Favorite Vocalists

Re: Tony Martin (as he's now mentioned twice), I actually really enjoy the Headless Cross/Cross Purposes albums. I would go so far as to say that on the whole I prefer them to many of the early Ozzy Sabbath albums (the latter have some great tracks, but also much that I forget inbetween).

I enjoy his work, but he is far from my favourite vocalist, which let's not forget is what the topic is ;)
 
I didn't really find those albums to be that memorable. To be honest, Mob Rules was the last Sabbath album I really enjoyed if we put them in chronological order.. When I saw Sabbath live in July on their tour for the new album I found a few of the 13 songs interesting, but there's still a huge inconsistent gap of fluff in my opinion after Mob Rules.
 
I had forgotten to mention Witchcraft's vocalist Magnus Pelander. They sound like classic Sabbath except with crystal clear production and better vocals. In the instrumental bridges you would think you were listening to something off of Master of Reality or Paranoid. Their vocalist is so smooth and complements the music so well. I'd love to hear him cover some old Sabbath classics and see how it turns out.
 
Mikael from Opeth is one of my favorites too and definitely helped me appreciate growls. While Opeth is still the only band with growls that I actively follow, there are plenty of bands that have albums or songs with growling that I enjoy. Not only are Mikael's growls great, but his clean voice as well. This song has a good mix:

Tony Martin is a great singer but I was somewhat underwhelmed with his Sabbath output. Headless Cross and The Shining are both favorites of mine, though.

Russell Allen has also become a favorite over the years and he's in one of the only bands where my favorite part is usually the vocals: Symphony X.
Here's one of their better songs that gives a good taste of his singing:

Someone who hasn't been mentioned is Devin Townsend. He's another singer with a very diverse style. His screams are intense and his clean singing is really great. But he's at his best when working with Anneke van Giersbergen I think.
 
Nice picks on the Dio songs, @Crimson Idol. I tend to forget about Magica sometimes.

desultory said:
Chris Cornell - often referred to as a Robert Plant clone, and early on he probably was. Though in his later years I think he has excelled beyond that.
Later years meaning mid 1990s and onwards.
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I definitely forgot about Chris! He is one of my favorites and biggest influences. His lows and mids are simply outstanding, and good lord, that shriek!

Forostar said:
I don't remember his first that well, besides that it had a different version of the BR song Cease.
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Maybe it's just the piano...but I'm shocked by how much this sounds like Ben Folds.

Forostar said:
I bought the 2nd but I regretted it soon because most of it sounds as a country/Americana album, and I am not a fan of that. I liked the opening track though:
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...I actually really like that. It's right up my alley. I've always thought that Greg had a voice that would sound great with traditional folk or even Celtic music. He's got that crystal clear baritone thing that works really well with some simple arrangements. I will now actively seek out this album.

Forostar said:
Greg Graffin also deserves extra points for the restraint way he dealt with an annoying kid who gets too intimate. First someone (maybe the same kid) threw something at him @ around 0.20. Then he invites this prick on stage. See what happens next...
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That's really funny, and quite bizarre. He's calling him fat, right? My Spanish is not too great.
 
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desultory said:
Mike Patton - Patton's singing, howling, crooning, screaming, growling etc is of the very diverse kind.
I don't enjoy everything he has done, but some of the work with Faith No More is excellent and some is fucking intense.
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I was wondering when someone would mention Mike. Quite an amusing vocalist; I like him a lot. It's amazing his voice isn't shot to pieces.
 
Yax said:
As the waves and echoes (all three words, although "waves" is only a few cents tuned) of the towns become the ghosts of time.
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Wow, that's slight! I never would have noticed that. Is there a chance that he's just using a lot of vibrato?

Mosh said:
Russell Allen has also become a favorite over the years and he's in one of the only bands where my favorite part is usually the vocals: Symphony X.
Here's one of their better songs that gives a good taste of his singing:
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Such an amazing song. Top 5 for me. Russell's performance is stellar.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Wow, that's slight! I never would have noticed that. Is there a chance that he's just using a lot of vibrato?
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No. Notice the spacey chorus-ey wobbly type of sounds. That's a side effect of the tuning. It's usually a very good teller.
 
At least we know he can do it live, that's what counts IMO
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Yeah, it's very noticeable on the "a" in "waves". Oh well. One line in 30+ years ain't bad.
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It's extremely noticeable in and echoes, which is very, very ugly. This is, most likely, just a line that that they tracked and missed that it was flat, and then went "oh fuck, better fix this" after the tracking was done when it was too late to rerecord it. And yeah, it's the only line I've ever noticed so it's no big deal. But it tells the story of just how extensively this tool is used. There is no escaping it. Vocalists and producers have resorted to a shitload of different tricks through the years, and I'm fine with punching in and stuff like that. It's how it's done (and Coming Home is a good example of a song consisting of multiple takes and punched in words and lines). And it's fine. The purpose of a studio recording isn't what it was in the early days of recording, when it was just a recording of an actual performance, sort of just documenting it. Now you create something, like an artists carves his masterpiece out or marble. So it's fine. My beef with tuning though is that it is lazy and sounds butt ugly.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
I was just about to commend this thread for NOT mentioning him, until I saw this brief mention. God-awful. I literally cannot listen to an entire song on which he sings, it's fucking torture.
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I like King Diamond in small doses. But he's certainly not for everybody.
 
I like King Diamond infinitely much more than Michael Kiske.
 
Bringing things to even further proportions:
At least you can listen to one song with Kiske. I can't stand one second of Diamond.
 
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I find him too dominant to get used to. He could just as well do his freakshow performance a cappella. Same impression.
I dislike Cradle of Filth for the same reason but at least that guy doesn't do it that often.

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If there is a song in which his wailing is not off key, I could give it another try.
 
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Michael Kiske is a very good vocalist, like him a lot. Too bad his music isn't up to that level.

I also dislike King Diamond.
 
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