# Death metal with clean vocals



## NaYoN (Oct 17, 2010)

Is there any? I would really like to know.

And no, I don't want pseudo death metal like Metalcore, Deathcore and Melodic Death Metal. Please don't post any MDM, otherwise the thread will be full of stuff like that, and bands like that are a dime a dozen. No As I Lay Dying, No In Flames, No Dark Tranquillity, No random female fronted metalcore/melodeath band. I'm not saying those bands are bad, they're just not death metal. Nile is death metal. Cannibal Corpse is death metal. Defeated Sanity is death metal.

Yes, Opeth exists, but they're more progressive metal rather than death metal. There's The Faceless, but their use of clean vocals is very, very rare.

Note that I'm not looking for something with EXCLUSIVELY clean vocals, but something that uses clean vocals well.

Does such a thing exist? When I brought this up among some 'tr00 met4lh34dZ" I got yelled at, saying death metal can never have clean vocals and be good, but I'm sure we're all above that kind of stuff and I'm sure someone here will be knowledgeable enough to find something that will satisfy me.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 17, 2010)

I really doubt you'll find anything with clean vocals that isn't attached to a progressive label.

Cynic's earlier material comes to mind



Their newer stuff is much more devoid of a death metal influence.


Nevermore has some pretty death metal like riffs.






If you're looking for Cannibal Corpse or Dying Fetus with clean vocals, you're not going to find it.


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## NaYoN (Oct 17, 2010)

I am willing to accept progressive death metal, as long as posters don't get lazy and just post MDM 

Yeah, now that you mention it the Enemies of Reality album in general has a lot of deathy riffs, thanks for pointing that out 

Cynic is cool too, obviously.

Maybe I can relax the constraints and accept vocals that are almost clean, like Soilwork's aggressive/clean vocal style at parts.

Also, stuff like Cynic, Death, Atheist are welcome.


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## Thep (Oct 17, 2010)

Stealthtastic said:


> If you're looking for Cannibal Corpse or Dying Fetus with clean vocals, you're not going to find it.



oh really?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 17, 2010)

^ Yeah you aren't, that featured the predominant use of growling and while I love Fleshgod; they certainly aren't what OP is looking for.


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## NaYoN (Oct 17, 2010)

Oh, yeah that song too. I really like that song. It's really good, but yes, I'm looking for some obscure band that probably made a single album and then disbanded, because they were too awesome. (note: i'm not saying i'm looking for an existing band, but look at stuff like lykathea aflame, if death metal with cleans existed, they'd probably share a fate with lykathea).

Thanks for reminding me of Mafia EP though, it's one of my favorite releases of the year.


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## troyguitar (Oct 17, 2010)

There's proggy stuff like Spiral Architect, Aghora, Watchtower but I don't know of anything that's really death-y with real singing.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 17, 2010)

Exactly, if you're willing to get into really proggy less death metal oriented stuff or maybe even just black metal stuff you can find a lot of bands that utilize clean vocals.


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## Randy (Oct 18, 2010)

I hate to say it (as an advocate of diversity in music, instrumental music and somebody who pays little attention to vocals or lyrics), but the texture of the music relies more on the vocals that sit on top of it than a lot of us would like to admit, IMO. I'll listen to a prog. or power metal song and for a second, tune out the vocals and hear how brutal the music underneath it is... I mean, REALLY brutal. In the last few weeks I've taken to trying to work on my vocals (both clean and not), so I've been improving vocals of jam tracks and it turns the song 180 degrees just what melodies you put over top of it.

TL;DR -- Death metal with clean vocal is probably considered something else that already exists under a different name and you probably don't like.


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## Necris (Oct 18, 2010)

The closest thing I had on my hard drive.

Unless you are willing to listen to Disillusion.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 18, 2010)

Randy said:


> I hate to say it (as an advocate of diversity in music, instrumental music and somebody who pays little attention to vocals or lyrics), but the texture of the music relies more on the vocals that sit on top of it than a lot of us would like to admit, IMO. I'll listen to a prog. or power metal song and for a second, tune out the vocals and hear how brutal the music underneath it is... I mean, REALLY brutal. In the last few weeks I've taken to trying to work on my vocals (both clean and not), so I've been improving vocals of jam tracks and it turns the song 180 degrees just what melodies you put over top of it.
> 
> TL;DR -- Death metal with clean vocal is probably considered something else that already exists under a different name and you probably don't like.



Exactly, you just aren't going to find super brutal shit like Origin or SoP with clean vox


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## cyril v (Oct 18, 2010)

OP, how does this sit with you?




Thep said:


> oh really?




I really wish those vocals were featured a _bit_ more on the disc, because it is definitely really awesome to hear.


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## Adam Of Angels (Oct 18, 2010)

The thing is, once you add melodic vocals to death metal, it pretty much becomes melodic death metal.


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## Necris (Oct 18, 2010)

One more...


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## Randy (Oct 18, 2010)

Best promotional photo ever.


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## ittoa666 (Oct 18, 2010)

Alvestam owns this genre, with Akerfeldt second.


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## LOGfanforever90 (Oct 18, 2010)

Randy said:


> Best promotional photo ever.



Wow. Dressed for success. Barney Stinson would be proud.


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## NaYoN (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks all for your replies.

@Necris:
Those are interesting songs, and I like them, never heard of them before. But not exactly what I was looking for.
@cyril v:
That sounds a lot like Scar Symmetry's vocalist, is it?
@Necris again:
Yes, Akercocke comes really close. But they tend to not have cleans over the brutal parts, but have the clean parts separate from the brutal parts. Thanks though, you've really added to the thread.
@Stealthtastic&Randy
You guys do have a point, but I still believe that there should be some obscure Czech band or something that has tried this 

In the meantime, Nevermore's Enemies of Reality album is really quite brutal and that, Opeth and Akercocke should combine with stuff like Dying Fetus, Origin somehow 

This is surprisingly brutal, even though it sounds like ass if you don't know the original song:

Also, the beginning of this when the whole band kicks in:


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## nojyeloot (Oct 18, 2010)

Thep said:


> oh really?










After listening to that I feel like I've been trampled by a stamped of Wildebeests. Excellent aggression.

TY my fellow Texan (from A-town)

+1


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## Deathstate (Oct 18, 2010)

Psykup. 

always going to be one of my favorite bands ever, so underappreciated.

and one of the singer's new projects,  manimal.


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## avenger (Oct 18, 2010)

cyril v said:


> OP, how does this sit with you?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I really liked how the clean vocals sounded in this. Thanks man found new music I dig! Do most of their songs consist of clean and brutal vocals?


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## Unknown Doodl3.2 (Oct 18, 2010)

NaYoN said:


> You guys do have a point, but I still believe that there should be some obscure Czech band or something that has tried this



Yup! They're called !T.O.O.H.! and Lykathea Aflame.

Lykathea is progressive death grind. Mostly guttural/exhaled growls but there are spoken narratives and cleans scattered throughout the album. Though I doubt it's exactly what you are looking, I can't pass up the opportunity to plug a band like them.

!T.O.O.H.!'s vocals aren't really growls, more like frantic czech conversing! XD


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## NaYoN (Oct 18, 2010)

Unknown Doodl3.2 said:


> Yup! They're called !T.O.O.H.! and Lykathea Aflame.
> 
> Lykathea is progressive death grind. Mostly guttural/exhaled growls but there are spoken narratives and cleans scattered throughout the album. Though I doubt it's exactly what you are looking, I can't pass up the opportunity to plug a band like them.
> 
> !T.O.O.H.!'s vocals aren't really growls, more like frantic czech conversing! XD




Dude, I know those bands  That's why I mentioned obscure czech bands in the first place


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## Andromalia (Oct 18, 2010)

I was under the impression that growling was the defining style of death metal, which evolved from Thrash ? So non-growled death metal is actually thrash, even if it is different nowadays with downtunings and doesn't sound like Bay Area stuff any longer.


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## cyril v (Oct 18, 2010)

avenger said:


> I really liked how the clean vocals sounded in this. Thanks man found new music I dig! Do most of their songs consist of clean and brutal vocals?





Same here man, I'll definitely be checking out Akercocke. Sounds good.

Also, OP, You're correct, that is Christian Älvestam formerly of Scar Symmetry on that track. Great stuff, definitely check out some other tracks if you get a chance... it might not be exactly what you're looking for in this thread, but it's still good stuff in it's own regard.


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## The Hiryuu (Oct 19, 2010)

Desultor(In the studio recording the debute album) on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

That fit the bill?


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## aleXander (Oct 19, 2010)

Here...call em melodic death and i'll be very upset with you...
Progressive Death Metal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nQ4ZR-NI6A


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## scherzo1928 (Oct 19, 2010)

there is mercenary


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 19, 2010)

^ Power metal


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## NaYoN (Oct 19, 2010)

The Hiryuu said:


> Desultor(In the studio recording the debute album) on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
> 
> That fit the bill?



That's pretty interesting!


I'd call Into Eternity Progressive Metal with the occasional death metal flair. They're pretty awesome.


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## cyril v (Oct 19, 2010)

NaYoN said:


> That's pretty interesting!
> 
> *
> I'd call Into Eternity Progressive Metal *with the occasional death metal flair. They're pretty awesome.





Good shit though!


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## beefshoes (Oct 19, 2010)

I can't really think of any Death Metal bands that haven't already been listen but Ulver use a lot of clean vocals and sound a lot like early Opeth....or at least this album which is my favorite Folk/Black Metal album.


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## failshredder (Oct 19, 2010)

Funny the OP should mention this. I've had the idea in my head for a while now of playing Origin/Dying Fetus/Decapitated-type stuff and just finding some alto to sing over it. This would mean a veritable shit-ton of tremolo picking riffs, finding some drummer who could gravity blast for half an hour straight, and a LOT of weird chromatic shit.


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## troyguitar (Oct 19, 2010)

Stealthtastic said:


> ^ Power metal



Not really, way too heavy sounding. Sounds more like Nevermore with growls/keys or Dark Tranquility than Stratovarius or Helloween. They might not be zomg sick br00tz but Mercenary is closer to death metal than anything else most of the time.


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## failshredder (Oct 19, 2010)

Addendum that's more important than what I said before: If you go and listen to, say



you will realize that it would be incredibly difficult to come up with a vocal melody that would work with the atonal-ish harmonies being implied by the guitars. Now, it can be done, but the actual songwriting part becomes nightmarishly difficult. 

Now I want to go brush up on my classical partwriting and try it.


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## NaYoN (Oct 19, 2010)

failshredder said:


> Addendum that's more important than what I said before: If you go and listen to, say
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I always think of clean vocal melodies for songs when I listen to them.

And I always think of non-clean vocals for songs with clean vocals  I guess the grass seems greener on the other side


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## NaYoN (Oct 20, 2010)

I just found this, it comes close-ish and it even has Luke Jaeger on guitar:


Also, I forgot this one:


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## metalvince333 (Oct 20, 2010)

cant believe nobody posted this 



theres other songs with cleans but thats the first I remembered

props to NaYoN for posting up Augury!


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## failshredder (Oct 20, 2010)

NaYoN said:


> I always think of clean vocal melodies for songs when I listen to them.
> 
> And I always think of non-clean vocals for songs with clean vocals  I guess the grass seems greener on the other side



Sure, it's easy to come up with a vocal melody for Dark Tranquillity songs. But if you can come up with one that fits a SoP song and doesn't just follow the guitars, you're thrice the musician I am.


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## NaYoN (Oct 20, 2010)

failshredder said:


> Sure, it's easy to come up with a vocal melody for Dark Tranquillity songs. But if you can come up with one that fits a SoP song and doesn't just follow the guitars, you're thrice the musician I am.





I once read/saw (don't remember which) an interview with Warrel Dane where he tried to describe how he wrote the vocal melodies for that song. I don't remember what he did, but if he can write for that, one can write for SoP too  The problem is less atonalism and more syncopation, in my opinion.

I can try, but my voice is awful. I'll post results if I have any 




metalvince333 said:


> cant believe nobody posted this
> 
> 
> 
> ...





I have a t-shirt that has trippy art and says 'Transcend the Illusion', so I totally think of Faceless as an obvious inclusion  This thread was actually spawned in my head when I read someone complain about clean vocals in the new Faceless song.


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## metalvince333 (Oct 21, 2010)

NaYoN said:


> I once read/saw (don't remember which) an interview with Warrel Dane where he tried to describe how he wrote the vocal melodies for that song. I don't remember what he did, but if he can write for that, one can write for SoP too  The problem is less atonalism and more syncopation, in my opinion.
> 
> I can try, but my voice is awful. I'll post results if I have any
> 
> ...


 I love the cleans in the faceless, its not like he's doing all those things and techniques with his voice, its just straightfoward cleans that sound really good, very Akerfelt-ish IMO and thats really cool!


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## fedtowolves (Mar 15, 2013)

I know this is an old thread.. but my band.


www.facebook.com/thebleakwithin


Hope you enjoy!


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## xethicx (Mar 15, 2013)

There's plenty of bands in the "viking metal" genre that could enthuse the OP a little. It might get a little folky here and there heh but its still pretty tough stuff. 

Check out a band called TYR, they might float your boat.


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## mithologian (Mar 15, 2013)

My band i guess?


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## sear (Mar 15, 2013)

Thread needs more Timeghoul.


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## gunch (Mar 15, 2013)

sear said:


> Thread needs more Timeghoul.




YES

TIMEGHOUL


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## DLG (Mar 15, 2013)

Timeghoul are awesome, but how does that fit what the OP is asking for? 

this is about as close as it gets


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## DarkWolfXV (Mar 15, 2013)

Desultor, i guess. Technical Death Metal with clean vocals


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## StevenC (Mar 15, 2013)

I know you said not exclusively clean vocals, but what about Control Denied? Pretty much Death with clean vocals. Heck, A Moment of Clarity and others from TSOP were destined for Control Denied originally.


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## Ralyks (Mar 15, 2013)

StevenC said:


> I know you said not exclusively clean vocals, but what about Control Denied? Pretty much Death with clean vocals. Heck, A Moment of Clarity and others from TSOP were destined for Control Denied originally.



This is what I came to post. And, outside of some Nevermore, is one of the only examples I can think of.


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## DLG (Mar 15, 2013)

Ralyks said:


> This is what I came to post. And, outside of some Nevermore, is one of the only examples I can think of.



this album too.


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## AdamMaz (Mar 16, 2013)

The whole point is that it is an assault on the senses and overbearing, why would you want clean vocals...


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## PTI (Mar 18, 2013)

Necris said:


> One more...




I immediately thought of Akercocke too. Great band.


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## halsinden (Apr 24, 2013)

sort of hope that we might be able to oblige here, if at all possible:





H


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## NovaReaper (Apr 26, 2013)

DLG said:


> Timeghoul are awesome, but how does that fit what the OP is asking for?



timeghoul has clean vocals bro


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## Necris (Jun 29, 2014)

Did a search for a more recent thread on this topic (both google and the forums own search function) but nothing came up, so I'm just going to bump this since it's relevant.

Found these guys tonight:


After that album the vocalist left and the band became substandard Brutal Death Metal, but she contributed vocals to a track by another band before completely disappearing.


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## star (Mar 23, 2020)

I know this blog was a couple of years back but I have also been looking for death metal bands with some clean vocals (or more accurately just heavy stuff with some clean vocals as putting stuff in a specific genre isn't my thing). Here are a few of my favourites (all of them are melodeath as this seems to be the best for interspersing clean vocals): 










I appreciate that these are full albums but some individual songs if you're not into the whole 'listening to whole albums in one go' thing are: 
Rivers of Nihil - Where owls know my name (definitely the least heavy song on this album but this band are awesome in that they have a sax player as a full member of their band and they somehow make it work) 
Ne Obliviscaris - Painters of the Tempest Part II Tryptych Lux (the guitar solo in this song is utterly amazing) 
Cairiss - I can't pick my favourite - just listen to all of it! 
Asira - Efference is a stunning song 
Persefone - The great reality


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## mastapimp (Mar 23, 2020)

star said:


> Rivers of Nihil - Where owls know my name (definitely the least heavy song on this album but this band are awesome in that they have a sax player as a full member of their band and they somehow make it work)


A few things about your Rivers of Nihil description...they don't have a full time sax player in the band, they just brought a guy on tour with them as they were playing the full album at every show and he got on stage about 4 times each night. Also, Brody has stated he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as "that sax band" and the next release may not have any horns. I loved their last album, but am excited to see how their next one will turn out with a "winter" concept.
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/riv...issonant_follow-up_to_where_owls_know_my_name


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## star (Mar 23, 2020)

Ah awesome - thanks for the correction


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## Cynicanal (Mar 23, 2020)

Maybe stretching the definition of "clean" vocals a bit, but check out Cadaver -- "In Pains".

Also, even more of a stretch, but the first two Atheist albums might qualify.


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## Ebony (Mar 26, 2020)




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## zappatton2 (Mar 27, 2020)

Seems to me Cattle Decap uses cleans vocals for some of their tunes. Man I need some Cattle Decap in my collection.


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## akinari (Mar 29, 2020)

The cleans are used sparingly, but the songwriting on this album is fantastic... like mixing Swedish melodic death metal with Voivod.


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## Werecow (Mar 29, 2020)

zappatton2 said:


> Seems to me Cattle Decap uses cleans vocals for some of their tunes. Man I need some Cattle Decap in my collection.


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