The Best Voices in Female Fronted Heavy Metal
A Tribute to the Singing and Screaming Vixens of Metal Music
Jan 13, 2009
Throughout the years and the decades, Heavy Metal has been a genre that has glorified the unconventional rewarded the strange. It should be no surprise to see that many of today's top Heavy Metal bands have females as lead vocalists. Putting a woman in charge of such an aggressive style of music is just the kind of iconoclastic move one should expect. With that in mind, here are the top female voices screaming today's best Heavy Metal.
Simone Simons of Epica
Simons, a Dutch vocalist, provides the elegant, melodic signing that almost places Epica into the category of "Opera Metal." Many of her mournful, wailing songs have been centered on opposition to organized religion - such as their single, "Cry for the Moon." Interplayed with her melodic cries have been the angry growls of more typical metal music. Epica has also featured some very unique additions for metal music: a choir, a symphony, and even clips from a speech by Tony Blair.
Tairrie B of My Ruin
Tairrie B is an American singer who initially started off as a rapper. Her style consists mainly of speaking softly and poignantly before breaking out into loud, guttural screams. Her music is often raw, and the lyrics are littered with flagrantly profane and sexual language. Much of the music by My Ruin deals with issues such as sexual repression and challenging traditional conceptions of beauty.
Otep Shamaya of Otep
Shamaya, an American, is the lead singer/songwriter of Otep. Many of her songs consist of Shamaya switching intermittently between speaking quickly and screaming loudly, often while employing the use of "death grunts." Her deep, throaty voice lends itself well to the band's loud and often grim style. Her recent album, The Ascension, featured the song "Confrontation," which was a no-holds-barred assault on the Bush administration.
Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy
Gossow, from Sweden, performs with a very unique style for female heavy metal singers. Nearly every word in her songs is spoken in a raw, deep, rough, and unforgettable mixture between a yell and a grunt. The lyrics, rendered nearly incomprehensible, often are poetic and symbolic in nature, and leave much open to interpretation.
Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist
White-Gluz, a Canadian singer, is an extremely versatile lead vocalist. She is able to use "clean singing," very effectively, as well as yell out the traditional shrieks and screams of heavy metal. The resulting music is both discordant and rhythmic, producing a good harmonic balance. Her lyrics often focus on activism and political issues. The music video for "Business Suits and Combat Boots" was a testament excellent video editing and White-Gluz's undeniable sex appeal.
Morgan Lander of Kittie
Lander, who is also Canadian, sings with a similar style to that of White-Gluz. In the early days, Kittie had a much harder and louder style, with Lander and other vocalists often engaging in a series of nearly incomprehensible screams. Later, the band's style mellowed out, and many of their songs lost much of their former edginess. Kittie's subject matter is often grim, dealing with personal suffering, abuse, and death.
In summary, there is an abundance of riches in female Heavy Metal singers. There were literally dozens of other women whose names could have been on this list. If one is interested in this kind of music, they will never want for talent or variety.
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