The Shrine

I'm not a hardcore metal collector, but I do have my tastes in metal. One thing I've found is that there's no shortage of good guitars, keyboardist, and drummers, but hardly anybody can sing worth a shit. They either growl to hide that fact, or they sing like a bad 80's hair band.

I'm beginning to think that the only reason why most of the popular metal bands are popular is because they at least have a decent voice. I still love Dream Theater because whatever shortcomings the singer has is made up with the rest of the band. (Though, in later albums, he's sounding less like a hair-band reject, and I think I am actually starting to like John's voice.)

I listened to Impellitteri, and it sounded good until the damn singer popped in. That sort of shit gets annoying when I'm now expected to get disappointed when the fucking vocals ruin everything. As far as my tastes in metal:

Dream Theater (6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence is still a favorite of mine)
Drain STH
White Zombie (first Rob solo was good, the rest started to suck)
Marilyn Manson (prefer the newer stuff, but pre-ACSS is not bad)
Type O Negative
Stabbing Westward
Filter
Tool/Perfect Circle (if you consider that metal)
Older Metallica (esp. instrumentals)
Megadeth (to some degree)
Ministry (need to sample some more)
VAST
Kidneythieves (just got into these guys; good stuff)

Maybe it's some sub-genre that I gravitate to which I can't define... Is there a "Metal with singers that don't suck" sub-genre?

SineSwiper wrote:I'm not a hardcore metal collector, but I do have my tastes in metal. One thing I've found is that there's no shortage of good guitars, keyboardist, and drummers, but hardly anybody can sing worth a shit. They either growl to hide that fact, or they sing like a bad 80's hair band.

I have basically the same complaint with most metal I encounter. I generally settle for "hard rock" for that reason, although I listen to some stuff that's half punk, half metal. Check out Thrice; their album <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 46">Artist in the Ambulance</a> is solid. An easy label for it is metal-influenced punk. They have some interesting riffs and catchy melodies.

SineSwiper wrote: Drain STH

I love Drain STH. I had heard of them back years ago when they were at Ozzfest, but didn't buy their albums until a few years later and by then they had broken up.

And yeah, I love metal, but if the lead vocals suck then I can't listen to it. I like a good growling vocalist but only if they're good at it. Same with screaming and plain singing.

And when I say good, I mean, I enjoy the way it sounds.