I sometimes hear death metal or other extreme variations and often the growls and screeches just sounds too "schooled".
Like, you know, the singer took lessons from some pro and even if it sounds "extreme" it most sounds... "schooled and safe".

I can name many examples of "ACTUALLY ANGRY SOUNDING" vocals in punk and hardcore.

Most noteably Jonsson of AntiCimex / Wolfpack / Moment Maniacs.
This example is however punk/hardcore and therefor not qualified for this thread, but serves as a good example to start off with.
Vocals starts at 1:14


Theres no fancy technique being used here, it's basically just your typical unhinged roaring you hear from your neighbor junkies having a loud argument over some stupid shit.


The best METAL example I can give, is Death Strike 1st demo
Vocals starts at 0:23

This really sounds like he has no clue what he's doing and I love it

Do you have any suggestions? I am personally not that much into "extreme metal", sometimes I can dig the music, but the "schooled vibe" of singers usually loses me. But if it sounds completely mad like Death Strike, I could probably dig it.

Paul Evo from Warfare sounds genuinely pissed off on most of their songs. I think it is most apparent on Metal Anarchy

Thats an OK example, but he sometimes sounds a bit "funny", so still not beating Death Strike yet!

Im sure most examples will be early thrash/speed/crossover, as I think with time, this is just more and more unusual for metal to ever happen.

Also, The Exploiteds "late 80s metal era and forward" doesnt really count, as they never went fully metal in my opinion

Pete Steele in Carnivore sounds unhinged and full of rage.

Sometimes hes a bit theatrical even in Carnivore, but I totally agree with songs like this:


....and of course, this song is pretty much a pure hardcore punk song with almost no metal elements anyway

But yeah he sounds thread-worthy in many other songs too

The vocalist of Infernal War probably sounds absolutely livid. Probably the angriest-sounding metal vocalist I can think of.

I've always thought that Bob Reid sounded particularly pissed off, especially on the album Shotgun Justice.

There's something about the way he sings about violence that makes me actually believe he's seen some serious shit go down:

https://youtu.be/tJuoL1qzbs4

Havent heard much of Razor, at first glance it sounded like "late 80s almost-melodic half-proper-technique singing" similar to Bobby Blitz or something but.... The more I listen the more I can give that example a worthy-of-thread approval!

Sounds too "technique-trained".

Nobody would use a growl techniqe like that if yelling at their neighbor to stop letting their dog poop on his garden for the 6th time.
They would ust yell their throat out (check Anticimex example in OP for reference )

I still get chills listening to Damaar. Some of the most bestial and intense metal vocals I've ever listened to...

Dio was angry on Holy Diver.

I'm confused, I wouldn't describe your first example as sounding angry.

Good thread idea, I find myself missing some real anger in harsh vocals much of the time. Here’s a metalcore/melodeath band that I really love for this reason:

https://youtu.be/VapyYgnYizE

Aosoth always sounded super pissed off to me.

Really?

If you bump into a car in the streets, thats exactly howthe other driver will sound when hes screaming his lungs out at you to pay for the damage.

Hard no.

This is trained technique singing.

This is not yelling like lunatic.

Not really. He did sound actually pissed off on Dehumanizer and Strange Highways.

As to answer the question of the OP: the Demolition Hammer guy sounds really angry. Especially on Epidemic of Violence.

i agree with thewrll - the anti cimex example sounds like pretty standard punk yelling, not of a particularly angry variety... i'd say immolation's father, you're not a father for example conveys a lot more anger, though it seems to me that what you're after is just uncontrolled yelling, regardless of if it actually sounds angry or not

anyway, barney seems like a pretty obvious example here, thought of course napalm death has tons of punk in the sound as well regardless of era, and aren't purely a metal example

In terms of genuine unhinged violence, you're not gonna find too much within metal because you're right, metal is a super technically demanding genre to perform and that includes vocals. The final frontier of how batshit extreme metal vocals could be was reached decades ago and now most people do them, obviously because they fit the style, but also because that's just the way things are now so if you're gonna do death metal, you better growl in a way that's at least superficially similar enough to whatever nebulous "standard" that death metal fans think death metal vocals should sound like. I'm not saying we ran out of creativity, just that metal is too demanding to truly let loose and the role vocals play in the various subgenres just doesn't often lend itself it legitimately furious screaming with no technique or forethought. Metal demands too much thought. You get your Paul Baloffs and Sheepdogs every now and then but overall I'm gonna agree with Ced and say that something like Immolation may sound incredibly menacing but never truly deranged.

That's why grind is the closest scene to metal where I think you can find several great examples. Grind is all about just going fucking NUTS in short minute-long blasts of intensity utilizing riffs that were written in less time than it takes to play them. I realize this is a bad example since the bands he's involved in tend to be some of the busiest and most technical grind out there, but Jon Chang is a go-to example for me. His absolutely manic shrieking in Discordance Axis, No One Knows What the Dead Think, and especially Gridlink sounds like he just burned his hand and his dick on the stove at the same time.

Ayat might fit... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL1cZUh3aWw Completely maniacal BM from the middle east, so you know they got shit to be pissed off about.

What about Messiah?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpuUZdAoe4

or try a song like do unto others form holy terror and tell us if it fits here and there?

Agree with Carnivore. I think what youre looking for can mostly be found into proto-death, late 80ies "crossover"; i was well struggle with a LOT of vocals because they sound artificial and more laughable then angry or violent.

First The haunted is a very aggressive one too!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t7P_ayQDEM

I couldnt agree more with the OP. Its always nice to hear a vocalist that you can feel the anger in their voice. One of my favorite is easily AJ Magana from Disgorge(CA), Defeated Sanity, Relics of Humanity. AJ is one of the few vocalist that has an extremely gutteral style but still manages to sound extremely angry and aggressive, alot of times these vocals sound great but tend to be monotonous and feel forced as opposed to angry, whereas AJ sounds monsterous.

People can argue all they want about how metal Slipknot is but I've always enjoyed that about Corey's voice, particularly on Iowa, the dude just sounds pissed, you can feel it.

Other notable examples both Barney and Lee from Napalm Death sound angry, ecspecially Lee on FETO, its always sounded to me like an angry caveman just having a fit and not knowing how to communicate so just grunting and screaming near aimlessly. Such a great album and Lee's vocals played a big part in it.

Corpsegrinder and Frank Mullen are another two that I love and generally sound angry because of their percussive nature and the power behind their voices.

Last but certainly not the least Mortus from Marduk, alot of times death metal and black metal vocals come off much more as either extremely technically proficient but devoid of anger and emotion ala Matti Way or just chaotic for chaotic sake ala Lord Worm but Mortus sounds like an unhinged madman spiral out of control.

Corpsegrinder doesnt sound angry for my taste, far too artificial. If its about classic-frontmen into DM i guess Martin van Drunen could fit most. Maybe Mark Grewe? But i dont think that is what he is looking for.

Always been very partial to Kevin Baker from All Pigs Must Die, sounds like an angry dad yelling at his kid.



There's a lot hardcore in there though.

Maybe try Plebeian Grandstand's last album

Also FRONTIERER

So i was thinking about this while I was in the gym tonight and I cant believe I left out Guy from the Red Chord, dude is easily one of the angriest sounding voices.


Also the singer of Strangled sounds genuinely pissed off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYcabUKothM

Pretty much every classic sludge band would fit here:

Cory von Bohlen from Protestant


Todd Kiessling from Dystopia - EDIT: Oops someone beat me to this one oh well


Both of those examples have a loooooooottt of punk in them though. They're definitely not purely metal.


Janne Joutsenniemi from Stone. Definitely sounds like he's just yelling at you, although there's clearly enough training there that he is actually "just yelling."

Not considered metal here but Maynard from TOOL does angry vocals as good as anybody, Ticks and Leeches, Hooker with a Penis and I can go on.

They may not exactly be an obscure band anymore (at least by extreme metal standards) but I always thought Riley Gale from Power Trip had some of the most unhinged vocals I've heard from a thrash band in a very long time. I mean, just listen to Firing Squad.



Without him, I really doubt the band would have blown up the way they did, and it's no surprise to me at all that I haven't heard much of anything from them since his passing. He definitely casts a large shadow for whoever eventually replaces him, if that ever happens at all.

Except he's not screaming, I wouldn't even call it yelling. Really confused.

Classic (punk) band in this regard:

not strictly "metal" but Chat Pile has the angriest performance all around of any recent band, IMO

I've noticed that as Mikael Akerfeldt's harsh vocals kinda started to deteriorate on Watershed, they also started to sound a lot more aggressive and angry at times.

I hear it the most in Heir Apparent. 5:28 especially sounds like genuine rage.

Yes, Barney Greenway is what you are looking for, specially in the album Smear Campaign. Also Demolition hammer guy, in the album Epidemic of violence

Hard disagree, Mikael peaked on Watershed and The Wacken Carnage. He has never sounded more savage than at 5:44 into Hessian Peel:



His clean vocals are of course at their peak right now but that's a different conversation.

There's plenty of moments on Shining's "V - Halmstad" album where Kvarforth is channeling some very real despair and anger.

I only mean his voice was deteriorating, not how good the vocals sound. He was already losing his voice by Watershed, and it was even further gone in The Fathomless Mastery with Bloodbath. 2007 and 2008 must have been rough years. I think the start of that process is what made him sound so much more gnarly and aggressive in Watershed, he had to push harder to get the sound out.

Ain't Death Metal, but Justin has a angry voice on there at 1:37

I'm confused by you too man

If you didnt think Jonsson was screaming in the OP example...
...I would be seriously confused if THIS doesnt convince you that he is "yelling" or "screaming"?

Same singer as Anticimex in OP
Skip to 1:15 for a good example of actual angry yelling


(since Wolfpack is more a punk band than actual metal, I only post this to convince "thewrll" about this singers ability to torture his throat without any finesse or fancy singing university techniques )

But its still a great example of somebody sounding like a real life situation person would sound like if being mad at you for "insert reason here"