[AdamCalifornia]

We consider only voice and vocal abilities of a vocalist and
not his appearance, showmanship, songwriting, etc.


The inspiration for this thread was provided by the discussions here.

Remark
As here, we consider only clean singing, or equivalently clean vocals.
Therefore we are not interested in growling at all!
Some of them growl (roar, etc.) but this should not interest us in this thread.

Also we consider only male singers.

Because I have only 10 options we do NOT consider here the following legendary singers:
Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford and Geoff Tate.
It would be interesting to see who's the best besides the above four legendary singers.

Obviously the bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, Soundgarden, Skid Row, Tool, ...
are not heavy metal bands and that's why their lead singers are not considered here at all.

Questions
Give names of heavy metal singers who are better than any singer on this list!
In other words, are there any other heavy metal singers who could be winners on this poll?
Do such singers exist? (Not counting the legendary four.)
Also mention the ones you would put on this poll list and whom would you take out?



I've voted for Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation).

P.S.
For strategic reasons there's no 'other' option.

 

[bakercj93]

I voted Devin Townsend for his power and versatility, but I have to admit that his abilities as a producer might deserve as much credit as his voice.

Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) might be a good one to add to the list.

 

[lmilhan]

It's tragic that Jorn Lande isn't on the list. That dude has one of the most powerful and distinct voices in Metal, and deserves some sort of a lifetime achievement award for sure. Jorn would be my first pick.

But of the names on that list, I would give the nod to Russel Allen.

Also, why should we assume that only men can sing metal? On the female metal vocal front, I would submit Sonia Pineault from the band "Forgotten Tales". She has an incredible voice, and she actually SINGS (as opposed to the falsetto and opera type crap that most other females in this genre do these days). Sonia gives just about all of the people on your list a run for their money.

 

[Gazza]

Devin Townsend by a very wide margin. An extremely versatile voice with amazing range.

No one screams like Devin.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

For me, it is no contest. Rowan London's voice has to be heard live to be believed. The man is a god. He can growl and scream to the point where you think his voice will give out. As if it weren't enough, the man is trained by the same man that trained Pavarotti. His clean voice is the absolute best male voice I have ever heard. Such range, power, emotion, and control (more recently).

I am in awe every time I hear it, and I am dumbstruck that he can do it just as well live. To me, that is what makes a singer legendary. Studio is nice, but do it live, and you have my respect.

AdamCalifornia: I hate to say it, but Rowan is a better singer than your elite four. This coming from someone who is a fan of almost everyone you listed throughout your post.



Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, why should we assume that only men can sing metal?

Certainly not. Floor Jansen will mop the floor with 99% of all singers, regardless of gender. She is phenomenal!

 

[anetode]

This is far too specific of a subset of candidates for such a broad genre. Ozzy was sure as hell singing heavy metal and a good case can be made for Maynard James Keenan too.

 

[Dublo7]

No Mikael Akerfeldt?

 

[scytheavatar]

If I were to rank all the 10 on your list along with the 4 you told us not to consider, and solely on their studio performance:

Top tier:
Midnight
Gildenlöw
Halford

Upper mid:
King Diamond
Allen
Townsend

Mid:
Dickinson
Kiske


Lower Mid:
Kürsch
Tate
London
Dio

Bottom:
Barlow
Dane

Then I really think it's a crime to leave out Roy Khan, who would be at least upper mid in my list.

 

[acidbasement]

I listen to very few of those bands, but Hansi does very well in the studio. When I saw Blind Guardian his live performance was underwhelming (great show all in all though!) - very rarely did he choose high notes, preferring to go one octave down.

My top choices are not on your list. Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray, and Nils Patrik Johansson of Astral Doors.

 

[AdamCalifornia]

... I've added the following to the op.

Remark
As in here, we consider only clean singing, or equivalently clean vocals.
Therefore we are not interested in growling at all!
Some of them growl (roar, etc.), but this should not interest us in this thread.

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

On the list Devin Townsend growls a lot, .... and we don't care about it in this thread.
But when he's clean singing he is f... [size=xx-large]singing![/size]


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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dublo7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No Mikael Akerfeldt?

With all due disrespect to you, there's no place on the list for Mikael Åkerfeldt.
Booooooo, ..... ha, ha, ha, ...

 

[TT600R]

How about Mike Patton?

 

[Adab]

Vocal-wise? Gildenlow probably, but that is a terrible selection of bands.

 

[AdamCalifornia]

First, read

Quote:

Originally Posted by TT600R /img/forum/go_quote.gif How about Mike Patton?

and then read

Quote:

This is far too specific of a subset of candidates for such a broad genre. Ozzy was sure as hell singing heavy metal and a good case can be made for Maynard James Keenan too.

(From .... a good case can be made for Maynard James Keenan too.)

[size=small]Do I need to tell you more?[/size]

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

Explanations for those of you whose IQ less than 140. (ha, ha, ha, ...)

[size=medium]Neither[/size] Maynard James Keenan [size=medium]nor[/size] Mike Patton are heavy metal singers.


[size=small]Therefore to forbid voting for Maynard James Keenan, Mike Patton, ...
this poll does not have the 'other' option.
[/size]

 

[bakercj93]

Whether or not Tool's recent albums are metal is debatable, but I haven't heard many people that don't consider Undertow a metal album, and in my opinion, that's where Maynard performed some of his best vocals.

Also, Mike Patton might not be exclusively a metal singer, but he has done a lot of metal songs throughout his career.

That's fine if you don't want to include them in the poll, but it seems a bit silly to be offended that someone would suggest their names.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Um sorry, this list is HAS to have Mikael Akerfeldt, he has the best clean singing voice IMO, completely no sense to ignore him because he does growling vocals as well.

But if you were to consider Metallica to be a Heavy Metal band, then I guess James Hetfield would qualify as well, he is a fine vocalist.