For instance, imagine "Demon of the fall" sung instead og growled.. not the same effect, not cool, and likewise, if they had growled "Patterns in the ivy" it would also have ****ed.
Or "The Night and the Silent Water".
Definately not half as creepy/gloomy if sung with a high-pitched Power Metal voice!
(NB: I do listen to PM and I quite enjoy it, however, it's a totally different atmosphere such songs are in).
The problem with screaming / grunting is that it all sounds the same. There is zero creativity in screaming / growling. It just screams (heh, pun not intended
) "Oh, I can't come up with a good melody so I'll just scream my lungs out."
Bold statement.
Even more since you seem to despise the growling.
It probabaly only "sounds all the same" to you because you did not bother to listen to much of it - understandable, if you don't like it, but not ideal when trying to judge about it.
As I said before, there certainly are bands that fall under this category but badmouthing every band that has growling/screaming vocals in their songs does not make them justice!
The fact that many of them sing about pixies and dragons 'n **** doesn't help either. I mean come on, you're in a rockband. It's your responsibility to try to at least be at least a little bit original. I've seen a couple of videos of Children of Bodom and it has pretentiousness written all over it.
Now, dragons and swords are more the themes Power Metal is about.
Last time I checked they had high-pitched clean voices.
CoB are pretty original, if you ask me.
Can't think of another band that did the Melodic Death Metal back then.
Also, I never try to judge
any band by their videos.
It's about the music!
I want to listen to it from CD, not watch it on MTV...
It just s ucks that when I listen to a modern metal band and I'm thinking "Hmm, sounds pretty good" but then the sound of some guy that growls like he's pretending he's a monter or something kicks in and I'm like "Oh, dear God..." and hit the stop button. It just ruins the song. It's a waste of good musicianship. A good example is Trivium. If only they'd drop the growling they would be a much better band. I think
THIS is a good example of a modern metal band that has a pretty good sense of melody (note: I'm not into them, just a quick YouTube search).
Oh, Avenged Sevenfold.
Yes, they are pretty good, but you wouldn't like their previous two albums (hint: there was screaming involved).
I got to say, though, their third incarnation is much better than the previous ones and it is completely screaming-free.
They also added a lot of Melodic parts, so that hepled their music a lot.
Also, I'm not too fond of the way the singer screams, it always depends on the kind of voice for me.
In Flames give a much better performance in that part!
Isn't that what music is all about in the end? That it
pleases the ears? That it sounds good?
Judging your logic, metalheads listen to deathmetal BECAUSE the screaming sounds bad...
No.
That's what Easy Listening is all about - to sound good to the ears.
So you can switch your brain off and relax.
That's not what Metal is about IMO.
That's exactly the problem of today's pop music - just some non-intriguing melody that douns ok and does not stir up.
Music always had a political side to it and to be comfortable all the time is not it!
Ehm, tell me exactly how screaming at the same height over and over and over again, actually gives the music DEEPER meaning and more emotional?
At least with a good melody you can give the song originality... with screaming and growling you can't.
Again, an unqualified respone of yours.
I'm sorry, I really don't want to flame you, but in one paragraph you claim that you stop listening to the music once the growling starts and in the other you make claims how it's all the same height etc.
How can you know when you never really listened to it?
Also, had you listened to Opeth, you'd noticed how it is NOT the same height all over.
Give it a chance, you may discover more in it!
Ask any rock fan to list a couple of classic guitar riffs from the 60's or 70's and I'm sure they can come up with at least six. What about listing riffs from today's metal bands? You can't, because they don't focus on melody, they just focus on playing as fast as possible and have no intention of making original music.
While I do enjoy the music from nearly all eras (inclduing 60ies and 70ies) that does not mean there weren't any repetitive or unoriginal songs around back then.
There certainly are.
Progressive Metal does an excellent job at linkiong the styles of the past and somewhat of the future (since it isn't that common just now)!
In the end, melody is extremely important for music. That's what people remember, and hum while they're walking down the street.
Oh, definately!
Thing is, I often catch myself humming one of Opeth's themes, because there IS melody in the songs and quite good ones, too!
Please, you finally need to realize that growling in a song does not automatically exclude any melody.
Yes, there are bands such as Marduk that do not have much of that, but it's definately not a one or another thing!