Favorite Vocalists

MrKnickerbocker

MrKnickerbocker

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We get a lot of threads about favorite bands/favorite guitarists, but I'm interested: who are your favorite vocalists? If there's someones voice you particularly love, give a little reasoning. I always enjoy discovering new quality singers. I'm only picking from metal/rock singers for the sake of keeping things simple, but you don't have to.

1. Russell Allen - Far and away my favorite singer of all time (in any genre). Sir Russell Allen's combination of bluesy soulfulness and soaring metal wails is unmatched by anyone in the field, IMO. The depth in his voice is incredibly refreshing in a world full of power metal tenors and grunt/gut/growl/scream singers. Even when he sings the most trite lyrics in the most uninspired songs (i.e. much of Symphony X's Iconoclast or everything performed by Adrenaline Mob that isn't a cover) it is still better than everyone else.

2. Ronnie James Dio - His voice is legendary and his performances were spot-on until the very last day. I saw Dio perform with Heaven & Hell a mere eight months before his untimely death and his vocals were incredible. The man knew his own voice inside and out. He put so much heart into songs about witches, spiders, and dragons, and we are all better for it.

3. John Bush - As with Russell Allen, Bush sings from his soul. I have talked with John about his favorite musical genre: Motown soul and R&B (a favor which shows in his singing). His bluesy rasp adds a unique power and tonality to metal music. John Bush is responsible for turning me into a metalhead. When so many friends of mine were listening to Pantera and Slayer, I found Armored Saint and Anthrax. I liked Metallica, I liked Megadeth, but none of the classic metal bands have what I would consider "great singers". Hetfield has sure progressed (and plateaued) over the years, but John Bush was the first metal singer that really struck me as a great vocalist.

4. Bruce Dickinson - Best frontman of all time and a voice that could wake the dead (and kill some of those waiting to die). No explanation needed on this forum.

5. Matt Barlow - This was a tough choice. It was between Barlow and Roy Khan, both singers who approach music with a similar dramatic flair. In all honesty, I prefer Khan's voice, but Barlow's range and tone are truly inspiring. When I first heard Iced Earth, I was blown away by Matt's voice. His lows sound like Satan preparing to obliterate your soul, his mid-range growls sound like a vicious battle between time and space, and his uber-high wails sound like an archangel descending to Earth to lay waste to mankind. If I hear Matt Barlow is singing for a project, I will listen to it. It could be J-pop with house beats and shoegaze breakdowns, I don't care, if Barlow is singing, it's worth hearing.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Barlow's range and tone are truly inspiring. When I first heard Iced Earth, I was blown away by Matt's voice. His lows sound like Satan preparing to obliterate your soul, his mid-range growls sound like a vicious battle between time and space, and his uber-high wails sound like an archangel descending to Earth to lay waste to mankind. If I hear Matt Barlow is singing for a project, I will listen to it. It could be J-pop with house beats and shoegaze breakdowns, I don't care, if Barlow is singing, it's worth hearing.
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The greatest vocalist/frontman of all time is Freddie Mercury. Shouldn't need an explanation, but in case there is any doubt, I submit as Exhibit A a video of what many experts, including the legendary artists in attendance at the time, regard as the greatest live rock performance ever:

I like Russell Allen too, but I'd rate Dio ahead of him.

Barlow is very good, but there are moments where he gets a little TOO emotive, verging on Broadway show-tunes cheesiness.

Other people not to forget are Pat Benatar (the female Russell Allen/RJD, at least early in her career when she was a rock artist - search for my posts on her) and Sam Cooke (purest R&B voice ever).
 
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I don't feel talking much about Bruce because others will do that. He is my favourite together with someone else. Here follows a new one for you Knick. ;-)

Rob Halford and Bruce beat them all.
Rob+Halford++Bruce+Dickinson+Metal+Gods.gif


Halford has superb range and power (very strong in both high and middle, but also low), and he has a unique sharp edge to it, a gift he only possesses. Unmatched articulation. Other aspects: He can sing very soft and sensitive, but also very epic or dramatic. He is a master with words, I'd say he also can sing very fast.

Another one worth to mention: Floor Jansen.
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Currently in Nightwish, but check out her work with After Forever, e.g. Decipher (on YouTube) and you'll see that she is very good. Live, very powerful. She can do opera but also "normal" (this is more heard on later albums; Decipher is from 2001, but I mentioned that one because I think it's one of the better albums), using different techniques and always in key.

Not too long ago I discovered this lady on vocals, Beck Sian. See best albums of 2013 topic.
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1. Rob Halford
2. Bruce Dickinson
3. Geoff Tate (up to 1995)
4. Dio
5. Ripper/Barlow. These two complete each other. Ripper is weak on his low and I think Barlow is weak on his highs and both sing with vicious proficiency.
 
Ooof, on first thought this topic seems very hard.. but then as I think a little further, there are some names that spring to mind very quickly - not necessarily all the best voices out there, and obviously influcenced by the material they sing on. I'm trying to separate the frontman thing from the vocals.

I shall have a thinky... as the list is now growing as I type >.>
 
Cornfed Hick said:
The greatest vocalist/frontman of all time is Freddie Mercury.

I like Russell Allen too, but I'd rate Dio ahead of him.

Barlow is very good, but there are moments where he gets a little TOO emotive, verging on Broadway show-tunes cheesiness.

Other people not to forget are Pat Benatar (the female Russell Allen/RJD, at least early in her career when she was a rock artist - search for my posts on her) and Sam Cooke (purest R&B voice ever).
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Very solid points, CH. Freddie Mercury was amazing, indeed. I'm not the biggest fan of Queen, but his voice and showmanship were incredible.

As far as legends go, Dio is way ahead of Russell. But personally, Russell wins for me.

I agree about Barlow's theatricality, but I think that's part of what makes his voice so unique. Nothing wrong with a little Broadway in metal.

I'll need to check out some earlier Pat Benatar, but you're dead on with Sam Cooke. Pure goodness.

Forostar said:
Halford has superb range and power (very strong in both high and middle, but also low), and he has a unique sharp edge to it, a gift he only possesses. Unmatched articulation. Other aspects: He can sing very soft and sensitive, but also very epic or dramatic. He is a master with words, I'd say he also can sing very fast.

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Can you recommend some songs with what you consider to be stellar vocal performances from Halford? I will readily admit that his highs are untouchable, but everything else I've heard of his vocal range lacks depth and power. There must be something I'm missing, but every time I hear Halford it's the same as Ripper, great highs, very mediocre-at-best mid and low range.

Floor is great, though, and I'll have to check out Beck Sian.

Yax said:
Barlow is weak on his highs
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:eek:
 
Stellar Halford performances:
Exquisite belting here all through the verses.

One my alltime favorite songs, with great mid singing by Rob:


And yes, I do consider Barlows weakness to be his highs. The timbre doesn't tick with me.

Some great upper low range to ultra high range singing:
 
@MrKnickerbocker Sin after Sin has another track, called Here Come the Tears. Check out his that intro and the low work later on, next to the high:
I also find Halford's performance on Rapid Fire a great example of his voice:
and also Blood Red Skies shows several sides:
I don't find Ripper's lows that bad. Quite like his deeper voice in Blood Stained, it's not that low, though. ;-)

One of my alltime favourite Ripper vocals must be his awesome performance on Declaration Day. Barlow can't do it that well.
 
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Forostar said:
I don't find Ripper's lows that bad. Quite like his deeper voice in Blood Stained, it's not that low, though. ;-)

One of my alltime favourite Ripper vocals must be his awesome performance on Declaration Day. Barlow can't do it that well.
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It's a fatter/darker timbre that he uses in Blood Stained, but pitch wise not very low, like you said. And yeah, Barlow can't touch the singing Ripper does in Declaration Day's bridge. He tried it live, and it sucked compared to Ripper. Barlows highs are good, but I find them having too little grit at times and sound a bit too thin and forced for my taste. His great strength is in his marvelous lows.

Edit: Another example of a fine vocalist is Sebastian Bach. I'm quite fond of his latest solo record Kicking and Screaming (which is with what I discovered him with. I hadn't bothered to check Skid Row out to any extent beyond their biggest hits until that). He has matured well.

And once again, back on the subject of Halford: His mid range grit is spectacular, as displayed both on Rapid Fire and Blood Red Skies. I would be so bold as to say that it actually has improved with age (while other things have decayed. But hey, the guy is in his sixties and was spectacular up to the early 2000's. He has adapted to the realities of decreased skills, increased body weight and general effects of age, so he still pulls it off to a respectable degree.)
 
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@Yax Nice pick with Silent Screams
Underrated song, stellar vocals.

Halford can also do a great gritty lower range rasp at times as well.
This one was the first that came to mind:

 
Here's also a song off the Bach album I mention. I think it's absolutely beautiful. Mid range singing.
Bach's greatest strength, to me, is his emotive singing and great sounding vibrato. His upper range clean singing has decayed a bit in the last 10 years, after relearning the techniques involved in the early 2000's. He still maintains a great distortion technique for his highs that he uses frequently. I'm certain that Bach with time and will could get his belting and clean high end back in shape though. He remains one of my favorite singers with and there are few of my preferred singers that can rival the emotion he puts into his studio performances
 
Sounds autotuned. You hear that the way different heights are connected in an unnatural flowing way, seriously, without break. Because in these parts the heights are tuned.
 
Yes, it is. I've grown weary of reacting against auto tune/melodyne/whatever so I usually just ignore it at this point. Last time it stopped me from finishing listening to Unisonic's album, so I figured to start letting it slide for me, as there just is no escaping it. It's so overabused that it's basically used on most vocal tracks these days, including a lot of famed 80's greats, even when it's not necessary (it has grown out of pop productions strive towards "perfection", strict tracking schedules, decreased skill and laziness from the vocalists part). It's old news.
 
I'm afraid I am not used to it myself yet, but that doesn't mean that others should not appreciate this. :ok:
 
Thing is, Bach's album isn't heavily auto tuned or anything. It's in spots, but it's very ugly tuned so you notice it quite easily. Today you often put it on just to clean things up a bit, when in my opinion it would be better to just leave a few notes a tad flat or sharp. That's how it was in the old days. Things weren't always pitch perfect. But when more and more productions were tuned to perfection, it became the norm, and nowadays you tune quite a bit. A lot of times when it's an atual half assed note you'd want to punch in instead or rerecord the line, but you rely too heavily on tuning these days for a shitload of different reasons. So there you go. Not even Bruce's track record is completely clean (there's a line on Coming Home that's tuned, but that's the only time I've heard it used on Bruce).
 
Wow, I've got a lot of listening to do...thanks guys! I shall report back.

Yax said:
Barlow can't touch the singing Ripper does in Declaration Day's bridge. He tried it live, and it sucked compared to Ripper. Barlows highs are good, but I find them having too little grit at times and sound a bit too thin and forced for my taste. His great strength is in his marvelous lows.
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I personally think Barlow's high is phenomenal, but you are right: he cannot touch Ripper on Declaration Day. There are a few songs that Barlow tried singing from Ripper's era and they don't sound very good, but the same (and more) can be said of the reverse.

As for Sebastian Bach, I've always thought he was amazing. His vocals in Skid Row were beyond impressive. This is my favorite example:


That newer song definitely has some weak spots (most of the highs). His mid-range is still pretty solid, but he definitely sounds like he's lost those highs. And I can hear the autotune, but it's not aggressively annoying.

Yax said:
Not even Bruce's track record is completely clean (there's a line on Coming Home that's tuned, but that's the only time I've heard it used on Bruce).
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Which one?! I don't think I've ever spotted this.
 
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