I’ve had a fun time over the last few months getting into metal music and its subgenres. I feel pretty basic in that my favorites remain Black Sabbath, Metallica and Iron Maiden. In my exploration I’ve learned that I tend to gravitate towards New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal / British Heavy Metal stuff. In fact, I found this Spotify playlist called Dad Metal that is absolutely up my alley and I have been shuffling through it a ton.
Unfortunately, I still can’t handle much screaming or harsh vocals beyond what’s in some Mastodon, Opeth, and Gojira records. Even some Pantera gets to be too much for me. I know that I don’t have to like everything and everyone’s tastes are different, but I feel like by avoiding all harsh vocals and screaming, I will miss out on a huge subsection of stuff. So I’m looking to get some suggestions on music that might help ease me into it. Maybe some albums that don’t have harsh vocals on every single track? Or even vocals that are harsh but you’re still able to parse out what the lyrics are?
Additionally, I’m interested in discovering some more recent bands and music that will help me add to my already growing list of Metal that I like. Some of my favorite records that were released this year are:
First Sighting - Blood Star ^^ these folks are a local band too! So I’m extra proud that they’re putting out cool stuff.
The Conquest of Time - Century
And, obligatorily, Metallica’s new record has been getting a ton of playtime from me: 72 Seasons
So, I’m looking for some new music recommendations along a similar vein to what I already know I enjoy. I’m also hoping to get some introductory avenues into harsher stuff, to try and get into that.
Looking forward to discovering new music with you all!
Idk if you’d be into birdcore but Hatebeak is pretty good
This is amazing. Thanks for the recommendation.
You probably won’t like these suggestions, but for the ppl who are into more experimental stuff:
Harvey Milk, yes, a band named after the first openly-gay politician is like a cross between modest mouse, king missile and a metallica if they had a good drummer and were more metal. Unfortunately, their best album, Life… the best game in town, is not on Spotify. I bought it on Bandcamp, but it’s worth it.
Godspeed you black emperor, while not strictly considered metal (closer to mathrock), they have mastered this really creepy post-apocalyptic vibe, mostly on F# A# infinity. The writer of the movie 28 days later listened to this album while working on that movie, and he used part of it in the movie, so you might even recognize it.
Portal is an Australian band that achieves what many metal bands fail laughably at: being scary. They have a cosmic horror spin on the genre. A guttural, disgusting, eldritch orgy of a mess, but it’s amazing if you’re into that sort of thing.
Okay, Harvey Milk is really cool - I had no idea that a band could sound like this. It’s awesome stuff.
I was familiar with Godspeed you black emperor and love that kind of stuff. Have to be in the mood for it, but when I am, it hits just right.
You don’t have to like harsh vocals to enjoy metal ! For example subgenres like power metal mostly feature clean vocals. Off the top of my head here are a few artists you might like :
- Devin Townsend has an extraordinary vocal range.
- Kylesa, sludge/stoner band with 2 singers : male harsh vocals that are actually intelligible and female clean vocals. In general stoner and sludge vocals are palatable for newcomers.
- Rolo Tomassi features an awesome (female) singer who handles both harsh and beautiful clean vocals.
- Lately I’ve been listening to ex-Delain singer Charlotte Wessels’ latest album a lot, but that’s hardly metal.
This is a great idea, unless you have a subscription service, it’s really hard to find new metal.
https://youtu.be/gqUPGa15Oto Unleash the Archers lean mostly clean vocals with some growls thrown in for spice with a solid NWOBHM base. Give them a shot!
You mentioned liking Gojira, so I’ll suggest Lamb of God, another groove band. Their vocalist Randy Blythe is very versatile, but a lot of what he says is pretty coherent / not overly harsh. I’d say he might be a good intro into some slightly “heavier” vocals.
Also the music is amazing and makes you head bang like nothing else
I personally like ACDC.
If you like Black Metal with a folk/indigenous twist, check out Illiniwek Black Metal by Witches Forest
Ohh! So Ian Christie has a show on Siriusxm called bloody roots and he recently did a piece on clean vocals in various genres of metal. Attached is a link to the playlist of the show.
I know this is several weeks late but I wanted to respond and THANK you sincerely for this. I’ve been listening to the songs listed on the playlist and have discovered some new stuff I really enjoy. I only wish that (a) I could listen to this Bloody Roots episode and (b) there was an actual playlist of these songs streaming somewhere!
Give Shining - Animal a listen. It was my obsession last year, easily clocking in hundreds of spins.
I have mixed feelings about Soen, but when they are good, they are good. Same goes for Textures.
If you like Mastodon, then give Stam1na and Baroness a spin. The first one is heavier on thrash metal elements, the later on stoner and sludge.
