Classical singing teacher evaluates 5 great metal singers

Listen to Cooper's range:

Quote :

He started out playing in several area bands and touring the local club circuit in Pittsburgh while he studied singing under renowned opera coach Charlotte Coleman. His first thrust into the international spotlight was as a finalist to be Rob Halford's replacement in Judas Priest. Having created a buzz at the auditions, he found himself with offers to sing for many European and American bands. He selected Royal Hunt after much deliberation and officially joined the band on December 26, 1994.^[1]
After 4 years with Royal Hunt, Cooper left the band for his next project, a solo album that he began in 1998. Enlisting the help of musicians from many well known bands (among them guitarist Tore Ostby of Conception, and members of Pink Cream 69) he released D. C. Cooper in 1999.
After a successful tour, Cooper formed a new band with former Sinner guitarist Alex Beyrodt called Silent Force. The have released four studio albums of their own.
When Cooper is not on tour, he can frequently be found volunteering as a firefighter and EMT in his home state of Pennsylvania. Cooper is married to Michelle Cooper, and has two sons, Clayton (b.2003) and Carson (b.2005)^[2].

I'd love to hear a "professional's" critique of the guy. My favorite vocalist bar none.

the Royal Hunt stuff is my favorite from him as well, although a lot of people just like 'Paradox', the other ones are great too. Silent Force is just.. I don't know.. I don't like more than a handful of songs. Then again, I like most all of Royal Hunt's stuff just in general...




I think this is my favorite by Tiranti although it might not end up being voted the cleanest technically speaking...it's more like what Dickinson does where much of the energy is in the delivery, pushing it hard.




then this one just shows off the stupid high portion of the range, the last 30 seconds or so of the song. The chorus goes 3 or so octaves higher for no particular reason except to be amazing.

As a singer myself, I gotta be honest, she's right about everything she says. No matter how Ozzy may sound, he lacks technique. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's not even using support or breathing correctly, and these are the main techniques! You just can't ignore them. I saw a live video of him singing No More Tears and his voice cracked... I mean, it was really embarrassing. Anyway, King Diamond is an annoying singer and lacks personality lol. Geoff Tate, though not on the list, sucks balls. Always has. Bruce, Dio, and Halford are pretty much the holy trinity. Nobody is as equal or comes close. except Russell Allen ...........and maybe Klaus Meine. But that's it.

Good on metalheads for always blazing new, fearless trails and throwing caution and tradition to the wind.

Interesting article with a different perspective.

Like to hear her thoughts on Santuary-era Warrel Dane's singing.

I think only someone 24 could say Tate sucks balls. In his prime, he was phenom and seeing him live was amazing.

TheNazgul wrote:

I think only someone 24 could say Tate sucks balls. In his prime, he was phenom and seeing him live was amazing.

I'm not dissing the guy's technique, just in my opinion, I don't think his voice is that friggin great. I dont see whats so fascinating about his vocals, really.

KD lacks personality????

Yeah right.

I'd like to hear her opinions on these great vocalists:

Matt Barlow
Russell Allen
Jorn Lande
the late Mike Bakker
Fabio Lione
Zak Stevens

Very interesting article, a different point of view is always welcome.

I dig Ozzy, I'm too old not to. No, he's not a great technical vocalist...but he has tons of personality and great phrasing. Having a unique voice is not a bad thing in my book. Bon Scott would fit into that same category.

ZetaReticuli wrote:

Geoff Tate, though not on the list, sucks balls. Always has.

Ah, so that's why pretty much every American heavy/power metal band in the 1980s wanted a Geoff Tate clone...

I personally like Ozzy's voice and they are judging a track from the very first Black Sabbath album, like detuned said a unique voice is a good thing.

IMO Geoff Tate is an excellent vocalist and even at 50 years old, when you hear the guy sing live, it is incredible.

I do think Ozzy actually got more refined as time progressed, well, that or the studio got overworked. In any case, I don't want it to become anything like...technique VS no technique.. or whatever ... there shouldn't be simply one or the other because each is a mere vehicle to carry the other in tandem. Ideally at least..

I wonder what the "professionals" take on Rob Rock would be.

stepcousin wrote:

I wonder what the "professionals" take on Rob Rock would be.

That's one I forgot in my list. Also after listening to Angel Down today, I'd be curious as to find out a proffesional's take on Sebastian, his voice is unreal (of course I've known that for damn near 20 years-man, I can't believe I've been into metal that long).

I'm glad I got to read this article. It was interesting.