There are a lot of heavy metal sub genres with clean vocals. I don’t like most death metal bands with the exception of few as the music in those few bands/albums transcends the vocals.
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I’m curious to hear which bands are you referring to. I’m also hopeful that one of them is Bolt Thrower.
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Me , the death metal bands I like are death, cynic , watchtower , Dark Angel and maybe some Melodic bands like in flames. Oh yeah , meshuggah too if it counts.
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No, I don’t know them and neither does my mid-twenties daughter. Then again Ainu music meets quasi reggae probably isn’t her thing!
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I do kind of like the Eagles of Death Metal
I’m pn a long drive up to Northern Maine today for work and have been listening to Noah Kahan’s album, Stick Season. Not an artist I knew a massive amount about, just heard a few things before.
I’m not ashamed to say this album broyght me to tears about 5 times. Definitely “Orange Juice”, listened to that about 10 times on repeat. Heartbreaking story of wanting someone back and finally realising that you are poisonous influence for them. In the song, Kahan positions himself as a man asking his girlfriend/wife to come home - she’s evidently a recovering alcoholic - and Kahan has bought orange juice for her instead of alcohol which he thinks is a thoughtful gesture. Over the course of the song we are given more insights into their relationship and discover that her alcoholism comes from surviving a car accident and not feeling support from Kahan. There’s a heavy implication that Kahan himself is alcohol dependent and she fears returning to him would lead her back on that path.
Finally he repeats his opening offer for her to come over and that he bought orange juice, you realise its a sad lament of a man who hasn’t dealt with his own issues yet.
I love artists who tell stories and can paint a picture.
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You can’t tease us like that… and leave us hanging - Here we go :0)
Lyrics
Honey, come over, the party’s gone slower
And no one will tempt you, we know you got sober
There’s orange juice in the kitchen, bought for the children
It’s yours if you want it, we’re just glad you could visit
Feels like I’ve been ready for you to come home
For so long
That I didn’t think to ask you where you’d gone
Why’d you go?
And you said, “Mhm, mmm”
And you said
You said my heart has changed and my soul has changed
And my heart, and my heart
That my face has changed, and I haven’t drank in six months
On the dot
See the graves as you pass through, from our crash back in '02
Not one nick on your finger, you just asked me to hold you
But it made you a stranger and filled you with anger
Now I’m third in the lineup to your Lord and your Savior
Feels like I’ve been ready for you to come home
For so long
That I didn’t think to ask you where you’d gone
So why’d you go?
And you said, “Mhm-mhm-mhm-mmm”
And you said, “Mmm-hmm”
You said my heart has changed and my soul has changed
And my heart, and my heart
That my life has changed, that this town had changed
And you had not
That the world has changed, don’t you find it strange
That you just went ahead and carried on?
And you know I’d say the last time I drank
I was face down, passed out, there on your lawn
Are we all just crows to you now?
Are we all just pulling you down?
You didn’t put those bones in the ground
You didn’t put those bones in the ground
Honey, come over, the party’s gone slower
And no one will tempt you, we know you got sober
There’s orange juice in the kitchen, bought for the children
It’s yours if you want it, we’re just glad you could visit
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Noah Kahan
Orange Juice lyrics © Sony/atv Allegro, Secret Meadow Songs
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This is about number 50, i went to one gig in 2015 which was their final tour.
Devin outsings him at his peak. Now it’s just embarrassing. But unfortunately, no matter how much you train and look after your voice, some vocal cords wear out quicker than others, that’s just genetics. See how Bruce Dickinson can still belt it out at his age.
He’s not called “The metal god with the golden scream” for nothing
This. Labrie never had a powerful voice. But it’s become embarassing.
I’m almost to the point where either they should replace him or he should leave himself.
Then again I haven’t been that into DT since Portnoy left so don’t really care that much. Saw them last year at Wembley Arena and half the songs were forgettable.
Stopped caring about DT once Rudess joined. It’s become plain wankery since he and Petrucci went down that route.
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My go-to death metal bands: Carcass, Death (they are the touch stone!), Obituary (met them earlier this year in Camden!), Nile, Krisiun, Cynic, old In Flames, Kalmah, Bolt Thrower, a bit of Meshuggah.
I’ve missed listing Athiest and Nile on that. Opeth too , if it counts as a death metal band because of their earlier music , but fair enough if people count it as a progressive metal band.
TOTALLY agree!! Rudess is a great keyboardist, don’t get me wrong, but now it’s like having two virtuosos who want to just have solo duels. Previous keyboardists helped create the atmosphere in DT songs. Moore especially was great at this and it was his natural style. Sherinian is more of a soloist but knew how to pare down that tendency.
And Portnoy was the brake to stop this wankery while he was around. The minute he left this crap started.
I mean Carcass started out as pure goregrind before going through to melodic death so I’m sure you can stick Opeth in there.
Great live band!
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They don’t do death metal now though. I think not after Watershed. They did a change since Damnation , but Orchid / Deliverance / BWP era Opeth was different. And Akerfeldt is very talented. They sorta drifted away from Death metal ever since Steven Wilson came on board to produce their albums and started making exclusive progressive rock/metal albums from Damnation onwards.
Not a huge fan of Steven Wilson , but I think there’s a lot of similarities in the lyrics with this song and the one you’ve posted.
Hey brother, happy returns
It’s been a while now
I bet you thought that I was dead
But I’m still here, nothing’s changed
Hey brother, I’d love to tell you
I’ve been busy
But that would be a lie
'Cause the truth is
The years just pass like trains
I wave but they don’t slow down
Hey brother, I see the freaks
Dispossessed on day release
Avoiding the police
I feel I’m falling once again
But now there’s no one left to catch me
Hey brother, I feel I’m living in parentheses
And I’ve got trouble with the bills
Do the kids remember me?
Well I got gifts for them
And for you more sorrow
But I’m feeling kind of drowsy now
So I’ll finish this tomorrow
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@Sithbare, I wouldn’t count Watchtower and Dark Angel as death metal but I like your list very much.
@koptician I have huge problems with lyrics on Carcass’ early albums and that’s why I don’t listen to them even though the music is right up my alley. However, it’s Heartwork and Swansong that caught my attention in the first place, I consider them masterpieces of melodic death metal.
Death and Bolt Thrower are my favourite two death metal bands (no wonder they don’t exist anymore…), I’ll never put one over the other. Obituary are classic, too! Death metal would probably be my single favourite subgenre of metal if it weren’t for gory/blasphemous lyrics but there are few bands that I can tolerate (Entombed and Dismember), and I love a lot of others who combine death metal with other genres, such as Asphyx or Opeth, or play a melodic variation of it, such as early In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Kalmah, Insomnium etc. I’m into Dutch death metal scene this year, they are amazing!