The best is Rob Halford.

My favorite is Ozzy, specifically back in the day. He's not the most gifted, but he's still fucking awesome.

King Diamond, John Tardy, Chuck Schuldiner, Garm, Vortex, etc. There's a lot of respectable vocalists, really.

Also, to the guy who compared Quorthon to Shagrath...Just stop. Fuck sakes.

Well, I have many candidates:

Considerig range: Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Eric Adams, King Diamond, Ian Gillan,...

Unique voice: Biff Byford, Ozzy Osbourne, Dan Fondelius, Dio (well, he can be in every category), Klaus Meine, Lemmy, Cronos,...

Bruce Dickinson, hands down.

LG Petrov

Its nearly four actually.

Johan Hegg as a damn nice growl
James Hetfield who influence thrash vocals

Messiah Marcolin

Geoff Tate, Devin Townsend, James LaBrie, Mikael Akerfeldt, Mathias Blad.

Mikael Akerfeldt

Any one doubting Daniel Gildenlow's immense range in both tone and and pitch needs to listen to Reconciliation or Beyond the Pale. I can see how some one would find his softer vocals to be boring, but when the volume gets cranked the guy can bring it.

No!

Point that at all the Mikael Akerfeldt people before you turn on Hetfield, I say. Although Hetfield is nowhere near best metal vocalist either.

Sir Ronnie James Dio - He's older than Ozzy and he can still sing, unlike Sharon's gibbering pet.
Rob Halford - Metal God. Nuff said!
Bruce Dickinson - What can one say? Great set of pipes and still sounding awesome.
Messiah Marcolin - Always sounded great. Thought he sounded even better on his last outing with Candlemass.
King Diamond - Unlike anyone else out there. Totally unique. Fuck, I fucking love Mercyful Fate.

At least Akerfeldt is listenable. I can't even get through any Metallica songs anymore because of Hetfield.

I don't mind his voice really. He is very lacking but it just has some weird charm to it.

While this thread is pointless because Halford is king (no, GOD), i've been listening to quite a bit of Don Dokken lately and that guy totally kills 90% of vocalists out there. i wish i could sing like that - i'd be fighting fanny off with a broomstick...If only i could convince my girlfriend that it was "cool".

No one beats George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher

I disagree.

Well the big 3 are Halford, Dio & Dickinson.

As far as Extreme metal goes I think the best vocalist out there is Primordial's Alan Averill.

Daniel Gildenlow is way up there for me. The emotion he puts into his singing is astounding, matched only by his immense range and the quality of his voice. Actually, he kinda reminds me of Barlow. Not that they sound similar at all, just in how versatile they can be.

Barlow is another favorite, for obvious reasons.

Russell Allen " ".

The Ripper is a fucking excellent vocalist, but he has the wretched luck of being paired with music that drastically under-utilizes his ability. His performances on "Framing Armageddon" (by Iced Earth; particularly the climax) and "Scream Machine" (by Beyond Fear) are among the finest in the genre, personally. A criminally underrated vocalist, through little fault of his own.

Hansi Kursch has always been a favorite of mine, though as someone said earlier, he truly shines through live performance.

As for extreme vocalists:

- I appreciate Chalky's versatility, but I wish he'd be a bit less spastic sometimes.
- Nergal; enough fucking said.
- Jari is another favorite, notable for his consistent quality across styles.

Notable mentions:

- Nils K. Rue
- Jens Carlsson
- Kelly Schaffer
- Garm
- Ihsahn

Edit: Forgot to prove I'm not a poseur: Halford, Dickinson, Dio.

trevor strnad, jari maenpaa, johan schuster, petri lindroos, christian alvestram, alan stainthrope, dez farfara, john henry, pekka kokko, sadew, Efthimis Karadimas

Mine opinion has changed:

Clean:

Garm (Ulver)
Sfinx (Ram-Zet)

Harsh:

Alan Dubin (Khanate)

Marquis (Funeralium)
Maggotworm Incinerator Abscess and Grubgorge Pestilent Diarrhoeator (Wormphlegm)

HAHAHAHAHA

My vote would go for either Bruce Dickinson or Killjoy (Necrophagia, Wurdulak etc. etc.).
Bruce just has such a huge range and so much power in his clean voice and even now after like 30 years he still rules.
Killjoy then has his own black metal-ish scream voice sounding so pure and natural that no one can do the same. I'll say he wasn't very good in the Holocausto De La Morte era and his voice on Season Of The Dead was quite average but his demo voice was really good and he has recently become much better than ever! Just listen to Harvest Ritual album...

Harsh: Chuck Schuldiner. His growls on SBG, Leprosy and Spiritual Healing are especially infectious and addictive. Its a nice raspy sort of voice, perfect for that kind of old-school, thrashy type of death metal.
Clean: King Diamond. All of his vocal types, including the insane raving, midrange howls, throaty growls, and of course the piercing falsetto, are absolutely unique and awesome. I love the way he backs himself as well, as no other vocalist would be capable of harmonizing with him in such a perfect way.

Diamond's falsetto sounds like someone kicked him to the balls

In order of significance & personal preference.

1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Rob Halford

These two, spawned countless imitators and whole genres were created upon their voice signature and style, they're His Master's Voice in Heavy Metal.

Breaking glass has nothing to do with how loud or "high" your voice is. It's the ability to find the exact same pitch as the "vibrations" of the atoms in a crystal glass, which is done at a surprisingly low pitch. You also have to control the harmonics.

Good to see Daniel Gildenlöw getting some love here, I think he's amazing.
Some of my favourites are Daniel Heiman and Urban Breed, when he sang with Tad Morose.

Eric Adams!!!!!! Come on, the guy is a genious! Will he ever run out of lyrics? I think not!

That in itself is a terrific skill. That means he has perfect pitch.

Dio and Floor.

My reasoning behind choosing Floor is that:

A) She has a multiple-octave range and versatility.
B) Her years of formal training give her impeccable vocal quality.
C) Her life as a metalhead adds an edge and passion to her voice.

I also like Doro Pesch and, yes, James Hetfield. I might be biased on that last one, though (Metallica was my first big concert experience!).

~Jenna~

Im not gonna name my favorites, Im gonna name who I actually think is the best

Singer from Opeth, Mike Patton, Dio, Chuck Schuldiner, Corpse Grinder

I had to pick grinder becuase when you see cannibal live his vocals sound just as powerful as on the record when he's saying a song title and when most everybody eles does that it doesnt sound as full without the music

Bruce Dickinson OBVIOUSLY. This thread can be locked now as there is nothing more to say.

There's far too many to pick one.

My current favourite clean vocalist, and i'm surprised nobody's mentioned him yet, is Sir Albert Witchfinder (Sami Hynninen) from Reverend Bizarre and recently also Spiritus Mortis. His vocals are so dramatic and over-the-top that I almost laugh out loud when i hear them. Yet at the same time they do this without sounding retarded like some doom vocalists can do.

As far as harsh vocals go, Kvarforth from Shining is absoultely amazing. I love the harsh and the clean vocals, but the best part is when he's screaming and sounding so pissed off while still maintaining a melody. Its a very unusual but also awesome vocal style.

Alan Averill from Primordial is also close to these two, his vocals are just so emotional and dramatic.

Another vocalist that never fails to amaze me is Devin Townsend, mostly in his solo releases.

Other honourable mentions include:
Garm(Ulver, Arcturus), Vortex(Arcturus, Borknagar), Mikael Akerfeldt(Opeth), Daniel Gildenlow(Pain of Salvation), Roy Khan(Kamelot), Danny Cavannagh(Anathema), Nathan Weaver(Wolves In The Throne Room), Kvohst(<Code>, Decrepit Spectre), Scott Kelly(Neurosis)