Use of female vocals in Metal (gimmicks aside)

[Dinaric Leather]

I've been listening to Gorgoroths real albums lately (Self titled and Anti-christ) and it's been making me think about how female vocals may be used to achieve a certain atmosphere that would not be possible with a male vocalist. Females can distort their voice to painful shrieks that would give an excellent atmosphere of derangement and hysteria. The only female underground Metal vocalist I know of is Lori Bravo of Nuclear Death and Dana Duffey of Mythic. I haven't listened to them in over a year  but if my memory serve me right both of their vocalists employ more of a grunt and mostly not particularly feminine to me unlike Gorgoroths vocalist on their first two albums, which is a better example of the sort of aesthetic I'm thinking of but I'm sure we can get higher than that with a more skilled female vocalist. The only problem is finding a woman with a beautiful voice willing to tear up her throat in the name of art!

[Umbrage]

I've been listening to Gorgoroths real albums lately (Self titled and Anti-christ) and it's been making me think about how female vocals may be used to achieve a certain atmosphere that would not be possible with a male vocalist. Females can distort their voice to painful shrieks that would give an excellent atmosphere of derangement and hysteria.

Uh... have you been listening to any Burzum lately? Seems he already did what you speak of.

[Cargést]

Why tear up your throat?  Just learn to control air flow through the false folds, like all proper Extreme Metal vocalists.

[Dinaric Leather]

Uh... have you been listening to any Burzum lately? Seems he already did what you speak of.

Vikernes has a severe shriek of a singing voice, however not being a woman he isn't what I spoke of, nor is he castrated to have the full vocal range possible for a human being. His voice still sounds masculine despite the high octave. I think Gorgoroth is a better example of what I'm thinking of because there is nothing masculine to me about that singers voice. The music also has a certain effeminate quality to my ears that I can't quite but my finger on.

Why tear up your throat?  Just learn to control air flow through the false folds, like all proper Extreme Metal vocalists.

I must admit my ignorance of singing and anatomy of the human throat, I have no idea what false folds are. I noticed that many Metal vocalists after years of spewing Satanic lust and fascist war command tend to develop raspy voices.

[metal on metal]

After The Bombs deliver speed metal melted with doom/crust elements of Amebix and Hellhammer, while singer Janick's shrieks reverberate over the skies placing the assault onto one otherworldly terrain.

http://www.myspace.com/afterthebombs

They are not distanced enough from Motörhead to resemble proper extreme metal, but perhaps you may enjoy the violent overcoming of rock-infested crossover into a persistent trance.

[Cargést]

I've been doing Black/Death Metal vocals for eight years, and I've been singing cleanly for about fifteen.  If you do it right, you'll do no damage.

Also, good troll.

[Sammaellofi]

It is unimportant if this ideal female shriek ever comes about.  Bands should be spending more time on the content of their music rather than the devices they use to get it off the ground.  I think a guitar, a bass and a drum, with a typical metal singer dong all the old cliches is just as able to make great new metal as a high budget band without the fluff.  Your idea has more to do with Halloween than making great metal.

[metal on metal]

Well, After The Bombs would be a great crust/metal band even with a male vocalist, only missing the specific feminine charge which rounds off the fury. Maybe I just tend to enjoy something as exotic as a female voice...

[Dinaric Leather]

Also, good troll.

What are you trying to say? Say it plain, I don't speak dipshit.

It is unimportant if this ideal female shriek ever comes about.  Bands should be spending more time on the content of their music rather than the devices they use to get it off the ground.  I think a guitar, a bass and a drum, with a typical metal singer dong all the old cliches is just as able to make great new metal as a high budget band without the fluff.  Your idea has more to do with Halloween than making great metal.

Aesthetics are part of the content of the music, just as appearance and nose are part of the content of a good beer or wine. I don't understand where you have gotten the idea that anyone can make great new Metal, it's clearly a dead genre. The wording of your comment makes it almost seem as if you feel threatened that this thread is going to take the masculinity out of metal and replace it with female pop music.

[hoodwink]

What are you trying to say? Say it plain, I don't speak dipshit.

Judging by your choice of words, you know he exactly what he said.

Aesthetics are part of the content of the music, just as appearance and nose are part of the content of a good beer or wine.

 

Female vocals hold little appeal for me in any genre and I have no interest in a metal band with a female voice, finding it far too cloyingly brittle to be worthwhile (I don't think I've ever thought Varg's shriek sounded remotely feminine, either).  In keeping with your comment about aesthetics, most of the time, women in metal are used as fluff pieces, wearing cute outfits with spiked collars; they are generally in the band because one (or more) of the members was trying to fuck her at audition time.  Indie crock bands are fond of sticking some borderline attractive girl on keyboards for the same reason. In cases where the women aren't deliberate masturbatory objects, they're either relegated to the shadows on the bass guitar, or they're forced to play the fat renaissance fair maiden card.  Zzzz.

[Dinaric Leather]

Judging by your choice of words, you know he exactly what he said.

You figured that out all by yourself? I'm sure he was accusing me of being insincere, I'm just not sure what made him think that and I know he's too smart to be using funny internet words to say something he could have just said plainly.

Female vocals hold little appeal for me in any genre and I have no interest in a metal band with a female voice, finding it far too cloyingly brittle to be worthwhile (I don't think I've ever thought Varg's shriek sounded remotely feminine, either).  In keeping with your comment about aesthetics, most of the time, women in metal are used as fluff pieces, wearing cute outfits with spiked collars; they are generally in the band because one (or more) of the members was trying to fuck her at audition time.  Indie crock bands are fond of sticking some borderline attractive girl on keyboards for the same reason. In cases where the women aren't deliberate masturbatory objects, they're either relegated to the shadows on the bass guitar, or they're forced to play the fat renaissance fair maiden card.  Zzzz.

Really? I had no idea some people used female members as a gimmick to sell more albums, thanks for the heads up detective hoodwink. I don't care if some bands like to use female members to be cool and unique I only care about how a female vocalist may have been utilized to good effect. I know it's never happened thats why I'm discussing it hypothetically. Sure, we have Mythic and Nuclear Death but as they grunt more than shriek, they only have a slightly effeminate nuance to their voices. And when I say aesthetic I mean the aesthetic of the music not their physical aesthetic on stage. For example, Kraftwerk had a pop aesthetic although their music was much more than that they used their pop aesthetic to their advantage to achieve a certain atmosphere or feeling (for lack of a better word).

[Cynical]

I've been listening to Gorgoroths real albums lately (Self titled and Anti-christ) and it's been making me think about how female vocals may be used to achieve a certain atmosphere that would not be possible with a male vocalist. Females can distort their voice to painful shrieks that would give an excellent atmosphere of derangement and hysteria. The only female underground Metal vocalist I know of is Lori Bravo of Nuclear Death and Dana Duffey of Mythic. I haven't listened to them in over a year  but if my memory serve me right both of their vocalists employ more of a grunt and mostly not particularly feminine to me unlike Gorgoroths vocalist on their first two albums, which is a better example of the sort of aesthetic I'm thinking of but I'm sure we can get higher than that with a more skilled female vocalist. The only problem is finding a woman with a beautiful voice willing to tear up her throat in the name of art!

"Author of Incest" by Adorior sounds like it may be what you're looking for.  The voice is recognizably feminine, but in this totally perverted, lustful, yet demonic and aggressive way.

[lord.aspie]

I prefer men.

[Ymir]

Pest sounds like a goblin. Some people never grow out of that junior high disdain for anything even remotely suggestive of childhood.

[sofiana]

I was impressed by "female" vocals by Larion In Dagor Dagorath.

Off corpse everyone knows Onielar of DNS I hope ?