[japc]

@AdamCalifornia:

You should give that "book about heavy Metal" a new use. A fireplace comes to mind.

As for the "No" followed by a "Yeah" from the store guy, well... Yeah.

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Here are some classifications from the All Music Guide (AMG).

Tool
"Opiate" - Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal
"Undertow" - Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal, Progressive Metal
"Aenima" - Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal, Progressive Metal
"Lateralus" - Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal
"10000 Days" - Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal, Progressive Metal, Experimental Metal,
Experimatal Rock


Question:
Do you see any reference to 'rock' of any kind, eg. hard rock, alt rock, prog rock, ....,
(not counting their last album)?

A Perfect Circle
"Emotive" - Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Metal, Post-Grunge

Soundgarden
"Superunknown" - Alternative Pop/Rock, Heavy Metal, Grunge, Alternative Metal

Scorpions
.... Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Hair Metal, Arena Rock, Album Rock

Dio
"Holy Diver" - Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Pop-Metal

Rainbow
"Long Live rock 'n' Roll" - Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Skid Row
... Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Pop-Metal

Judas Priest
"Priest LIve", "British Steel", ....,
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, British Metal, New Wave British Metal

So, even Judas priest is 'contaminated' with Hard Rock.
This is well-known.

Queensryche
- 'contaminated' with rock -
See my previous post .

***********************************

Obviously the AMG is not the bible.
It depends on the ratios, eg: hard rock to heavy metal.
For instance 70% Heavy Metal to 30% Hard Rock
(Of course those are just random numbers -
How would we measure 70% and 30%?)

You will never see Iron Maiden's, Pantera's or Black Sabbath's
(with Dio, but not with Ozzy) music
blended with any kind of rock, eg. hard rock.

So Heavy Metal purists (compare them to true audiophiles in the audio world)
would say:

The only pure Heavy Metal bands on the poll are:
Iron Maiden, Pantera and Black Sabbath (with Dio).
Now, if you relax a 'purity' criteria, you (and I) would gladly add Judas Priest
and Queensryche to the list.

Further relaxation of our criterias would also include the Metal Hybrids mentioned above.

Embedded Poll
To what extent is Judas priest a heavy Metal Band?
- 100% Heavy Metal (0% Hard Rock) Pure Heavy Metal
- 90% Heavy Metal & 10% Hard Rock
- 80% Heavy Metal & 20% Hard Rock
- 70% Heavy Metal & 30% Hard Rock
- other

Heavy Metal Purists (eg Extreme metal fans) would never vote "100% Heavy Metal"!
(The numbers above 90%, 80%, ... serve only as an illustration
and should not be taken seriously!)

Anyway, what matters is music, beer

and

P.S.
I am editing this post today because I forgot to include "Experimatal Rock"
with Tool's "10,000 Days".

 

[japc]

Yes, it depends on the ratios:

heavy metal to hard rock has a higher ratio on Queensryche than heavy metal to thrash metal on Pantera, thus Queensryche is "more heavy metal" (whatever that means).

Or do you only consider hard rock as a diluent factor? If so Pestilence is "more heavy metal" than judas priest because it is further away from hard rock. Ei, they're even more than Iron Maiden or Witchfinder General.

Are you sure hard rock it the bastardizer here ? If so I guess you have a much broader and slightly shifted concept of heavy metal (see below).

The only bands I would vote 100% heavy metal in the pool would be Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. Next it would come Judas Priest and Queensryche, then some others, not all.

Of course that I think you've broadened the Heavy Metal term to include * Metal. That's what I call (only) Metal.

What I also think is that this is one of most useless discussions I've seen here, on par with the "Do IEMs prevent wax from exiting naturaly from the ear"

Now, on to some listening...

 

[MetalGeek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif ****, no King Diamond? Shame on you.

That's what I was thinking. His range is absolutely insane.

If this list were about the worst voice of all time, I'd have to go with Chris Cornell. I'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard for an hour. He is the sole reason I can't stand Audioslave or Soundgarden.

Maynard James Keenan's voice is OK, nothing special, but I can't listen to more than one Tool song without wanting to rip my ears off. Listen to Vicarious off of 10,000 Days...then listen to Schism off Lateralus...then listen to H. from Ænima...can't they come up with anything else to do with their guitar and bass? I can't stand it.

I'm not going to go into the "who's metal, who's not?" argument. Metal is such a broad spectrum that includes everything from AC/DC to Metallica to The Black Dahlia Murder to Cephalic Carnage. Metal is fluid enough that I'm not going to debate the particulars.

My top ten would have to be:
1) King Diamond / Mercyful Fate
2) Rob Halford / Judas Priest
3) Dave Mustaine / Megadeth
4) Bruce Dickinson / Iron Maiden
5) Mikael Åkerfeldt / Opeth
6) Devin Townsend / Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend Band
7) Alexi Laiho / Children of Bodom --not to mention that his guitar work is nothing short of masterful
8) Lee Dorrian / Napalm Death, Cathedral
9) Lemmy Kilmister / Motörhead
10) Snake / Voivod

\m/

*Ducks to avoid flaming*

 

[atothex]

Ok I haven't heard Vovoid, and I don't listen much of your list other than COB and Megadeth. Alexi and Dave eh? Can you point me to some songs where they show off their vocal chops? I must have been listening to the wrong songs...

 

[scytheavatar]

Laiho?!?!?!? He's yet another person more suitable for the "worst metal vocalist ever" title.

 

[MetalGeek]

Haha, just my favorites.

I love Dave Mustaine's vocals on "Sweating Bullets".

But if you're looking for sheer technical vocal ability, then Mustaine, Laiho, Dorrian, and Snake would all be scratched from the list...especially if you listen to Dorrian's vocals while singing for Napalm Death. It's the voice that I'm voting for, and I think all of them have voices that are well suited for metal. They may not necessarily be the best singers in the world. I certainly don't want Josh Groban singing for a metal band...

Didn't expect my picks to be popular, especially after I ripped on Cornell and Tool.

 

[scytheavatar]

Well like I said a few posts back Mustaine is the Ozzy Osborne of thrash metal, his style is unique and interesting, and when it works it works very well. But it doesn't always work, so I would hesitate placing him as a top metal vocalist. I could understand people putting him on the list for top metal vocalist, however I can't for Laiho, cause his vocals really ruin CoB.

Your list is the list of a typical metal n00b, so I recommend you to listen more quality metal vocals.

 

[MetalGeek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scytheavatar /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your list is the list of a typical metal n00b, so I recommend you to listen more quality metal vocals.

While I'm not a metal n00b, you may be right about one thing: I don't listen to metal for the vocals. I'm not going to lie, it's not about the singer for me. In fact, some of these bands I don't listen to very regularly. I have heard plenty of their stuff, though. But as with anybody's top ten list, it's most likely going to filter down to their individual tastes.

I mostly listen to metal for the musicianship, especially when it comes to guitars and drums. Meshuggah, Opeth, Mastodon, Children of Bodom, Kataklysm, Necrophagist, The Black Dahlia Murder...they all have some really amazing ability with their instruments, and put it together in a way that actually sounds impressive. Odd time signatures and time signature changes aren't particularly easy to put together in a cohesive manner. That's a big part of why I'm into metal. There's actual talent behind the music. That and it sounds amazing!

I'm sorry if my opinions don't entirely 100% match up to yours. That clearly distinguishes me as know-nothing n00b about metal. I'll be sure to appreciate metal more the way you do from now on, because that's obviously the only way to truly do it. I'll stop posting my opinions on opinion threads, because if my opinion happens to be against the norm, it's a sure-fire an indication that I don't know anything about what I'm discussing.

I'm sorry for ruining this thread about which heavy metal singers people think are the best. If there was a clear-cut top ten, this wouldn't even be a discussion.

I don't mind if somebody disagrees with my choices; after all, that's what this thread is all about. But when people call me out personally, and insult my opinions and knowledge, I'm not very appreciative.

Bash me all you want, I'm leaving this thread now.

 

[ezkcdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scytheavatar /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your list is the list of a typical metal n00b, so I recommend you to listen more quality metal vocals.

At least he had King Diamond at the top of his list.

As for judging "best voice", this is really an impossible task without having some inkling of the criteria we should use. Are we talking about range? If so, King Diamond and RJD are obviously contenders for the top spot. But range is only one criterion that is (relatively) important when judging a voice for metal. Personally, I hate Dio - even though he technically has a better voice than Ozzy ever did.

 

[Kui4ever]

Klaus Meine

 

[catscratch]

Define "best voice in heavy metal." Yes, that's a trick question. But it's also a pointless topic because without knowing what you're asking, you can't get a quality answer.

"Favorite vocalist in heavy metal" though would be a better poll. If so, then out of the above it has to be Dickinson, but out of all metal vocalists period, it's Devin Townsend.

 

[Luminette]

Heavy metal is kind of like "techno" or "electronica" orrrr "world music" in that it's the loosest bs blanket category ever. If it refers to anything specifically, then it would have to be what was called heavy metal in the 80s. However, it's a term perpetuated with such ignorance that it's supposed to be a blanket for both anything "heavy" and/or "metal".

Not calling the OP ignorant in this sense - doesn't seem unlikely that he has that 80s definition in mind - though Tool / APC are hardly something to fit in with that set of things

Devin Townsend (Devin Townsend & Strapping Young Lad) and Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation) are my votes for best vocalists within anything metal.

Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) right after em