Salutations, folks. As the title states, I'm in search of songs (preferably black metal - but I'll appreciate anything, really) that immediately start with a shriek from the vocalist. Feel free to suggest songs that do the same thing with a growl, or other form of vocal hit, really.

I've got these in my playlist so far:





This lifelover one I really like:



And my favorite so far in the list:



Thanks for the recs!

Like that?

Bethlehem - Schatten Aus Der Alexander Welt is a good one.

EDIT: Anaal Nathrakh - I am the Wrath of God.... is another one that starts of in a similar manner.

Hypocrisy - Fractured Millennium

Man, that opening is bestial!

Unfortunately, nothing comes to my mind. Only one partial example:
The song Chasmal Fires by Ethereal Shroud has a long intro, but then at 4:10 the real song begins with a shriek. I think it sounds really cool.

This is a really broad request...

Mournful Congregation - Tears from a Grieving Heart
Forest Of Shadows - Wish (not sure if this will fit, - it's short, and it's more of a singing of the first letter from an actual word from the lyrics)

This was my morning alarm for quite some time for the very reason of the immediate scream at the beginning.

Oh, thanks to your post I remembered that Mournful Congregation have another song like that.

Strength, Pride, Nobility by Aryan Blood;



Servants of Themselves by Blasphemium;


(I don't know if you can call that immediate because the video clip has silence at the start)

I could swear I forgot most after reading the thread lol, I'll name more later

I'm a huge Hypocrisy fan, and yes the scream in Fractured Millennium is awesome. But I'm looking for songs that immediately start with the scream/shriek/growl. Thanks for mentioning the song, though. It sort of fits the criteria, admittedly. Same thing with the Ethereal Shroud song (from one of my favorite albums of that year). Forests of Shadow's - Wish also sort of works, although its basically just the beginning of the first word of the song elongated. I wasn't familiar with this band prior, so thanks, Sjal!

The Aryan Blood (...), Blasphemium, Mournful Congregation, Bethlehem, Anaal Nathrakh and Nocte Obducte songs are the sort of thing I'm looking for. I hadn't listened to Nocte Obducta in years. Kind of forgot about those records. Great stuff.



@Thexhumed - the video link in your post says "video not available".

This popped into my mind after listening to some of these recs, also:


And I have no idea how this one here escaped me in the original post, considering its from the same Peste Noire record:

THAT is the Hypocrisy song for this list. And I know the record already but didn't think of Weed Out the Weak. Thanks!

I got deeeeeep down into my playlist and found some more for you

Staring Into the Emptiness by Forever Mourning:


Gates of Grief by Necromicon (personal favorite here)


And lastly, this one's not that much of a black metal band, but I still think you'll like it, so here you go;

Remembered another one:

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet - this was what I thought of immediately upon seeing the thread title.
I had it as my morning alarm for a while; the first few days it had me literally jump out of the bed in confusion, but sadly, the effect soon wore off.

Some excellent recs here in these past few posts. Thanks all!

The scream in the Razor song made me do a chef's kiss. I can only imagine how jarring that would be for an alarm. Clearly you REALLY, REALLY wanted to wake up (I've had Emperor's 'The Wanderer' as my morning alarm for such a long time.Definitely gentler!). Similarly, I'm using some of these for my timer on the phone. I'm on a quest to freak my coworkers out as much as possible when my break is over.

@DenisMDM - I had never even heard of any of the bands in your post. All great fits, and yes - I am digging the Necromicon record specifically.

I've also known of Forgotten Tomb for years, but honestly never got around to listening to them until now. Thanks for that, funeralravens!

Just stumbled across a record from last year (2022) that I didn't spend much time with at all, and this track is getting added to the list.



It makes me want to go through all the Fate/Diamond stuff to hear if there were any songs that opened with a (oh, fuck...GYPSY!! Yessss!) falsetto. Haha, I thought of this as I was typing. Memory strikes!

I also just had a friend remind me of Emperor's Curse You All Men!, and Beyond the Great Vast Forest. Had another remind me of the GREAT Stormlord:



While this isn't thread-related, can someone point out how to properly link YouTube videos and use the whole spoiler/hidden mechanisms so it doesn't slow down the page loading time?

My first thought was Forgotten Woods' "The Starlit Waters/I, the Mountain". Think this one should be obvious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EBhKY2qE4E

Thanks Wily. Curse of Mankind is actually one of my all-time favorite Black metal records, and I didn't even think of that song. Definitely going into the playlist. The first two Forgotten Woods records are absolute gems. "Dimension of the Blackest Dark" from the first one is also going into the list. The painful, desperate howl is at 13 seconds in, but thats close enough to warrant inclusion. Thomas Torkelson's vocals are some of my favorite in the Black Metal sphere.

A few more I've added to my list since last night after digging through some records I've long enjoyed:

Ancient - At the Infernal Portal (Canto III) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py4E9rbiRpY
Prophecy of Gehenna (The scream is at 13 seconds, roughly, but its a great one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9tS1fmZwfg

Antimateria - Sielta Mista Valokaan Milloinkaan Karkaa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf9SJgtTiYk

Beketh Nexehmu - Dopt i Elden (its the fifth song) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKc9ds3N6g0

The Berzerker - The Principles and Practices of Embalming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4xYtwZ9Qe0
As the World Waits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHfAD3K0GMo

Dimmu Borgir - Master of Disharmony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KAq3a8fhRo
In Death's Embrace (the live version on GSG only) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w-kGbBhGA8

The Sins of thy Beloved - My Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Af7NiMmFk

Warmoon Lord - Purging Nefarious Vortex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfN1j21AFD0
Obsessing Darkness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gguWtPt1y9A
In a Rotting Memories Grave (this one pulls double-duty. Not only does it start with a (admittedly short) shriek, but we get a second, much more robust one around the 24-second mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxPRspD-xto

And just how exactly I didn't think of 'Life Demise' from Unanimated's masterful Ancient God of Evil until now boggles the mind. Absolutely perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ohO-i73bzc

On the note of Life Demise, I would be remiss not to mention the opening track from the new Majesties record, Vast Reaches Unclaimed, called 'In Yearning, Alive'. Pure homage to Life Demise by the sound of it, and very well done, from what is so far my favorite record of 2023.

The code for this is:

I am not sure whether youtube videos under spoilers aren't preloaded though (so they probably still slow down the page).

@funeralravens, thank you for the clarification there. I think I may have tried to bracket the 'url' part outside of the 'Spoiler' bracket. Cheers.

At this point, I've delved into enough of my hard drive to (so far) muster 53 songs, clocking in at a total of 4.5 hours. Within a few days, this has become somewhat of a pet-project. I've been having a lot of fun with it, so I'll post what I find going forward. I'll just use links, however. If anyone has advice on how to make things a little (or a lot) more streamlined and load-time/forum friendly - do let me know. It's been a while since I've been active on forums of any kind, but php always mostly made sense to me.

Some additions to the list:

After remembering Gypsy,
'...and Oceans - Semtal med tanker - Halo of Words' came to mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYlryb9X1A
The vocalist they had during the first era of the band is so delightfully wacky, and clearly wasn't too concerned about following any codified notion of what he could do within the context of black metal, symphonic/keyboardy/industrial or otherwise. I've loved ...and Oceans for about 20 years now, so it was fun to remember this one. A bold opening, and a lot of fun.

But I also hit Salapsism, from The Symmetry of I, The Circle of O. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8phRgB6gOLE

From the new record, "As in Gardens, So In Tombs" theres also this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRV82_v0vgc

I'm sticking with the letter A for the evening, it seems.

The Swiss duo, Ateiggar, released their EP back in 2019, entitled "Us d'r Höll chunnt nume Zyt". It remains my favorite Black Metal EP of the past half-dacade. The debut LP, "Tyrannemord" came out last year, equally worth the time. Both releases have some up-front vocal deliveries that belong on this list.

From "Us d'r Höll chunnt nume Zyt":

The title track, a dramatic, but to-the-point shriek, lasting about 4-5 seconds, and it sounds amazing -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfBEVZYO7SA

'En Blinde namens Duracotus' - A short "Yah!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZvsAJ4G60

And not forgetting Tyrannemord, theres 'Die Nacht droht fyschter mir'. A roughly 5-second long "ooooooooaaaaahhhhhhhh". Very effective!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n0vDv7kVSE

Katatonia - Without God

or

Dark Tranquility - Nightfall By The Shore of Time

maybe you can consider this?

Also Katatonia - In Silence Enshrined.

Hi everyone, here are some more for y'all

-Beyond the Gates of Slumber by Spazmosity


It would be really cool if someone uploaded the rest of the demo, though.

-Livets Lofte by Sorhin


It's track 2, sorry I couldn't find it separate.

And saved one of the best for the last, "Failure Was Described as Religion, as Heresy" by Dodsferd

Both Katatonia songs are perfect! Both are going into the playlist. The Dark Tranquility song I'm going to add as well, although I've mostly tried to avoid examples where the scream, etc, is an actual lyric or word. But this one feels right, regardless.

@DenisMDM - Once again, your examples are not only great fits, but they're also either bands I've heard of but never listened to, or they're bands I was completely unfamiliar with. I can't even find that Spazmosity demo on Soulseek, which is rare. So extra hails for introducing me to it all. I'm adding every single one, and yes - that last one from Dodsferd is absolutely my favorite amongst the lot. Its so far one of the rarer examples, where theres 2 SEPARATE screams/shrieks/wails/whatevers at the very beginning of the song. BONUS.

Going down through some more of my own finds:

Atrophia Red Sun - Nameless Rot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjgX6_CJTpU
I discovered this record somewhere around 2004 or so, thanks to BNRMetal pages. Still love the record, although I think its a bit too long. Definitely worth a listen if your into psychedelic/industrial death metal. Makes me think of some of the early ...and Oceans material, honestly. For the song, we get a solid "Huuuaaaaaaaiiiieee".

Barrow Wight - Osgiliath https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzVpuaOkK5o Very fun Venom worship, but instead of Satan, its Sauron and everything is pure Tolkien. The record itself also gets a little boogie-woogie psychedelic at times, while staying in the Venom framework. Absolutely nothing to not like here. For this one its a straight-forward "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh".

Bathory - Of Doom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEz0e4yYtbU
No introduction needed here. I combed through the early Bathory records, KNOWING there would be something and am honestly surprised this was all I found. Someone double check for me. I still can't believe this is the only song. Quorthon gives us a respectable "Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhrrr", clocking in around 4 seconds. Thank you, Mr. Forsberg.

Bishop of Hexen - To Begin the Quest Towards the Noble Dark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLJQx5azIoY
Another somewhat more obscure one. Synth-drenched black metal, with an 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyaaaah". Very similar to the Zargof example, but shorter.

Blood Red Fog - Fields of Sorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_at9z6ZqA
Black Metal from Finland. I haven't listened to much of the record, but I can assume I decided to give a go based on the fact Cosmic Church is in the similar artist tab.
This is another example of what appears to be actual lyrics shrieked at the beginning, which I'm trying to avoid, but its effective and indecipherable enough to be included.

Burzum - Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCnj45m9-TU
Much like Bathory, I knew there HAD to be some Burzum songs that had a shriek up-front, and while this one starts to veer toward too long of an intro before the vocal-hit (its around 17 seconds in), I still included it. Classic Varg wail. My only hope is that he performed the scream while feeling feeble within an actual forest that was new to him. Seems obvious he probably found his way home, though.

I have never heard of Atrophia Red Sun before and that song is a banger, I can't believe how I got so many good recs from only one thread, thank you for posting it, and thanks everyone for your additions

Also, while listening to En blinde namens Duracotus, I knew that I heard that 04:17 section somewhere else, thanks to the guy in the comments for pointing out it was from a Kvist song, lol

Ateiggar have a bit of a mastery on the Kvist sound, no question. Which, of course got me thinking...

I hadn't posted the latest K discoveries... yet. But since you mention it...

Kvist - Ars Manifestia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s80QBT5xfEQ
Classic 2nd-wave Black Metal record that never got its due back then, but is highly regarded nowadays. New one for 2023? Sign me up. Lets hope it pans out.
For this one, we wait through about 10-seconds of some drum and bass-guitar setup, and then a roughly 4-second long "Reeeeeaeeaaahhhhhhh". Effective!

Since Katatonia songs were mentioned earlier, and now Kvist, I'll go ahead and proffer-up some Mediterranean delicacies starting with the letter K. Its like heavy-metal Sesame-Street.

Katavasia - Adoration of Darkness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRTcP5fvAWU
Very solid Greek Black Metal, from the 2015 debut. Right out of the gate we get a "Rrryyyyyyyyyyee" Like a really intense Rye whiskey, perhaps.

And as Billy Mays always said - "But wait! Theres more!"

Katavasia - Daughters of Darkness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBQtHEEF84
From the 2020 follow-up "Magnus Venator". At 10-seconds, we get more "Rrrryyyyyyyyyeeee". I'll take it! These guys like darkness, clearly.

...and speaking of Greece, I've found 3 Rotting Christ songs so far that work here. I'm kind of curious if anyone matches what I've got before I post it, because I'm sure there are some others. I mostly know the 90s records.

I have to hop to G, here.

There are 3 reasons for this, the first of which is the fact that so far, this band is the only band that starts with G that I've found with songs that fit the criteria (there will be more to come, I'm sure). The second reason being that there a total of 3 songs on the same album. The 3rd reason? Its the only full-length the band released. And its excellent.

That band is Gorement. The record being 1994's 'The Ending Quest':

Veil of Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6pQzqUeZsI A very immediate "UUhhaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" Inflection is definitely on the 'ah" component.

Human Relic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeSWPESFv2U This one is special. We get TWO vocal-hits, simultaneously, in the first 4 seconds of the song, tracked side-by-side, each different. One seems to be a straightforward "Yaaaaaahhhhhhhh", the other, a "Yeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Very complimentary.

The Memorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyswBi42FD4 This one sounds like a "Yuuuuaaaaaaaaiaiiiiiiiiiiiieee".

I also want to thank all vowels within the alphabet and the fact humans can exhale air from their lungs for the genesis of this thread.

Well, I thought Gorement had a gold mine in terms of quantity, but then Ablaze My Sorrow one-upped them with their 1996 record, 'If Emotions Still Burn'.

We get four here, out of the eight songs total, which is impressive!

If Emotions Still Burn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpgnizOWp6I
My Last Journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM8YMVfKlIc
As I Face the Eternity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXaCMfLDVQs
My Revenge to Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3uo-xv3wk

The vocalist's sort of wail-ish shriek sounds mostly the same throughout the four songs here, with only slight variations amongst them.

Since we're on Swedish Death Metal, another record I found with an impressive 'scream first, play the song later' count is the excellent 2003 record from Unmoored - 'Indefinite Soul Extension'. It always made me think of a more melodic and overall heavier version of early Opeth, considering theres not as much in the way of acoustic guitar use. Christian Alvestam is an absolute beast here, and his vocals are in top form, both growls and cleans. Highly recommended. Much the same as 'If Emotions Still Burn', we eerily have four out of eight songs that begin with some great sounding roar-ish type screams, one of which is the rare "two-for-one", where there are 2 separate vocal hits right at the start.

Unspeakable Grief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2ze226UQpA
Phase of Revulsion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-ghEVqyuU
Morndraper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru-5I-c7Kxc
Spit Forth from Failure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7iEr1vtDWs - With this one, we get a Tom G. Warrior "Ugh!" right up front, followed up around the 12 second mark by a very satisfying "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH". BONUS.

Its been slightly less fruitful finding examples of immediate (or nearly-so) vocal-hits within the Traditional Metal sphere. There was of course Mercyful Fate's 'Gypsy'.

Obviously I was to find more. After sifting through some of The Lord Weird Slough Feg's material, 2005's 'Atavism' yielded some results.

'I Will Kill You/You Will Die' - From the start, we get Scalzi's vocals immediately rising upwards in the mix, "Wuaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh" swooping in like a pissed-off Tarzan (or Slaine Mac-Roth) during a Warp-Spasm out for vengeance and blood.



The blood of what, you ask?

Clearly the dinosaur/foul beast that seems to be in it's death-throes at the biggining of Atavism II, from the same record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjN1f_2zac0

This one starts not with a vocal-hit per-se, but with what sounds like a dying Stegosaurus. One can only assume it was Scalzi that brought whatever the creature was to it's knees or stubs-thereof. It would be fun to know where the sample is from.

One more for your list:

Behemoth - Of Sephirotic Transformation and Carnality

Very nice! The only Behemoth record I've gone through for this so far is Zos Kia Cultus. The major hit from that one was 'Heru Ra Ha (Let There Be Might)':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEYS7sS9UUM A very solid "Eeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" around the 6-second mark.

'Here and Beyond' also has a decent one, sounding mostly the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHuqG_ANvtc

Not as effective to my ears relative to the above, however. The song starts blasting fairly quickly, and it feels like the impact of the vocal hit for this one is a bit diminished as a result.

I just got around to listening to the entirety of Forgotten Tomb's 'Songs to Leave'. In addition to Disheartenment, two other songs are great fits for the playlist.

Solitude Ways - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6mhexFeEw4 A quick "Blyaaahhhh".
No Way Out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui2RqUcMFNU A classic, and impactful "Raaaaahhhhhhhhhh".

A great record overall, also. I'm sorry I slept on it for so long. Way more melodic and early Katatonia/Rapture-like than I thought it would be. Thanks funeralravens!

Switching things back to the falsetto territory, and because things seems akin to Gypsy in a way, we've got an instant ripper of an intro that includes not only a wail of a falsetto if I've heard one, but a raspy "Aahhhhhhh" and "Ehhhhhhhhh" that get tracked right along side the falsetto, yet at delyed intervals. One HELL of a vocal intro to a song here. Its Absu, from 2001's 'Tara'.

A Shield with an Iron Face - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaKOWSEvgPw

Not quite a falsetto here by any means, but on the epic/traditional metal front, I was able to find a Manilla Road song, from the absolutely mandatory and landmark 'Crystal Logic'. One of my favorite bands of all-time, so it was a special find. I'll be digging more into their discography for examples that fit this playlist, but for right now, 'The Veils of Negative Existence' delivers the goods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQCeZ5GK84

Maybe one of the more unique ones here, in that it starts with a "Yaaaahhhhhhhh" but then evolves into a laughter-like "hahahahaha". Very cool!

A couple from the mighty Immortal here, but I'm sure theres more if I went deeper into the discography. The first is from Sons of Northern Darkness:

Demonium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqvRVJiijpo - Here, weve got a "Bryaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" lasting about 8 seconds, the last second of which is a desperate-sounding "...ahyaahyehh!" before Abbath calls it quits. Shortly after, at the 22-second mark, the riff hits, and the joke is on us. Abbath is NOT done, as we get a quick 'Yiahh!' Two-for One!

From Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, we've got:

Unholy Forces of Evil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoXleBYgN14 - For this one, we've got a short "Eh-Ehhhhhh" right at the start that sounds like Abbath vomiting after a few too many drinks and then accidentally swallowing some of the fire he was blowing on the cover of the record. In other words, it sounds awesome. But wait...theres more! At the 20-second mark, we get a more fully-fleshed-out "Whaaaaaaaaooooah-ow-ow-ow". Another Two-for-One from Immortal.

Here is another one:

Unleashed - Dead Forever

Impaled Nazarene - The Horny And the Horned instantly came to my mind

Aaskereia - Gedanken has an awesome starting shriek.