As long as they don't sound like -core screams, it doesn't bother me.


John Cyriis? Nasal? Barely. Sure, I can hear it, but it's not nearly as prominent as you make it out to be. Guess you don't like John Arch either, if that's the way you think.

PS: Not dissing you here. It's just that I don't really see your point.

I think Lars used to be a decent drummer, but somewhere along the way he completely lost it. I mean he was never the best, but his drumming used to be decent. He is one of the rare drummers that instead of getting better gets worse.

I've only heard their latest, but I feel like I should mention Wuthering Heights. The instrumentals are genius, but the vocals just ruin it for me. I mean they are just so ridiculously over the top and cheesy. Also, I hate to admit it, but I think a lot of slam bands wouldn't sound all that horrible if not for the inhaled vocals.

John Cyriis is a hell of a lot more nasal than John Arch, and doesn't have Arch's weirdly awesome vocal melodies. John Arch may have an odd voice, but he doesn't honk in his lower registers.

Arch is extremely nasal actually, although as you say, he makes up for it with his haunting vocal melodies. Still, I'm spinning Unstoppable Force right now and..... Well, Cyriis is much more nasal than I remembered. Yeah, I take back what I said. Still love the guy, though.

If people are gonna complain about drummers in bands that have made good records, the story begins and ends with Capricornus. No one who's been on a classic record is worse than him.

Tim Baker of Cirith Ungol. His vocals lack power and range. When he needs to shriek he comes off as shrill. He's like a small engine trying to power a large truck.

^ on the contrary, Baker is far and away the best part of Cirith Ungol for me. Yeah, he's kind of shrill, but the energy and determination behind his vocals just makes you so much more into the music, he really commits to immersing you in the album's experience as much as possible. He WANTS it. It's hard to not believe somebody with so much conviction behind what he's saying.

^ I don't doubt the conviction or the passion of his delivery, but the exceptional music the band plays deserves more power.

i know we are kinda off lars, but lars could not possibly ruin early metallica but everything after "metallica" is a different story

I know I am gonna get a ton of crap for this, but whatever.

Asphyx, if not for Martin Van Duren

I don't get it.....

You can easily replace Lars with a metronome. Speaking of fat people ruining bands, N. Imperial just ruins Twilight for me. Even though his vocals are really good on 8,000 Years, I just don't like him. Same goes for Mikko Aspa.

I don't like his vocals. I still like Asphyx. The Rack is good stuff. But his vocals keep me from loving them.

I understand that you don't like him. What I don't get is WHY you don't like him.

Surprised Cannibal Corpse wasn't mentioned due to Paul Mazurkiewicz. I don't dislike him/them, but it's clear that he hasn't evolved at all as a musician like the others since the debut. He's solid, but at times really repetitive.

Competent drummer, but yeah, Cannibal Corpse could certainly do with someone better. Imagine Pete Sandoval or Alex Hernandez playing for them instead

@Xlxlx

I am gonna go ahead and say it, but I probably shouldn't...

Martin Van Duren sounds like a drunk man with mental disabilities yelling into a microphone. His voice makes me cringe every time I hear it. He sounds weak, breathless and mentally disabled.

And let the newguy bashing commence...

*bashes his own head against the wall and starts jumping and screaming around the room like a monkey on crack*

Okay, okay..... I don't have anything good to say to you, so I'll just shut the fuck up. It's more convenient for the two of us.

PS: It's van Drunen. "DRUNEN", NOT "DUREN".

Oh man, one just popped into my head. Depending on your political bent, Jason Blachowicz in any band he ever was in probably qualifies here big time.

Re: Van Drunen, if anything I think the rough breathlessness of his vocals make them better/more convincing, not worse.

It sounds like he's burning alive. That's why I like him so much.

I tend to prefer my vocalists more... inhuman. Lord Worm, Craig Pillard, Frank Mullen and of course the mighty John Chang. When I hear MVD, all I can think of is some drunk dolt doing karaoke. It makes me both cringe and laugh. If it wasn't obvious, I feel the same way about John Tardy(or as I call him, Hohn Re-Tardy. So clever, I know)

As for MVD spelling, I always get that wrong and never bother trying to fix it.

The thread about the new Psycroptic has made me realize that they could be one of these bands. At least since they got the current vocalist.

Well, I can certainly get behind this (really awesome vocalists the ones you got there, although I don't know that Chang fella), but still, it's very difficult for me to see how anyone with an appreciation for death metal vocals can hate van Drunen. Or Tardy, for that matter, now that you bring him to the discussion. I guess you also hate Chuck Schuldiner then.

Looking briefly over his discography and at lyrics, I can't identify any identifiable political sentiment, just a lot of apocalyptic imagery and incredibly obvious "people die when they are killed" sort of ideas.

Would not say hate, but his vocals do little for me. I just prefer more guttural or demonic vocals. The more human sounding "insane" vocals as I have heard them called sound bad to me. I don't think anyone is wrong for liking them, but they don't do anything for me personally and make it hard for me to enjoy the other elements of the band.

And John Chang is the vocalist for Discordance Axis.

Get ya. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

1. Alice Cooper
He is annoying as fuck with that Im the center of the universe attitude. He is way to self centered and because I dislike him so much I don't listen to his music.
2. Gene Simmons
He ruined what dignity kiss had if any by selling that bands name to every business in America who made him an offer and he is also a self centered jerk. Its not like I would think the band was amazing if he wasn't in it but they would be more tolerable if he wasn't.
3. Paul Mazurkiewicz
He doesn't ruin Cannibal Corpse for me, I love the band and there music. But any time I here him talk in an interview I just want him to shut up.
4. Lars Ulrich
The guy isn't at all that great of a drummer and he just ruins Metallica interviews for me.

And then there is "They Breed". And "Millions". When you put the guy's name in Google Search, one of the first three suggestions is "Jason Blachowicz racist" and for good reason.

Also, this led to an incredible interview between Phil Fasciana and Bill Zebub that is the thing of legend. Basically, if you haven't seen that interview, you should have your metal fan card rescinded.

I totally agree. Ozzy was the perfect fit for what they were doing at the time and an unconventional singer is exactly what Metal needed for the founding band of Metal. Without an unconventional singer it may not have been as easy for people like Rob Halford not long after and then later people like Chuck Shuldiner to get into the music industry. He helped break the mold and usher in a new genre of music that would eventually take many creative forms.

Oh, well then. That explains a lot.

I guess I won't be listening to any of his music then...

It doesn't matter how influential or trail-blazing well-loved old-school Sabbath is, I just think he was an un-metal, shitty singer. End of discussion.

One's black and one's white.

Definitely more kvlt than none at all.

Yeah, un-metal back in the days when metal wasn't really defined as a genre at all...brilliant logic you have there...

Obviously, I meant un-metal as I view his voice as compared to most other metal vocalists, not by 1970 standards... don't really know or care what would be considered good metal vocals back then.

exactly!!! it's all subjective, but some things are more non-negotiable than others...

Can't stand the guy's voice either.

Japanese Sabbat - Great music but the singer's squealing is insufferable.

St. Vitus with Scott Reagers - Can't get into his theatric efforts even though Die Healing offers definitely great doom.

I saw Ozzy when Zakk was still in the band. During his long solo, they had what I like to refer to as the BoobCam: whoever was working the cameras took this time to zoom in on girls chests in hopes that they'd flash the camera. Sleazy, I know... but tits were much more interesting than what was happening on stage. I felt bad for Zakk, though... whenever people started cheering for tits, he'd start beating his chest, thinking they were applauding him.

Joining in on the whole anti-Metallica circlejerk... I've always said that Metallica would be an amazing band if a completely different band was playing their music. Drums are meh, leads are mostly meh (a few iconic solos, but a lot of forgettable crap) and vocals are meh. I'd say that half the riffs on classic Metallica are meh as well, but I always thought the the songwriting on the first three and a half was pretty decent overall. I guess I could lump half the black album in there as well, although for completely different kinds of songs.

Portrait now.