I never cared much for Axl as a vocalist; there were literally a dozen backing singers on GNR’s studio albums who were uncredited because they were doing stuff that was supposed to sound like him. I thought he was a tremendous frontman, but that’s different.
I know there are a lot of people who hate the guttural/cookie monster stuff, but is has its place and Cavalera is the best of those guys.
I can’t get into Avenged Sevenfold, but I was stunned when I saw them cover Pantera (Mouth for War, I think?) on an awards show. M. Shadows’s vocals on that song were better than Phil Anselmo’s.
Wow. Didn’t see that coming at all. I always got the impression that lyrics and vocals were sort of an afterthought for Testament, so Chuck gets buried a bit.
I know the genre still exists and has changed since then but when I hear “metal” I think the 80s. If asked for one album as the best of the genre I would say Operation:Mindcrime. And Tate’s voice is just so damn good.
I’m not into much newer metal but when I heard Bat Country for the first time I was hooked. Avenged Sevenfold blends old, new and prog metal together and they are damn fine musicians.
Speaking of prog, I can’t believe I forgot to put James LaBrie from Dream Theater on mine.
Funny, Mindcrime is one of my less liked Queensryche albums.
There are Queen metal songs (Ogre Battle, Princes of the Universe, Stone Cold Crazy and the second half of Bohemian Rhapsody come to mind), and Freddie probably would have been a great metal singer if he’d wanted to play heavier music.
Not to derail, but these things rarely arise on the SDMB, so I have to plug Cavalera’s replacement Derrick Green as superior (likely a very unpopular opinion). He can actually “sing”, also, though he seldom does.
I grew up on Black Sabbath, and still love all the Ozzy-era stuff. When Iron Maiden rose I was completely into them, and I still cherish those pre-Somewhere In Time albums. Metallica and Slayer came along and my musical taste expanded to thrash and the speedier, angrier edge it embodied. I have most of Motorhead’s 700 releases
Here’s the Queen track Sheer Heart Attack, from News of the World (yes, it’s weird that it’s not from the album Sheer Heart Attack). While I generally agree with your observation (and I’m a big Queen fan), if you wouldn’t consider this song to be “metal” (considering its era), I’m curious as to why not?
Absolutely concur. But I would start with earlier tracks such as “Chaos A.D.”, “Dead Embryonic Cells”, even as far back as Sepultura’s groundbreaking Schizophrenia album. Only then should you listen to “Roots Bloody Roots” and you’ll realize what an absolute masterwork that song is!
This thread is going to get very ugly very quickly if we awaken the dreaded rock vs. metal debate.
