Top 10 Metal Musicians Who Can Write and Record an Entire Album Almost Alone
Many of these metal musicians actually did it at least once. They wrote music and lyrics, played many instruments and sang. Usually they needed only a drummer.
Alf Peter Tägtgren is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band PAIN in which he is the only member. For his solo albums under the moniker PAIN he does everything - Vocals, Guitar, Bass & Drums (he can play keyboards, too). He writes all songs entirely, incl. lyrics. Also, he can do both clean vox and death growls.
Plus, he's a sound engineer who recorded and mixed many great albums. He can REALLY do everything alone.
List - Top 10 Albums Recorded, Produced or Mixed by Peter Tägtgren
Tomas Börje Forsberg, known by the stage name Quorthon (1966-2004), was a Swedish musician. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal genre and is credited with creating the Viking metal style. A multi-instrumentalist, Quorthon wrote the music and lyrics on all of albums. He died from a heart attack in 2004. He recorded all of the instruments on Bathory's albums Twilight of the Gods, Destroyer of Worlds, Nordland I and II and recorded two solo albums by himself
John Nicholas Oliva, known as Jon Oliva, is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. Co-founder of the metal band Savatage and the rock opera Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He's got a real 4 octave range, able to morph the sound of his voice to any style, from John Lennon and Freddie Mercury, and clean to Joe Cocker-raspy. He can do it ALONE! A lead singer, who writes music and lyrics, plays all standard metal instruments, plus keyboards and piano. He played all these instruments on Savatage official recordings although he was never officially a guitarist, drummer or bassist of the band (except in the early years). But he did that on several songs even in the 90s because he wanted to.
Jeff Waters (born February 13, 1966) is a Canadian metal musician and founder of the metal band Annihilator. He's best known as the guitarist for Annihilator, appreciated for his fast riffs and solos. Waters is also the primary songwriter in the band. Very often he has taken on the role of lead singer, bass player, engineer and producer.
He has owned Watersound Studios Inc. since 1994.
At a young age he took some classical and jazz guitar lessons.
Notable songs include Alison Hell, Human Insecticide, The Trend, Ultra-Motion, Detonation. He did it on several Annihilator albums in the 90s, only with a help from a drummer. He can play drums a little bit but not good enough for technical thrash. Yet, he can play drums for any song by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. And he's a mainly a guitarist.
Muhammed Suiçmez was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, to Turkish immigrants. He is the frontman and guitarist of the German technical death metal band Necrophagist. Guitarist and lead vocalist, who wrote alone the music and lyrics for the debut album and recorded it alone, since the rest of the band left before the recordings. He provided guitars, vocals and bass. He only used drum programming.
After the debut a full line-up was assembled again.
A lead singer, who actually did it on Theocracy's debut album - wrote everything, sang it, played guitars, keyboards and bass. He only used a program for drumming.
James Alan Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica. He can do everything as he can play a guitar solo and he can play drums a little bit. Maybe not good enough for thrash but still - you know, Lars wasn't the most perfect thrash drummer on several Metallica albums.
James would need only a bassist for a metal album that isn't thrash.
Agreed, he can play guitar, vocals, keyboards and drums. However he still can do the bass stuffs. I heard there's a keyboard called "bass keyboard" or a technique.
Darrell Lance Abbott, also known as Diamond Darrell and Dimebag Darrell, was an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of two bands, Pantera and Damageplan, alongside his brother, Vinnie Paul. Abbott died in 2004 after he was shot by a mentally unstable fan. He can play Guitar Bass and do lead vocals all he would need is a drummer
Jon Ryan Schaffer is an American heavy metal musician. He is best known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of the Florida-based heavy metal band Iced Earth, which he formed in 1985 under the name "Purgatory". A guitarist and backing vocalist, who writes music and lyrics, sings pretty good and occasionally plays bass. He would need only a drummer.
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner (1967-2001) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the founder and vocalist, guitarist and bassist of the American heavy metal band Death. He is considered the most influential figure in Death Metal, with some publications referring to Chuck as the "Godfather of Death Metal". Schuldiner died in December 13, 2001 of brain cancer, his death subsequently leading to the disbandment of Death, but has remained influential among many aspiring metal artists.
He was also known for his polite and life loving attitude and openly condemned stereotypes of metal musicians being harmful and evil. Only a drummer was needed.
Kai Michael Hansen is a heavy metal guitarist and vocalist. Hansen is the founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also the co-founder and former member of German metal band Helloween. He would need a drummer and a bassist.
Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (April 8th 1979 - December 29th 2020) was a Finnish guitarist, composer, and vocalist. He is best known as the lead guitarist, lead vocalist, and founding member of the melodic death metal band Children of Bodom. He was also the guitarist for Sinergy, The Local Band, and Kylähullut. He would need a drummer and a bassist.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960, Netherlands) is a Dutch progressive rock/metal songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive opera project Ayreon. He can write everything and provide vocals, guitars, bass, hammond, keyboards. He needs only a drummer.
I didn't put him very high on this list because he is mostly a prog rock musician with some metal songs.
He most certainly could. His music is already epic so why though.
Jason Curtis Newsted is an American metal musician, known for being the third bass guitarist with the band Metallica from November 1986 until his departure in January 2001, he was also a part of Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. He can play both Guitar and Bass (He's better at bass though) and he can sing vocals pretty good all he would need is a drummer
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and film director. He is best known as the former drummer of the hugely popular 90s grunge band Nirvana and the vocalist/guitarist for the alternative rock band Foo Fighters. He has sat behind the drums for many bands and artists, most notably: Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, Ghost B.C, Them Crooked Vultures, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Scream, Probot and many, many more. He actually did record a metal album by himself (Probot) all he needed was vocals on that album which by the way he can sing lead vocals so he could record an album all by himself
He recorded all of Opus Epynomonous alone with a session drummer.
Tobias Sammet is a German metal musician, best known as the vocalist and primary songwriter of the power metal band Edguy, as well as the founder, main singer and bassist of the metal opera Avantasia. A lead singer, who can write everything and would need a drummer and a guitarist. He can play acoustic guitar though. On official recordings, he usually sings and plays bass, keyboards, piano and organ.
On his new album he played every instrument himself
Michael Trent Reznor, known professionally as Trent Reznor, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and film score composer. He is known for his intense music videos. He played almost everything on The Downward Spiral.