Harsh (Screaming) Vocals

What are your opinions on them?

As an avid fan of metal in nearly all forms, I find that they fit the music very well and think they're just as good as singing if the vocalist can do it right. I hear people complain that they cannot understand the lyrics, thus the vocals are rubbish. If anyone has listened to the band Amon Amarth, most will say, despite the harsh vocals, the lyrics are quite easy to understand.
Also, one kind of gets used to it after a while. Think about learning a new language. At first, the accent makes it sound like gibberish, but after a while of immersion, it's suddenly not so hard to comprehend.
Grindcore, however. No effing clue. I think it's point or something not to understand the vocals. I don't listen to it much, so meh...

Personally I like quite a few bands with screaming vocals. Not my preference, but a lot of bands make it work well.

Yeah, Amon Amarth vocals are distinguishable, which is commendable for Viking Metal. That said, there are tons of "hardcore" bands, and I use the term as loosely as possible, given the bastardization of the namesake, whos lyrics are just intolerable. Converge, From A Second Story Window and the like..it's just yelling. Not that I give a **** about actually deciphering what the band is crying about, it would be nice to make them out, though.

"Hardcore" is such a dilluted genre these days, it almost seems hopeless to find a unique band amongst the garbage. Thankfully, I have.

I prefer harsh vocals to 'normal' singing in metal

Screaming vocals are sort of stupid.

They can work excellently, if they are used for a reason (that is not, 'I can't actually sing', as is often the case).

Many times a band brings out an album with 'singing' on and will say 'there's more singing on this one. My voice has improved', all but admitting they are talentless fools who saw fit to unleash a wave of aural rapeitude.

I don't really understand the fuss about understanding lyrics as well. Read the sheet if you care that much.

If it sounds good, cool.

If I can't understand the lyrics I hate it. Some metal bands I can understand, others I cannot. I especially hate it when I do read the lyrics and find awesome poetic lyrics that are being harshly screamed so that they are not understandable.

My classic example: Cradle of Filth

Originally posted by Nellinator
If I can't understand the lyrics I hate it. Some metal bands I can understand, others I cannot. I especially hate it when I do read the lyrics and find awesome poetic lyrics that are being harshly screamed so that they are not understandable.

My classic example: Cradle of Filth

What about foreign lyrics. Or songs without lyrics though?

I do appreciate good lyrics, but I would separate them from good songs. though if the lyrics are outright idiotic I might not feel the urge to listen to a song even if it is rather good musically.

As I've said before, people complain about not being able to decipher certain lyrics from songs by, say, Converge. Yet it's no different to not being able to decipher Rammstein, really.

I don't buy the music to relate to a man or woman's words, I buy it for the music. Like it was said previously, it depends on why the vocals are being used. Ihsahn can scream people's faces off, but it's because he chooses to do so to fit the song. If he desired, as he often does, he could out-sing almost anyone.

-AC

Originally posted by Bardock42
What about foreign lyrics. Or songs without lyrics though?

I do appreciate good lyrics, but I would separate them from good songs. though if the lyrics are outright idiotic I might not feel the urge to listen to a song even if it is rather good musically.

Agreed.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
As I've said before, people complain about not being able to decipher certain lyrics from songs by, say, Converge. Yet it's no different to not being able to decipher Rammstein, really.

I don't buy the music to relate to a man or woman's words, I buy it for the music. Like it was said previously, it depends on why the vocals are being used. Ihsahn can scream people's faces off, but it's because he chooses to do so to fit the song. If he desired, as he often does, he could out-sing almost anyone.

-AC

Well, I mostly buy lyrics for pleasure reasons. Though if Radiohead would now start putting in Nazi lyrics which I would find annoying, my listening experience would be decreased to such a point that I might not buy or listen to it anymore.

Originally posted by Bardiel13
What are your opinions on them?

As an avid fan of metal in nearly all forms, I find that they fit the music very well and think they're just as good as singing if the vocalist can do it right. I hear people complain that they cannot understand the lyrics, thus the vocals are rubbish. If anyone has listened to the band Amon Amarth, most will say, despite the harsh vocals, the lyrics are quite easy to understand.
Also, one kind of gets used to it after a while. Think about learning a new language. At first, the accent makes it sound like gibberish, but after a while of immersion, it's suddenly not so hard to comprehend.
Grindcore, however. No effing clue. I think it's point or something not to understand the vocals. I don't listen to it much, so meh...

Originally posted by Victor Von Doom

I don't really understand the fuss about understanding lyrics as well. Read the sheet if you care that much.

What's the point in vocals that don't serve a purpose? Added effect? Shrill pitch screaming or throaty growls don't make me bob my head any faster or harder than a well executed breakbeat or blast-beat.

Post-hardcore bands are on the scene for a reason. Given the derivative nature, you'd think vocals would be the distinguishing factor for the bands, but their not, which is why I don't follow the genre. Kids just go to gaze at their shoes and push the hair out of their eyes every two minutes. Same for death metal. Meatheads don't feel the need to "get" lyrics because they're just tossing each other around or rolling their eyes in the backs of their heads.

I appreciate the overall craftsmanship of a band. Unique vocals, engaging music, and an overall coherent product. I have my guilty pleasures, i.e. Between the Buried and Me, but it accounts for maybe 15% of the music I enjoy.

Ultimately, to each their own, but sometimes I wonder why half of these bands aren't just sans vocals.

Originally posted by Nellinator
I especially hate it when I do read the lyrics and find awesome poetic lyrics that are being harshly screamed so that they are not understandable.

My classic example: Cradle of Filth

You apparantly don't "get" lyrics either then.

Originally posted by Nellinator
I can make out the fact that there are distinct words.

There are always distinct words. Whether or not you can hear them properly is entirely different.

Originally posted by The Core
What's the point in vocals that don't serve a purpose?

Who says vocals indefinitely need lyrics to serve a purpose? The melodies of the vocals (More often than not written before the lyrics) are there to specifically serve the song, that's their purpose.

Originally posted by The Core
Meatheads don't feel the need to "get" lyrics because they're just tossing each other around or rolling their eyes in the backs of their heads.

Not the best way of expressing yourself admittedly, but they seem to "get" it more than lyricphiles do. The point of music is how it makes you feel, not what the words say. People who feel the need to "get" lyrics aren't fans of music, they're fans of lyrics.

To paraphrase Maynard James Keenan: If you're thinking you're not feeling as much as you should be. If you went to see the Mona Lisa and it said "Eat at Joe's" on the bottom, that's what you'd remember, not the art.

Originally posted by The Core
Ultimately, to each their own, but sometimes I wonder why half of these bands aren't just sans vocals.

Because the lyrics aren't necessarily there for you, they're there for the person who wants them to be there. Jacob Bannon knows what he's screaming, why should it matter to him if I don't?

Originally posted by Bardock42
Well, I mostly buy lyrics for pleasure reasons. Though if Radiohead would now start putting in Nazi lyrics which I would find annoying, my listening experience would be decreased to such a point that I might not buy or listen to it anymore.

Yes, so it decreases your listening experience. It takes nothing away from the music, just your ability to enjoy it, for some reason.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri

Yes, so it decreases your listening experience. It takes nothing away from the music, just your ability to enjoy it, for some reason.

-AC

Agreed.

Confucius says : he who screams all the time, has crap lyrics.

Originally posted by Kid Kurdy
Confucius says : he who screams all the time, has crap lyrics.

Originally posted by Bardock42
Well, that's nonsense obviously. One could scream the lyrics of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Morrissey. One could also scream Shakespearean Sonnets or poems of Yeats. In either case they would have excellent lyrics, wouldn't they?

Unlike most metal lyrics... (expects a serious bashing)

Originally posted by Kid Kurdy
Personally I have never heard anyone screaming the lyrics of Dylan, Cohen or Morrissey. And if they did, it would be a shame, because some lyrics deserve to be heard.

Unlike most metal lyrics... (expects a serious bashing)