see what I think of anything I haven't checked out already. Heck that's the only way I know Joe Lynn Turner is still alive much less working.

edit to add: On a side note, I really wish Atreyu didn't growl so f'n much. Cut that shit out & I think I could probably like them. And if Trivium would eliminate the growling altogether I might really like them a lot.

Thanks Jon, I sorta do that now but I must admit I was being a bit lazy and wanted some albums to look for

There was a radio station in L.A. I really, really liked called KNAC but they are now an internet station ( KNAC.COM - The Loudest Dot Com on the Planet! ). They play some pretty good music. They're playing a Celtic Frost song right now. Haven't heard them in a while so don't know if they play any of that growling stuff.

I also create stations in Pandora and thumbs up or thumbs down anything I don't like and get some pretty good stuff sometimes.

[BishopMVP]

Not sure if I've mentioned them, but between 2 weeks and this song, All That Remains, the 3rd of the heavier Western Mass bands (with Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall) is finally getting some recognition. Heavier band with mostly clean vocals.

[rowech]

They don't fit this thread but I've been listening to The Parlor Mob. I really like their CD.