Vio-lence

I just stumbled upon MP3s of Eternal Nightmare by Vio-lence. I think this album is awesome thrash metal. Top of the heap. Except for HIM. Sean Killian. His vocals ruin this album for me. He sounds a bit like Bobcat Goldthwait. Cheesy Rice! What were they thinking about when they chose him? Was he the only one with equipment and a van?

Does anyone think that he is a good vocalist and for what reasons?

I can't stand it when people judge thrash bands by the vocalist. Talk about missing the point.

Sean's vocals were really annoying at the start, but I got use to his voice after some time.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I can't stand it when people judge thrash bands by the vocalist. Talk about missing the point.

How can you skip Sean Killian's vocals? I can see skipping over Baloff's or that guy from Faith or Fear, but Killian is THERE. In your face. Spitting. Wailing.

Never bothered me. But I am busy listening to the riffs, leads, and drumming. I am not vocal-centric when it comes to metal, there should be enough other cool things to listen to.

I can't stand bands who have technically great singers but the music is 100% stock and faceless. And there seems to be a lot of that going around in today's flower metal circles.

Temple,

I agree with you. I love your vocals on your first album. They may not be "perfect" like so many bands in the Pro Tools world, but they suit the music perfectly. I mean I love the band WRATH. Wow, have you heard Gary Golwitzer? Talk about shrieking! But I love him the same, his vocals fit. My point is that the Eternal Nightmare is so good musically, that the vocals are distracting. I think that's why they weren't as big as Testament or Exodus.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I can't stand it when people judge thrash bands by the vocalist. Talk about missing the point.

Strange comment. It's kind of hard to ignore vocals. If it was all about the music, why have a vocalist? A bad vocalist can ruin an otherwise great band.

I don't mind Killian at all. Sure, he is off-putting at first, but I think the more you listen to them the more you hear how he fits what Robb and Phil do as far as riffs and solos go.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I can't stand it when people judge thrash bands by the vocalist. Talk about missing the point.

Strange comment. It's kind of hard to ignore vocals. If it was all about the music, why have a vocalist? A bad vocalist can ruin an otherwise great band.

Agree with Eyesore here! No matter how good the music is, a bad vocalist can ruin it. And why put anything out on record if it is bad?

spectrefate wrote:

Temple,

I agree with you. I love your vocals on your first album. They may not be "perfect" like so many bands in the Pro Tools world, but they suit the music perfectly. I mean I love the band WRATH. Wow, have you heard Gary Golwitzer? Talk about shrieking! But I love him the same, his vocals fit. My point is that the Eternal Nightmare is so good musically, that the vocals are distracting. I think that's why they weren't as big as Testament or Exodus.

To me, in the areas of metal that are less melodic and more dynamic riff-wise, the vocals can begin to take a back seat to the music. Does that mean they are not important at all? No, just perhaps less than other things. I could see how Wrath could benefit from a more melodic vocalist, like King Diamond, but what I remember from their music was that the guitar work was pretty good.

The only thrash vocalist I can think of who actively annoys me is Baloff, and that is just because he isn't in time with the music. But it doesn't prevent me from listening to "Bonded by Blood".

I guess I posted my previous comment because I am SOOOOO sick of reviews of metal (especially thrash or death metal) albums where they review it as follows:

1) general overview of genre the band fits in
2) I like the vocals OR I hate the vocals
3) End of album review

I have read many album reviews that boil down to little more than that. It just makes me wonder why they listen to that genre anyway if they want Geoff Tate to sing for every band.

Sean Killian's vocals are refreshingly VIO-LENT! Thats the point...vocally he is what he is.Sean would be the first guy to tell you that he's not Pavorotti.Go listen to "Oppressing The Masses","Torture Tactics","Nothing To Gain" then judge,although his vocals are pretty much the same on those you will get a better feel for not only Sean,but the entire band-thrash legends that they are.

I dont mind Killians vocals at all.I think it fits the music pretty good,but I know alot of bands that I cant stand for that reason.
And I would like to add that Eternal Nightmare is one of the best thrash albums of all time

I always thought Etenal Nightmare was ahead of its game and Sean's vocals fit the music perfectly. I don't even like clean vocals in thrash, but Violence was an exception. I got their demo from Metal Maniacs way back in the day and loved that and the 1st album!! It was unique and really angry, yet musical and thought out. Couldn't get into Oppressing the masses or the ones that followed, but Eternal Nightmare is a classic!

I never minded the vocals, can't expect much out of thrash vocals haha. It ain't prog or power metal.

He is technically not a great vocalist at all, but he fits the music well.

Lurideath wrote:

I don't even like clean vocals in thrash, but Violence was an exception.

I've never thought of Sean's vocals as "clean" really, but I guess since they're not death metal vocals it's all relative.

Sean Killian is one of my favorite vocalists in thrash metal. I'm not even going to throw out the "he's not technically great" or "he fits the music well" line into the equation either. I think he's f'n great. Period. I love his manic vocal approach. I find it very interesting and pleasing to my ear, if you can believe that. While the music is what's most important (to me at least), a boring vocalist can ruin things sometimes. Killian certainly isn't boring.

"decapitate"....now that user name is PURE !

T-Roy wrote:

"decapitate"....now that user name is PURE !

Personally, I was torn between the names spectrefate and impaledcolon. I think I made the right choice.

, OH I DISAGREE, I think you missed it!

T-Roy wrote:

"decapitate"....now that user name is PURE !

Thanks!

I never liked Killian's vocals either. Too antagonizing for me. Vio-Lence were an amazing band musically though.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I can't stand it when people judge thrash bands by the vocalist. Talk about missing the point.

Strange comment. It's kind of hard to ignore vocals. If it was all about the music, why have a vocalist? A bad vocalist can ruin an otherwise great band.

I agree 100%. If you don't like the singer then most of the time the band won't be a real big player on your stereo. I know I'll get slammed for this but I've always thought of the singer as the most important part of a bands sound. Now that doesn't mean that some bands haven't lost something very important to their sound by losing a guitarist, drummer etc. though. To me the drum sound means a good bit as well. Some of my friends though could care less about the drummer and might not even notice if a band had one or not. Haha. I guess it's just different for different folks.

They're working on a new EP.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/reunited-vio-lence-to-record-new-ep/

Required Fields wrote:

They're working on a new EP.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/reunited-vio-lence-to-record-new-ep/

That could be excellent.