Oh man…Spreading the Disease!! That beginning riff! Chris DeGarmo!
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Another addition to rock vocals…Chris Cornell
Cornell’s great as is Daniel Gildenlow from Pain of Salvation too.
And it would be a crime for me not to mention Russell Allen in terms of vocal ability. Brilliant vocalist. Not a big fan of symphony x as a band though , but they do somethings in progressive metal very very impressively.
Do think Myles Kennedy is decent as well. Don’t like the music , and def not a fan of his singing at the lower range stuff with a more nasal influence. But he’s got his chops.
In terms of the whole package, I think that Mercury is the greatest frontman of all time in rock’n’roll music and its subgenres. He had the audience in the palm of his hand and I’ve never heard anyone with a similar voice and vocal delivery, too - when you listen to heavy or power metal singers, they start sounding the same after a while, like copies of Halford and Dio, even though all of them are fantastic singers.
My personal favourite will always be late Warrel Dane, though, he falls into that small group of “I’ve never heard anyone similar”. I’ve always admired people who have range in everything they do, like Stevie in football - what sets these people apart from others is that they are not decent at everything, they are excellent at everything.
When I look at him, I immediately think of rock stars who smashed their guitars after shows - in my mind, that’s what he’s been doing to his vocal chords! He sang every style I’ve heard aside from death and black metal (at least to my knowledge) but some of that stuff was inhumanly difficult… Ville Valo’s cut from a similar cloth, though he didn’t experiment nearly as much as Patton. At the top of their game, both had the vocal range of around six octaves if I’m not mistaken.
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Yeah, Patton’s got a 6 octave range as does Townsend. Haven’t heard Valo too much , but I don’t think he’s over 4. I mean a vocal range of 4 for a metal singer considering everything else they bring to the table w.r.t the requirements of the genre is pretty high.
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Patton can sing death metal stuff as well. He chooses to not do so. Him and townsend are freaks(in a good way)
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The best writer isn’t the one who writes the most complicated sentences or has the most extended vocabulary. In my opinion at least. Same goes for music/singing.
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He is definitely quality. I don’t mind a few Symphony X tracks
You KNOW how much I love Dane and Nevermore and Loomis 
Never got to see them 
Yeah, definitely, though I don’t mind complex stuff if it was written and performed for the sake of music rather than the musician. Recent case in point: there’s a Dream Theater song called Space-Dye Vest, I think it’s been mentioned here already. A hauntingly beautiful song, one of the best I’ve heard in my life. Pure emotion, no self-indulgent complexity and whatnot. I thought that band wouldn’t play it live since its writer was no longer in the band but they opted to play it after three decades or so and I dared to hear it yesterday… Everything was cool until Petrucci started to shred his way through the song, and it was so out of place that I can’t being to describe it. I simply closed the YouTube window and I don’t intend to listen to this version ever again. There has to be a time and a place for everything and good music is all about doing the right thing at the right time.
I’m never getting over the fact that I’ll never see them or Type O Negative or Death play live (sorry for mentioning it like a billionth time).
Hmm, Internet actually says that Valo is closer to five octaves, which is still insane. Even if I could sing, my vocal range is two octaves wide, so I’d be pretty useless in any music with clean signing. His delivery, though… Maybe the band wasn’t the most consistent out there but his voice and charisma would carry them. He’d have made a great horror film narrator, haha!
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I heard a podcast a while back regarding great solos - mainly guitar but they covered trumpet and saxophone as well. One of the featured soloists was Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour. They pointed out that he plays very slowly by rock guitar standards. He also doesn’t play very many notes but there is never a note wasted and he wrings the emotion out of everything he plays. This was compared with a 1980s shredder where they played incredibly quickly but the actual sound was complete garbage.
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There is a raft of David Gilmour videos singing with his family on YT if anyone wants to see what he is up to…
Some of the comments:
It’s great seeing a massive guitar titan healthy and enjoying life, bringing us songs making our lives better, thanks Mr. Gilmour.
### @johnallen869
It makes me smile watching this family. He has given us some of of the best music ever made for the last 50+ years. He has earned this time of contentment with his family.
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DT lost their way when Rudess joined. He and petrucci began their mutual wankfest. I do believe Kevin Moore was instrumental in keeping the various egos at check apart from being a wonderful composer and musician
Still love the initial dream theater albums upto perhaps train of thought. Couldn’t bring myself to like any from octavarium onwards though
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Bruce Dickinson for example is higher 3 octaves. He’s brilliant at what he does though. There’s plenty to rock/metal singing than just the ability to hit high notes. Which is where someone like labrie comes short , he’s got no grit and emotion about his voice. I do think la brie hits 4 octaves.
His belting voice is weak without any real force behind it and his highs come off as squeaky (for lack of a better word). And also lacks a distinctive identity which is crucial.
The best rock/metal singers like the others have their identity and also are able to express emotion and strength as well which is crucial for the genre they are playing at.
Doesn’t mean la brie is a bad singer.
Paul Rodgers (Bad Company) and Steve Marriott (Humble Pie) are up there also.
As a guitarist I have to say choice of notes is subjective. There are some obvious 80s examples of pretty much guitar aerobic exercise, not delivering much in terms of musicality or contributing to the enhancement of the song.
However both myself and a number of fellow guitarist mates and my guitar teacher agree that what Gilmour does isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea.
I almost feel like it’s a case of the emperors new clothes with the slow few-noted solo. Sometimes yes that what’s warranted but a lot of places it’s a head scratcher as to “really? This is adding to the song?”
When it comes to both judicious use of speed, note selection, technique, and emotion, I can point you to metal players such as Marty Friedman and Alex Skolnick. Listen to Skolnick’s solo in Testament’s Return to Serenity. It builds slowly to a crescendo and then finishes as gently as it started.
If you want an even higher grade of soloing, check out our own English gent Guthrie Govan who is arguably the greatest overall living guitarist. His choice of notes, when to push the envelope, and when to back off is impeccable. He is the guitarist of choice by none other than the great Hans Zimmer for his orchestral arrangements and live shows. His solo work is also impressive but he’s really come to the fore as part of the power trio The Aristocrats.
Frankly, when some guitarists say less is always more they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
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What a load of bollocks. Of course less isn’t ‘always’ more.
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