Top 10 Hansi Kürsch Vocal Performances
Hansi Kürsch is an incredibly talented metal singer, lyricist, bassist and songwriter from Germany.Allegedly a vocal god with stellar vocal skills. His voice is phenomenal.
Hansi can sound extremely aggressive, harsh, demonic and raw. But he can also sound beautifully soft, angelic and soothing. Both versions of his voice leave me in awe and I can’t believe this is the same singer. The passion in his voice is unmatched.
Hansi creates a choir effect via his signature practice of overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex and overlapping harmonies. Pure genius.
Some unusual facts: his voice sounds more youthful in his 40s-50s than in his 20s-30s, he began singing in a higher register in his 40s.
14 minutes of epicness and awesomeness.
Not to mention that Hansi sang this live, and it was mind-blowing - not many singers go for such tough material live. Actually, not many singers can sing it even in the studio.
Goosebumps all the way. Hansi sang his head off. One of the greatest and most emotive vocal performances I've ever heard. It's breathtaking.
Every second of this song has something impressive - either a soft, beautiful note, a harsh note, a scream, a skillful transition, etc. The way Hansi gradually leads you to the climax is perfect (0:35-0:50, 1:30-1:40, 3:10-3:25).
I've listened to this song many times, and Hansi's vocals still hit me like a 10-ton hammer.
Low notes, high notes, all of them powerful and full of emotion and passion. Words can't describe this beauty, especially at the beginning and around 2:30. There's such a low and resonant note at the beginning that you literally feel vibrations coming from his voice on the word king.
Pay attention to the fact that his natural voice is quite low (he's a baritone), but on some other songs, Hansi hits notes in the tenor register that could give real tenors a run for their money.
This is so powerful it could be used for resurrection - 9 minutes of passion (2:20-2:50, 3:35-4:40, 6:20-7:10).
The section from 7:00-7:10 is incredible: Hansi sounds like a soprano (female opera voice!). And he sang it at 44!
Geez, how many notes and words does this guy sing per song? Songs are long, fast, and complex!
This song sends shivers up and down my spine. This sad ballad describes a car accident where a girl is killed.
As a great storyteller, Hansi changes the intonation of his voice to match the story he tells in this song - his voice sounds melancholy, angry, innocent, ghostly, angelic, demonic, funeral, you name it.
Hansi also nailed the scream before the guitar outro (4:05) - it's long and insane yet melodic because it's so well crafted. Is this the last scream of the dying body when the soul leaves it?
The saddest thing is that the best Hansi note EVER is in this song - at 1:25 on the word "walls," and later, again, the same note on the word "God" from the line "Predestined's our part so we bleed in the name of God." He did it twice, meaning it wasn't something he did by chance. It was a controlled and planned note.
But because this is the most underrated Blind Guardian song, nobody has heard this incredible note. And many other beautiful notes.
Some really light but still quite intense singing here.
His voice sounds very agile and youthful. A very underrated prog song - his vocals are awesome.
Both low and high notes are gorgeous, powerful, full, and intense.
You can hear a big share of his range in this song (from C♯2 to A5). Pure eargasm.
To start, check out the song sample. You just have to hear this performance because I can't describe it.
Another incredible performance - at 44, his voice still had great power and aggression.
A very intense performance with great screams and full high notes. Sheer vocal badassery.
I'll let you figure out why this should be at the top: once around 0:45/0:50 when he screams "At all," and again at 2:25/2:30 when he roars "Her." Yeah, this song's intense. And not just a vocal epic either - this is probably BG's best raw metal performance as well. So fast, so aggressive, so consistent in every note.
A very soft ballad showing his beautiful lyrical voice, with some of his best vocal harmonies, if not the best.
This song showcases Hansi's stylistic versatility, i.e., his ability to sing in different styles and possibly genres outside of metal. This is very important because stylistic versatility is one of the criteria used to compare singers. When vocal experts compare singers, metal singers often lose out to lesser non-metal singers simply because metal singers don't get points for stylistic versatility.
This song is a metal cover of a hit recorded in 1931, and Hansi proves he can also sing like a romantic singer from the 1930s, especially at the beginning of the song. He sounds amazing, and I can't believe it's Hansi. But on the chorus, he uses his metal vocal style. How does he get this smooth, soft voice and then switch to a powerful metal rasp? As I said earlier, he's a vocal, stylistic, and tonal chameleon.
This one also leaves me in awe:
1. His vocals in the outro are the most beautiful thing I've ever heard - it's angelic! The outro is a Gregorian chant with his signature vocal harmonies.
2. The way Hansi sings "Oh, I made up my mind" always creates in my mind an association with a sudden attack by a deadly snake! His belting is awesome.
3. The vocals in the rest of the song are also very intense, and Hansi doesn't slow down at all.
Hansi's greatness as a storyteller. Hands down.
An exemplary vocal performance - vocals on slow and fast parts are flawless.
Vocals in this ballad are, oh my god! Find the live version from Tokyo on YouTube and don't bother with the studio versions. When I listen to this live version, I forget it's live, and only the applause at the end reminds me it was live. I'm pretty sure this is the best live vocal performance I've ever heard. This is how a singer should sound live:
"Blind Guardian - The Lord Of The Rings [Live Tokyo Tales]"
This track is a great opportunity to hear Hansi's voice clearly because it's a unique acoustic ballad and the instruments are not loud.
His voice is sorrowful, beautiful, and powerful at the same time.
Let's not forget about his aggressive, raw, and harsh vocals - a part of his versatility.
This is my favorite speed metal song, which is thrashy and aggressive. From 5:40-6:20, it's really full of adrenaline.
This perfect smoothness in his voice is very different from most of his songs, and I always enjoy this song for the contrast.
I can't believe his voice was so clean and fresh at 40 and even began sounding more youthful!
Flawless vocals throughout the entire song, but 5:30-6:00 is my favorite part - really fast and unstoppable singing.
Does Hansi take a breath? Sure he does, but his breath control and breath support are excellent.
Overall, great vocals from a metal singer at 50.
Play the song sample to hear both his head and chest voices and the perfect switches between them: head-chest-head-chest-head voice.
It's like a duet with himself.
This song is also full of frequent and perfect switches between "head-chest" voice.
Excellent singing.