Top Ten Bands that are Good at Playing Both Heavy and Mellow Songs

The Top Ten
1 Alice In Chains Alice in Chains is an American grunge/alternative metal band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley.

Them Bones - Hard
Nutshell - Soft

2 Staind Staind was a post-grunge/alternative metal band formed in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1995. ...read more.
3 Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American alternative rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The current members include Mike Shinoda (vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Brad Delson (guitar), Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (bass), Joe Hahn (DJ), and Rob Bourdon (drums). Linkin Park is associated with a mixture of alternative rock, hip hop, and techno. Some of their influences include Nine Inch Nails, Deftones,... read more

I Love Them!
They Are Truly Capable to be on 1st Place
... Listen 'Given Up' & 'Leave Out All The Rest'.. See The Difference
OR Listen 'One Step Closer' & 'Powerless'
OR Listen 'Victimized' & 'Shadow Of The Day'
OR Listen 'Crawling' & 'Iridescent'
OR Listen 'Qwerty' & 'The Little Things Give You Away'

If You Will Listen the 1st Song & 2nd Song..1 is Mellow & 1 is Metal

4 Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive death metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by David Isberg, who invited Mikael Akerfeldt into the band as a bassist. Isberg ended up leaving the band, which lead to Mikael becoming the band's vocalist, guitarist, principal songwriter, and driving force. Along with ...read more.
5 Metallica Metallica is an American Heavy/Thrash Metal band formed in 1981. The original lineup was James Hetfield (Vocalist and Rhythm guitarist), Dave Mustaine (Lead Guitar), Lars Ulrich (Drums), Ron McGovney (Bassist). The group came into mainstream from their Self-Titled album and the hit single "Enter Sandman".

With their first two albums, Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning reaching underground success, their third effort, Master of Puppets has since become one of the most important heavy metal albums ever, as it became the first thrash metal album to be certified platinum. The title track has since become the band's most played song live. ...read more.

Hard - Dyers Eve
Soft - Nothing Else Matters

6 System of a Down System of a Down, formed in 1994, is an Armenian-American alternative metal group from Glendale, California. The band name is sometimes shortened to System or SOAD. They've always been a very political band since their inception. Often being against genocide and war most notably in songs like: Pluck, ...read more.
7 Slipknot Slipknot is an American metal band formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1996. The band is best known as one of the pioneers of the New Wave of American Alternative Metal during the late 1990s - 2000s and are distinguishable by the band's clothing choices, consisting of black/red jumpsuits and horror inspired masks. ...read more.
8 Nirvana Nirvana was an American grunge band that was formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana disbanded after Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. The drummer of the band, David Grohl, went on to start the Foo-Fighters, an alternative rock band. ...read more.
9 Tool Tool is an American alternative metal/progressive metal band, that was formed in 1990. The band is set together between Maynard James Keenan (Vocals), Danny Carey (Drums), Adam Jones (Guitar) and since 1995 Justin Chancellor (Bass). The band is known for their influences from electronic sounds and their overly complex and strangely structured songs. They released their debut album "Undertow" in 1993 and later put out other famous albums, like "Lateralus" and "10,000 Days". The band has established a legacy as one of the most well-known and beloved progressive metal and alternative metal bands of all time.

They are the best at playing songs period!

10 My Dying Bride My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford, England in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released twelve full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release.
The Contenders
11 Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, often shortened to Five Finger or Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada. Formed in 2005, the band's name comes from the kung fu movie The Five Fingers of Death.
12 Deftones Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California. The band, which was founded in 1988, consists of Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter, Frank Delgado, Abe Cunningham and Sergio Vega. They have released a total of 9 studio albums. Some of their most popular songs are Change (in the House of the Flies), Passenger, Bored, Minerva, Rocket Skates, Back to School (Mini Maggit), Beauty School, Diamond Eyes, Hole in the Earth, Mein, Digital Bath, and etc.

I've heard extremely heavy songs by the Deftones, probably heavier than any band on this list but you then have songs like, Mein, Digital Bath and Dai the flu which are more soothing.

13 Breaking Benjamin Breaking Benjamin is a American post-grunge/alternative metal/rock band formed in 1998. The bands members all changed in the time between 2010 to 2014, with the exception of Ben Burnley (Vocals). The Ex-Members included Chad Szeliga (Drums), Aaron Fink (Guitar) and Mark Klepaspi (Bass). ...read more.
14 Nightwish Nightwish is a symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and lead singer Tarja Turunen. It's currently formed by Tuomas, Emppu, lead vocalist Floor Jansen, bassist and vocalist Marco Hietala, ...read more.
15 Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing. They also incorporate large amounts of orchestral arrangements. Hansi Kürsch creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping harmonies. Thanks to overdubs and numerous backing vocals Blind Guardian stand out with a very dense sound.

They are the best in this category because they have what is needed for this unusual combination - a very versatile singer. Hansi Kürsch is the most versatile metal singer as well as a vocal god in general.
Blind Guardian have only several mellow / ballad-esque / acoustic songs but they are over the top.

Listen in pairs (soft & heavy) - you won't believe this is the same singer and the same band (there was only one change in the lineup for 30 years - a drummer):

The Bard's Song (In the Forest) & Banish From Sanctuary
Miracle Machine & Majesty
Lord of the Rings (Acoustic) & Journey Through The Dark
A Past and Future Secret & Valhalla
Skalds and Shadows & The Last Candle
Carry the Blessed Home & Another Holy War
Distant Memories & The Script for My Requiem

Great Heavy Power and speed metal but they also have some incredible acoustic songs. go listen to the bards song-in the forest and then the Bards song-the Hobbit.

16 Red Red is an American Christian alternative metal/alternative rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band was formed in 2002 by brothers Anthony Armstrong (guitarist) and Randy Armstrong (bassist), along with lead vocalist Michael Barnes.
17 Smashing Pumpkins
18 Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band has released nine studio albums spanning the course of three decades, and their tenth studio album, The Fall of Hearts was released on May 20, 2016.
19 Chevelle Chevelle is an American alternative metal band that formed in 1995 in the Chicago suburb of Grayslake, Illinois. The band was originally composed of brothers: Pete Loeffler, Sam Loeffler and Joe Loeffler.
20 Beck Beck Hansen, known by stage name Beck, is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is mostly known for his musical composition, as well as a palette of sonic genres.
21 The Pixies The Pixies are an American alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The group disbanded in 1993 in acrimonious circumstances, but reunited in 2004. The group currently consists of founders Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering.
22 Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band, that was formed 1999 in California. Their longest lineup of members was M. Shadows (Vocals), Synyster Gates (Lead Guitar), Zacky Vengeance (Rhythm Guitar), Johnny Christ (Bass Guitar), and The Rev (Drums). ...read more.

Avenged Sevenfold are generally known as a heavy band, however each album has at least one mellow song. Seize the Day, I Won't See you Tonight Part 1, Dear God and So Far Away, all great songs regardless.

Just listen to 'God Hates Us' then listen to 'Dear God'

23 Moonspell Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart.

Great clean vocals and great death growls. Compare:
White Omega & Lickanthrope
A Greater Darkness & Everything Invaded

24 Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American grunge/alternative metal band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Chris Cornell died on May 17th, 2017.

Black Hole Sun & Jesus Christ Pose
Chris Cornell is one the vocal gods on this list so he can be versatile.

25 The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie.
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