Line #69 Main/HarshVocals


1	%%Examples have been alphabetized. Please add yours in the correct order
2
3	The use in music of vocals that are... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, harsh]]. Typically this refers to vocals that are growled, in attempt to make the music sound more "evil." This is commonly associated with [[DeathMetal extreme]] [[BlackMetal metal]], but shows up in other genres as well. See SopranoAndGravel for when this is paired up with cleaner, usually female, vocals. Compare MetalScream, when the singer makes their vocals sound more intense by, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin screaming]], and SmokyVoice.
4
5	Please note that Harsh Vocals are not the same as Screamo, which is another genre of music entirely. Most metalheads will [[FandomEnragingMisconception be rather upset]] if you refer to them as such.
6
7	----
8	!!Examples
9	[[foldercontrol]]
10	[[folder:Folk/Country]]
11	* In recent years, Music/BobDylan has started veering into this territory when he sings. His trademark nasal groan is still present, but age has added a gruffness that may even rival that of Tom Waits.
12	* CountryMusic singer Tyler Farr is known for having an incredibly raspy and guttural voice.
13	* Albert Kuvezin's singing is all like this. This is a result of him being a VERY accomplished throat singer. Here's an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F548r32GdT0 example.]]
14	* Not ''quite'' what's meant here, but Music/LeonardCohen did say, "Only in Canada could [[SelfDeprecation somebody with a voice like mine]] win Vocalist of the Year" when accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1992.
15	* Music/TomWaits gargles whiskey and broken glass.
16	* Nicolas Reyes of the famous Gipsy Kings is notable for putting on a very coarse voice when he sings.
17	[[/folder]]
18
19	[[folder:Industrial]]
20	* Very common in {{Industrial}} and related styles, pioneered by Music/SkinnyPuppy back in the 80s.
21	* Music/KillingJoke's Jaz Coleman mainly alternates between harsh vocals and a much smoother, crooning style - sometimes both get used within the same song for the sake of contrast. For a few musically LighterAndSofter albums in the mid-80's, he dropped the growling almost entirely.
22	* Das Ich is a good example of this trope's use in darkwave.
23	* Project Pitchfork prominently began using this vocal style in the early-mid 2000s. There are a few exceptions, such as "Timekiller", where the singer uses a relatively normal baritone voice.
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Metal]]
27	* All DeathMetal singers (Website/TheOtherWiki even refers to this vocal style as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_growl "Death Growl"]]). In the early years of the genre, [[Series/SesameStreet "Cookie Monster"]] vocals were basically the only thing that separated it from just dirty, fast thrash. (in fact, a lot of Allmusic reviews of the genre use the words [[http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cookie+Monster%22+site:allmusic.com "Cookie Monster"]]) Bands who go beyond strict use of deep growls (and perhaps occasional high-pitched screams) are often accused of being sellouts and posers unless the band in question has ProgressiveMetal leanings or otherwise has segments where cleans could actually fit the song, like in MelodicDeathMetal.
28	** Music/{{Cannibal Corpse}} Singer George Fisher has been growling so long that he can switch this voice on and off. While off, he sounds like he's been smoking eight packs a day.
29	** Many ThrashMetal singers, get pretty close to death metal vocals, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TGW78Uj3k Mille Petrozza]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cFQPF_G5OQ Randy Rampage]].
30	** And to show how "harsh" it is, Cookie Monster creator Creator/FrankOz stated that the guttural voice [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090103110228/http://opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007902 "blew my pipes out" the first time he tried, and once performing it for a whole day, "my normal voice would be a half an octave lower."]]
31	** MelodicDeathMetal bands generally use higher-pitched screaming, but there are examples of bands using the traditional growling style such as Johan Hegg from Music/AmonAmarth
32	* Infamously to anyone who's played ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 2]]'', Mallika Sundaramurthy from Music/{{Abnormality}} (as in "Visions"), who is also a rare female example.
33	* Another female example would be [[Music/ArchEnemyBand Angela Gossow]] and her hand-picked successor, Music/AlissaWhiteGluz.
34	* Masha Arhipova from Music/{{Arkona}}, one of the few female vocalists to pull off the DeathMetal growl.
35	* The grindcore band Caninus affectionately parody the use of this vocal style in metal by [[http://www.myspace.com/caninus having two pitbulls trade off on lead vocals.]]
36	* Music/TheDarkElement's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eidS1nyQB50 "Dead to Me"]] has guest vocalist Niilo Sevänen providing a deep-pitched roar at several points.
37	* Music/DreamTheater's James [=LaBrie=] normally did melodic vocals but has done occasionally employed harsher vocals, notable on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The song ''A Nightmare to Remember" is also the only time the band has used the death growl technique, though that wasn't done by [=LaBrie=].
38	* Music/{{Epica}}'s and Music/AfterForever's Mark Jansen
39	* Another female example is Jyou of Music/ExistTrace, although she's cut down on it in later releases.
40	* Music/{{Hacktivist}} has emcee Ben Marvin, who does this combined with rapping in contrast to fellow emcee Jermaine "J" Hurley, who uses clean vocal raps.
41	* Michael Bohn of Music/{{Issues}}, who [[SopranoAndGravel contrasts]] his vocals with the smooth, poppy, RAndB vocals of fellow vocalist Tyler Carter.
42	* Minoru Niihara of Music/{{Loudness}}.
43	* Detonator, vocalist of the Brazilian comedy Metal band ''Music/{{Massacration}}''. The InUniverse explanation is that the God of Metal ordered him to cut off his nuts to make his voice more Metal. Yeah, it's THAT kind of band.
44	* Music/MarilynManson varies depending on the song, but when a song with harsh vocals is done live, oftentimes, it will become even harsher.
45	* Buzz Osborne of Music/TheMelvins' primary vocal style can be described as this. As with Captain Beefheart, his speaking voice is quite different.
46	* Music/{{Motorhead}}'s Lemmy Kilmister was one of the first people to sing exclusively with a throat full of gravel.
47	** One of his fans, Music/{{Metallica}}'s James Hetfield, employs lots of this. To the point one day his voice blew out, forcing him to take some vocal therapy.
48	** [=NWOBHM=]/Black Metal band Music/{{Venom}} took Lemmy's vocal approach and cranked up the aggression. Their style was hugely influential on both black metal and death metal.
49	* Quorthon, the man behind Music/{{Bathory}}, codified the phlegmy, sinister rasp associated with BlackMetal.
50	* Music/APaleHorseNamedDeath use harsh vocals very sparingly, such as on "Devil Came with a Smile".
51	* Music/{{Pantera}}'s Phil Anselmo, one of the most influential vocalists in HeavyMetal during the 1990s, combined both [[TestosteronePoisoning machismo]] and [[AxCrazy sociopathy]] to create a sound much more terrifying than your usual, run-of-the-mill "scary" voice. You can even hear some of it as far back as ''Power Metal'', his debut with the band during their [[CreatorBacklash later-disowned]] [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness "glam phase"]]. Granted, the tone itself was mostly copy-pasted from Kyle Thomas of fellow Texas ThrashMetal band {{Exhorder}}, though he would later take certain... liberties with it.
52	* Music/MikePatton sometimes uses this type of vocal style in his music. [[ManOfAThousandVoices But that's because he uses almost]] ''[[ManOfAThousandVoices every]]'' [[ManOfAThousandVoices vocal style in his music]]. His performance as ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'' in the videogame of the same name essentially is Nightmare Fueled death metal vocals.
53	* Music/{{Otep}}'s Otep Shamaya does a lot of this, and is also another rare female example.
54	* Simone Pluijmers from the Netherlands, another female vocalist.
55	* ''Music/{{Psychostick}}'' takes it to the logical conclusion and has the vocals for ''Six Pounds of Terror'' performed by [[DeathbringerTheAdorable a small dog]].
56	* Max Cavalera of Music/{{Sepultura}} and Music/{{Soulfly}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_6IjeprfEs&ob=av3n ROOTS! BLOODY ROOOOOOOTS!]]
57	* For a full-on "Cookie Monster" female, Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires, a Music/DimmuBorgir fan who in a few songs [[https://www.instagram.com/p/CK4ZgeEgw5f/ growls]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ny3ZpZMOXY like her idols]] (and has downright [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCwDlmiudp0 covered them]]).
58	* The lead singer of Music/{{Skillet}}, John Cooper. Not only does he sing like this, it's his normal speaking voice.
59	* Much like fellow metal virtuoso vocalist Mike Patton, Music/DevinTownsend uses almost every vocal style under the sun, and is ''very'' good at implenting harsh vocals into his music.
60	* Andrew and Grant of Music/UnleashTheArchers provide these.
61	* Kamijo of Music/{{Versailles}} doesn't do this very often, but there's still a few examples of this, such as in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--VNsLhx7sE "The Red Carpet Day"]].
62	* Music/{{Vocaloid}} producer Yuyoyuppe has a good chunk of songs using this vocal style, done in the voices of Music/HatsuneMiku and Megurine Luka of all people. Some notable examples are [[https://youtu.be/jzuT0OrcUt0 "[S]"]] and [[https://youtu.be/0kgXEVoZaRA "For a Sick Boy"]].
63	* Laura of Music/{{Dalriada}} does this at times, though a majority of her singing is clean.
64	* Early in her career, Music/FloorJansen would perform in SopranoAndGravel duets opposite a male growler. She still does, but she added death growls of her own to her repertoire on Music/{{ReVamp}}'s second and final album ''Wild Card'', and also growls on a few Music/{{Nightwish\|Band}} songs, most prominently "Yours Is an Empty Hope".
65	* While not being actual growling, Magali Luyten's both singing and talking voice are very raspy.
66	* Music/TheHaloEffect's Mikael Stanne uses a mid-register snarl almost exclusively, bar singing cleans on the choruses of "In Broken Trust" and "A Truth Worth Lying For".
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Punk]]
70	* This is a common feature of FolkPunk-- musicians such as Music/PatTheBunny or Sean Bonette of Music/{{AJJ}} have gravelly voices that add to the punk nature of the music.
71	* Darby Crash of Music/TheGerms used this as more or less his entire singing style.
72	* Dicky Barrett from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones!
73	* Buster Poindexter (aka Music/NewYorkDolls) singer David Johansen, best known for singing "Hot Hot Hot".
74	* Music/GGAllin sang with a rasp that became more pronounced as time went on, owing to his alcoholism and substance abuse.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Rock]]
78	* Music/CaptainBeefheart used this voice, among many others, quite often. However, unlike Music/TomWaits, it was nowhere near his natural voice.
79	** In his case it was more like a transparent imitation of Music/HowlinWolf.
80	* Carl [=McCoy=] of Music/FieldsOfTheNephilim.
81	* Music/PJHarvey's song "Joy" from ''Music/IsThisDesire''.
82	* Frances Quinlan of Music/HopAlong pairs this with country-inflected crooning to make some damn interesting indie rock. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO_N-xNaU6A See here.]]
83	* Terje Winterstø Røthing from Music/KaizersOrchestra when he's singing for his project, Skambankt.
84	* Former Music/{{Kiss}} drummer Peter Criss was known for his very rough and raspy voice that he used to great effect when he sang. Most notably on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeUosbClag8 "Black Diamond"]]
85	* Yet another female example would be Music/CourtneyLove.
86	* Screamin' Jay Hawkins. When he isn't, y'know, screamin'.
87	* Dan [=McCafferty=] of Music/{{Nazareth}}. His gravelly style is rather similar to that of Music/DeepPurple's Ian Gillan, although both (especially Gillan) are capable of more melodic styles.
88	* Music/LittleRichard.
89	* Nils Frydakahl of Music/SleepytimeGorillaMuseum.
90	* Music/BruceSpringsteen probably has the roughest voice ever to grace the Billboard Top 10.
91	* Music/{{ACDC}}'s Bon Scott had a pretty gravely rasp on the ''Music/HighwayToHell'' album, whether this was due to his substance abuse or a stylistic choice we'll never know, since he died shortly after the album's release.
92	* Music/JoeCocker can easily be considered one of the first rock artists that popularized a very gritty, raw style of singing.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Pop/Other]]
96	* Music/LouisArmstrong.
97	* Music/DiamandaGalas: Who made shrieking an art.
98	* Another female example is Christine "99" Kowalski, the guest vocalist on Music/{{Front 242}}'s ''05:22:09:12 Off'' album.
99	* Hurricane Smith, best known for "Oh Babe What Would You Say"
100	* Music/MarianneFaithfull, since the 1970s, when her voice developed a distinctive rasp.
101	* Creator/HarveyFierstein, despite very much being a CampGay, has a ''very'' gravelly voice that you really wouldn't expect to hear in the show tunes he usually sings.
102	* In the French HipHop band Music/SupremeNTM, there's Creator/JoeyStarr's trademark raspy and gravelly voice, which gives a more {{hardcore\|Hip Hop}} vibe to the band's songs if the lyrics weren't enough.
103	* Music/YokoOno is notorious for her OneWomanWail. Not only on her own records, but also on Music/JohnLennon's first two albums. ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo1TwoVirgins'' and ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo2LifeWithTheLions''.
104	* Japanese Idol-fusion GirlGroup Music/{{PassCode}} has Yuna Imada, an adorable 4'10" young lady whose death-screams (which sound ''nothing'' like her real voice) punctuate 90% of the group's songs. Her fellow member Kaede Takashima also tries it in a couple of songs.
105	* Music/LadyBaby, another Idol-fusion group, has this on the majority of their songs as a stark clash with the other girls singing upbeat J-pop. The original screamer was Ladybeard, a six-foot-tall fully-bearded crossdressing Australian pro-wrestler whose shtick was that he was in fact a five-year-old girl. After he left, they had no live screamer until early 2018, when the only remaining original member recruited Emily Arima, who can growl lower than plenty of men but is praised for her mid-range screams.
106	** Ladybeard's subsequent projects – Deadlift Lolita and <name-as-yet-unrevealed> – naturally have him performing the same role.
107	* And a less famous female example in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain_Black Porcelain Black]].
108	* The futurepop band Pride and Fall uses these in "Turn The Lights On", which is somewhat of an OutOfGenreExperience for them.
109	* Traditional throat singing from Mongolia can sound pretty harsh for Western ears that are used to more mainstream pop music.
110	* No humans or any other living creatures on Earth hold a candle to the sound of a whale, as evidenced on the album ''Music/SongsOfTheHumpbackWhale'', which showcases nothing but these sounds. The singing is very loud, for it can be heard from quite a distance around. Yet "vocals" is not really the correct term here as whales have no vocal cords and generate sound by forcing air out of their nasal cavities. And what we call singing is merely a series of grunts, squeals, cries and rumbles.
111	* Legendary voice actor Candy Candido was very well known for being able to sing from a high pitched falsetto all the way to a bass baritone. He was also doing the whole "gruff singing" thing as far back as the early thirties, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GodCligzVw this clip]] shows. The best example of his harsh vocals is probably his rendition of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc1FeBN2Nf0 "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man".]]
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Fictional Examples]]
115	* Nidhöggr in ''VideoGame/BleedingEdge'' is all about his Death/Black Metal theme, complete with his ''Death Growl'' super that damages and silences enemies in a large radius.
116	* ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoIIMelodyOfMetafalica'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH7gslZm5k EXEC_over.METHOD_SUBLIMATION ~ ee wassa sos yehar]], with its infamous "kowarero" refrain.
117	* Depending on the outcome of a skill check in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', singing Karaoke in-game can lead to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh75iZ7wsDU a performance of "The Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns"]] in a ''very'' growly voice. Fail said check, and, [[HollywoodToneDeaf well]]...
118	* The web series "[[https://www.youtube.com/user/womenofextrememusic The Female Vocalists of Extreme Music]]" showcases...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty much exactly what the title says]]: women who do growls, screams, etc., usually in HeavyMetal, but other genres slip through sometimes. To date, it's covered hundreds of bands and vocalists--far too many to list on one page.
119	* Villains [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPbxwbnfY04 Black Shadow]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4rP7WpfaYg Blood Falcon]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gy4IRn291k Deathborn]] all have the same sinister, distorted guttural vocals in all their {{Leitmotif}}s in ''VideoGame/FZeroGX'' (while Deathborn's adds OminousLatinChanting and an OminousPipeOrgan.) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPQupzudw-g Bio Rex's]] theme isn't as sinister, but still uses lots of harsh growling and the occasional MetalScream.
120	* Parodied on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', where Strong Bad describes DeathMetal as being sung from "the bowels of your lungs", as opposed to "the top of your lungs".
121	* Nathan Explosion of Dethklok[=/=]WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}. It's his normal voice.
122	* [[Wrestling/RandySavage 'Macho Man' Randy Savage]] had this as his normal speaking voice.
123	* Most characters in ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' have pretty normal voice grunts to represent their singing/rapping, but VideoGame/{{Pico}} is about the only exception to the rule. His voice grunts are represented as scratchy and deep, and they only get deeper during his third song "Blammed". The fact that he explicitly hates Boyfriend and was sent to kill him in Week 3 doesn't help matters.
124	* The Sardaukar from ''[[Film/Dune2021 Dune: Part One]]'' prepare for war on Salusa Secundus with a preacher chanting something in loud throat singing to masses of them in their BlackSpeech[=-like=] language (which was conceived by Creator/DavidJPeterson). One of the phrases, "Dreams are Messages from the Deep", opens the film. Another one meaning "Power over Spice is power over all" opens ''Film/DunePartTwo''.
125	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HarshVocals