One of my current obsessions is the interplay between relatively laid back music and harsh vocals. Horseback's Half Blood, Morbus Chron/Sweven, Summoning, Hail Spirit Noir. As it's not a genre it's hard to track down, but I'm curious to know what bands other folks listen to that do this. Really anything where you feel the harsh vocals are out of place upon first listen, then grow to love them over time.

Bonus points if you know anything in the Warning/Pallbearer doom vein like this.

Two bands come to mind immediately:

Enslaved's Vertebrae is probably my favorite album of this kind, even at it's most aggressive it remains hazy and atmospheric

Tribulation are doing this kind of thing very well on the latest two albums. A good example could be their song Nightbound, wich to me is one of the best of this style


...Probably i've been too obvious, so
I'll also drop a song wich is not very representative of the album it's on but could fit in your description:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YW2c3IZxW44

Check out the Dutch band Uur. They released an excellent full-length last year:
https://helderuur.bandcamp.com/album/uur

UK The River are too monotonous for me, but I give them the same tag:
https://riverbanduk.bandcamp.com/album/ ... hite-tides

Gallow God need more mentions imo, it's somber and restrained, some really good sobre doom:
https://gallowgod1.bandcamp.com/album/f ... ical-prose

Huh? All three of these have clean vocals.

Oh yes, I rushed a bit too fast in the wrong direction..!

Mellow doom with harsh vocals then? There's many funerary bands that use this kind of contrast: laid-back/mellow music vs harsh/grunted vocals. Not too sure this is what you're looking for either...

Isis - Panopticon: Tranquil, introspective sludge with harsh vocals

Alchemist - Organasm: Similar to Isis but more on the progressive/experimental side as opposed to outright sludge.
Really captures the grandeur of the Australian outback

Maudlin of the Well - Bath: Avant-garde metal with very serene soundscapes. Has sort of a lounge-jazz feel to it.
Also punctuated with harsh vocals

Devin Townsend - Terria: Progressive metal coated with a massive, Eden-like wall-of-sound.

Murmuüre - S/T: Ambient/industrial black metal that's wholly unique and immersive

Novembre - Novembrine Waltz: Wistful, dreamlike progressive metal with death growls.

Black Magick SS - Kaleidoscopic Dreams: Essentially psychedelic garage rock with black metal rasps.

Thanks! Not familiar with some of these, I'll check them out. I guess I should have specified NO NAZIS in my post. Black Magick SS can fuck all the way off.

Chile's Uaral is still the best convergence of purely acoustic music and harsh vocals I've ever heard.

Maybe you'll like Moontower, the album by Dan Swano. It's like a synth-drenched version of Rush, filled with catchy melodies, but with growled vocals.

Ha, I knew I was forgetting something in my initial list. Moontower is one of my favorite albums of all time

Look no further that October Tide's first album. Ethereal, gloomy, and chill sounding melodic death/doom metal. The band started out essentially as Katatonia's side project, and sounds like a calmer version of their early work.

Thanks, this is fantastic! Familiar with this band's newer stuff but never made it this far back.