[QUOTE="Thechaninator"] It seems lke you are dismissing it when it can be quite effective. I think the problem is there are way too many bands who don't use screaming well or who simply can't do the style of vocals effectively.
A personal fav of mine is Opeth. Their ****of vocals alternate between clean singing and frightening growls. The thing is they have a thing for balancing beauty with the horror and the clean and growling vocals follow respectively.
Really, I find Opeth to be such an amazing band because they are somewhat of a missing link between metal and ****cal music. They write longer songs than most bands and they have actual movements in the song that amount to way more than a verse chorus verse sort of thing. They also incorporate different **** into their music which is also entertaining.
That being said, I do agree that there are definitely things bands should utilize more often rather than just loud noise and screaming.
More bands need to use techniques like in One Winged Angel by Nobuo Uematsu. Hes the one composer right now who can actually find his way onto my playlist.
Oh and FYI Nobuou Uematsu has proven that ****cal music can make it into the mainstream. His work on the Final Fantasy games is quite popular and the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack is the all-time best selling game soundtrack.
pianist
You know, I very much agree with your initial statement. The problem with screaming IS usually that it is not used properly, because there are countless examples of how effective a massive sound can be. If it were employed more logically to achieve formal cohesion rather than a simple effect, I would probably find it more compelling. But I have yet to hear an example of screaming in rock or metal music that played such a role. The only purpose it seems to have is to be loud, and frankly that is not necessary at all, because drum sets and electric guitars are loud to begin with. The screaming is continuous and does nothing at all to heighten climax points or bring out a particularly important point in the lyrics, because the whole damn thing is performed like it's a climax point. And growls will never do it for me. I find them laughable whenever I encounter them. For me, they add nothing but unintentional humour to a piece of music. Same goes for shrieking.
About Opeth - it's decent! There's some nice contrast going on here. But too much of it is still dominated by that loud, aggressive sound, and there weren't any transition points that particularly moved me. What it really 'needs' is dynamic contrast within those loud sections. Crescendos and diminuendos would add so much to the writing. Conversely, swells in sound within the softer section would have made a great deal to that writing. I just don't understand why so many popular musicians avoid dynamic contrast like the plague, except between sections. And I really think this song lost its way shortly after the soft material ended. Such a great contrast between loud and soft in the first few minutes... and then nothing.
As for Uematsu, he is not a cIassical composer, and it's really no surprise that his music is popular, because it ascribes to techniques used by popular music composers, and is just as easy to appreciate. Lots of people make the mistake of assuming composers like Uematsu or Lloyd Weber write cIassical music. They don't. There's more to writing cIassical music than using orchestral instruments.
Well if Uematsu isn't technically ****cal, then look at Jush Groban. He is pretty popular and I do believe he is a ****cal singer.
And about Opeth, if you really don't like the heavy stuff they have plenty of lighter material. If you're ever interested I can point you to some of their softer stuff. I love that band alot so I am always happy to get people into them. They prove just how good metal can be when there is more to it than just guitar and screaming.
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