Top 10 Rock / Metal Vocalists Who Can Both Sing You to Sleep and Scare You to Death
There are some incredibly versatile vocalists who can do many things with their voices.If you hear two different songs from their discography, you would be surprised because they morph their voices.
This list is about the singers with the biggest contrast between their soothing and terrifying voices. Also, the quality of these two types of vocals matters.
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician, prominently known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth, as well as being the former vocalist of death metal supergroup Bloodbath for three albums up until 2012.
He also has a side project with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson known as Storm Corrosion. They released their self titled debut in 2012.
Akerfeldt also performed lead vocals on Katatonia's sophomore album "Brave Murder Day". He is best friends with their regular lead singer, Jonas Renkse. He is at #1 because he's the singer with the biggest contrast between his soothing voice and his terrifying voice. He's got the smoothest and most soothing voice on this list (along with Jonas Renkse and Hansi Kürsch) but he's got also the most brutal death growl on this list (his growls are perfectly performed as well).
1) Opeth - In My Time of Need, Still Day Beneath The Sun, Windowpane
2) Bloodbath - Weak Aside
3) 2 in 1 vox: Opeth - Ghost of Perdition
Devin Garret Townsend is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad from 1994 to 2007 and has an extensive career as a solo artist.
Jonas Petter Renkse is a founding member, songwriter, lead vocalist and ex-drummer of the band Katatonia, founding member, songwriter, bassist, backing vocalist, ex-guitarist of the band Bloodbath.
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, film composer, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the alternative metal band Faith No More.
Dan-Erland Swanö is a Swedish musician who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and drummer for the band Witherscape, as well as the Owner of Unisound but he achieved fame as the vocalist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Edge of Sanity. Edge of Sanity - Twilight (2 in 1 vocal effects, haha - he does both in this song)
Stuart "Stu" Block is a Canadian singer-songwriter, who was the frontman for Canadian progressive death metal band Into Eternity, and is now the lead vocalist for American heavy metal band Iced Earth.
Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian vocalist, best known as the former lead vocalist and one of the founding members of the Canadian metal band, The Agonist, and current lead vocalist for the Swedish melodic death metal group, Arch Enemy. Most people know that she can scare you to death. But she can do more than that - in her former band, The Agonist, she did more clean vocals than she does in Arch Enemy.
The Agonist - Thank You Pain, Panophobia
Chino Moreno is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and contributing guitarist of Deftones.
Maynard James Keenan, often referred to by his initials MJK, is an American musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor, best known as the vocalist for Grammy Award-winning progressive metal band Tool. He also is the singer of A Perfect Circle and Puscifer bands that vary in style.
Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains, which he founded with guitarist Jerry Cantrell in Seattle, Washington in 1987. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s. ...read more.
Hansi Kürsch, born Hans Jürgen Kürsch, is the lead singer, lyricist, co-composer and bassist for German power metal band Blind Guardian . Heavily influenced by Freddie Mercury, he creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping vocal harmonies. He records each vocal track individually because harmonizers and "perfect pitch" programs don't work with his voice due to distortion and the natural double layer effects his vocal cords have .His early technique made use of a more aggressive and harsher, "screaming" technique . ...read more.
Most of the singers on this list employ both clean and unclean vox to get a shocking contrast. Hansi is a perfect example of how to get an impressive contract by using only clean vocals.
1) Blind Guardian - Harvest Of Sorrow
2) Demons & Wizards - My Last Sunrise (2 in 1 type of vocals)
3) Blind Guardian - Majesty, Another Holy War
Lead vocalist of Between the Buried and Me
Most songs often have a mix of cleans and harsh vocals. Songs like Mirrors and Desert of Song feature just cleans.
But of course Tommy can growl insanely as well, as heard in many of their works.
Corey Todd Taylor was born in December 8, 1973. He is an American musician, author, and actor best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the Nu-metal band Slipknot and hard rock/alternative metal band Stone Sour.
Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Joseph "Joe" Duplantier is a French musician best known as the guitarist and vocalist of metal band Gojira. Soft vox: Gojira - Born In Winter
1) Whitechapel - Hickory Creek, Bring Me Home
2) Whitechapel - Somatic Defilement full Album (Escpecially Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation and Vicer Exciser), This is Exile, Darkest Day of Man.
3) Both Clean/Dirty: Whitechapel - When A Demon Defiles A Witch
Especially now more than ever!
Gutturals: All of Repugnant Discography
Clean Vox: All of Ghost Discography
Petrus Thomas Ratajczyk, better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative.