Women Singing Metal

Malice

Inspired by this post and this post, I thought I'd start a new thread to get more opinions. So what do other Boardsies think? Am I alone in thinking that if a person's voice adds the kind of sound that the band are looking for with their music, it shouldn't matter whether they are male/female, black/white, tall/short etc. Shouldn't the music be what matters!

S.I.R wrote:

I honestly cant listewn to this kinda music.... metal, hardcore, anything along them lines is Grand but a women... singing metal ??

Are you saying that the vocals are the most important part of the song for you? For me it's the overall package. A good vocalist is a good vocalist. Their sex is irrelevant.

S.I.R wrote:

JAsus.... this aint the X facotr lads, girls simpley dont have the bass in there voice to pull off a metal song ( hence the term pussy metal, much like screamo, just a differant name tag )

There seems to be two themes in this sentence. One is that you regard female singers as something off X Factor (where I assume looks are more important than actual talent) and the other is that you regard female voices as being unable to sing metal because they don't have enough bass in their voices. Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford don't have much bass in their singing voices either and seem to have done okay for themselves haven't they? Are you drawing a distinction between growls, screams and normal singing or are you jus tarring them all with the same brush?

I've also never encountered the term "pussy metal" being used to describe a woman singing in a metal band. Is it common?

Lastly I would just like to utterly refute the notion that women can't front metal bands. Plenty of women can and do with a huge variety of styles:

Screams/Growls:

Here's Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Dn02bR4pg

Here's Candace Kucsulain of Walls of Jericho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFvoS9V-7ys

Candice from Eths,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S97oUM_fjs8

Alissa White-Gluz from The Agonist,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZo4bOZf3B4

Alexis Brown from Straight Line Stitch,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRrfLMOGMrM

Singing

Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhzJO34SCoc

Paulina Maślanka from Delight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBj8-8Rx-rg

Charlotte Wessels from Delain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Jads5ShMM

Duets:

Roos and Tanin from Melancholy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoMN9kmXHS8

Alexia Rodriguez and Brandon Anderson from Eyes Set to Kill,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4jL5ZhYl6o

Kemi Vita and Judith Stüber from Satyrian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwfDgNTe7o

Hellm0

It really depends, as you said it really is all about the music. If it fits it fits but think of it this way; In a metal/rock band there is generally a bassist, 1/2 guitarists, a drummer and a vocalist. If one of those musicians swaps out their instrument(IE swap guitar for a mandolin) for a new one then it affects the overall sound of a song, the same as if you have a male or female vocalist.

I am not a fan of female lead vocalists in metal as I just do not feel the sound is right. Then again this could just be my never having found a band with a female vocalist whose music I like.

lord lucan

always had a bit of a soft spot for phantom blue. had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that most of them were smokin' hot:p

Nightwish

I never took any notice of females in metal until I started listening to my beloved Nightwish in 2002. Since then I started looking more and more into female fronted metal. Right now due to the success of bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence there is an overabundance of female fronted bands, many of which are formulaic and sh!te.

There are many excellent female fronted bands like Epica, Angtoria, Elis, After Forever, Tristania, Stolen Babies, Sins of Thy Beloved, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Xandria, Lacuna Coil, Evilion, Octavia Sperati, Kingfisher Sky, Amberian Dawn etc stemming from various metal genres - Beauty & the beast gothic, AOR, symphonic metal, power metal , doom etc

Malice

Hellm0 wrote: »

If it fits it fits but think of it this way; In a metal/rock band there is generally a bassist, 1/2 guitarists, a drummer and a vocalist. If one of those musicians swaps out their instrument(IE swap guitar for a mandolin) for a new one then it affects the overall sound of a song, the same as if you have a male or female vocalist.

Maybe it's just too early in the morning but I don't understand what you mean here . Obviously if a band is setup to sound one way and something is changed it's going to sound different.

Hellm0 wrote:

I am not a fan of female lead vocalists in metal as I just do not feel the sound is right. Then again this could just be my never having found a band with a female vocalist whose music I like.

Have a watch of the videos that I posted or look up some of the bands that Nightwish listed, there's a variety of styles there. You might find something that you like.

Nea

L7. My favourite. Not the best singers in the world but it suited the music. Their music was ballsy and fun. Donita has a solo album out which is class and recommended to any other L7 fans

Pugsley

A lot of the Russian folk type metal bands would include female singers, generally very well too, although typically with other singers as well (3-4 singers is not uncommon). Nevid, Autumn Rain Melancholy, Odes of Ecstasy (Greek), Nargathrond, Sins of Thy Beloved (Norway) and Inferno (Ukranian) all use female vocals to great effect.

lord lucan

Nea wrote: »

L7. My favourite. Not the best singers in the world but it suited the music. Their music was ballsy and fun. Donita has a solo album out which is class and recommended to any other L7 fans

+1.

have all their albums and they're still high in my playlist. great live act too.

cheers for the heads up on donitas solo album,didn't realise she'd done anything since.

Dave H

lord lucan wrote: »

+1.

have all their albums and they're still high in my playlist. great live act too.

cheers for the heads up on donitas solo album,didn't realise she'd done anything since.

Yeah,awesome band, Everglade is definitely one of my favourite tunes.
And when I was a youngster, I held an almighty flame for Jennifer Finch.Come to think of it, that's not all I held.....:eek::D

Léan

I've said it before and i'l say it again:

Dawn Crosby of Detente. She's your only woman.


Think most peoples problem with female singers is the first person they think of is Angela Gossow, who, quite frankly is a load of **** and doesn't even sound female. Think she gives a bad impression.

Then there's the other extreme of the wans from Evanesense (sp?) and Within Temptation who are whiney and might as well be Mariah Carey shoved in a big black frilly fress :rolleyes:

I totally agree that gender shouldn't be an issue of what makes a band good/bad, but I think beacuse of certain female vocalists (^^) people have a bad perception of them and throw them all into the same catagory i.e. as being crap.

adox

Wendy O Williams deserves a mention. From punk in the late 70s to early 80s and on to metal, it was like tornado hit, everytime she walked on stage.

ZakAttak

I like female singers such as Elizabeth Fraser (The Cocteau Twins), Tori Amos, Delores O'Riordan and I like the tone of Bonnie Tyler's voice (her music is a bit sh1t though).

But I can't say I'm a big fan of female vocals in metal. The operatic stuff is a bit ridiculous, its like meat loaf without the humour.

spanky1

I personally love singing metal songs , I dont think a female should be pigeon holed to any particular type of music genre, If you enjoy singing and if it suits the style the band or whatever are looking for .. what does it matter if its male or female vocal,, hard rock and metal are my fav, i started with lighter styles but I love metal and hard rock mostly, it would be a shame to not give it try.

spanky1

Id love to hear Bjork going into metal for a bit:D.. now that would be interesting.

Nea

lord lucan wrote: »

+1.

have all their albums and they're still high in my playlist. great live act too.

cheers for the heads up on donitas solo album,didn't realise she'd done anything since.

The only time I saw L7 was supporting FNM years ago and they were great. Would have loved to see a tour for Hungry For Stink. Donita doesnt seem to tour much but heres hoping she might come to Europe. At least she has 2 fans in Ireland.

Transmiticate is a great album, in this years top 10 for me anyway!

Karl Hungus

spanky1 wrote: »

Id love to hear Bjork going into metal for a bit:D.. now that would be interesting.

What, you mean you haven't heard the version of Isobel she did with Carcass? For shame!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Uj5osbPKU

villains77

you cant beat the likes of nightwish, within temptation and lacuna coil aswell. all great live