Dream Theater

Metal growling vocals has deep rooted tradition from a couple of different styles: big shouts of "WOAAAAAAAAAOW" in classic rock (see Chuck berry, the outro to "Hey Jude", etc.), slurred gutteral vocals from the Delta Blues era, aggressive singing in hard rock of the 70's and 80's... shouting and warcrys originating in Scandinavia..., etc.

The technique itself is something very difficult to do; it's not just yelling as loud as you can, so in that aspect you can appreciate the talent there. As to why they do it, I guess its an energy thing. They want to bring across an aggressive energy in their music, so by screaming their vocals, that's one way of doing it.

In terms of not being able to understand what they're saying.... it doesn't really matter half the time. I just listen to that sort of stuff for the instrumental-ness, and usually they have some pretty badass choruses, whether they be clean or growled. Some of the best growling choruses I've heard are from Lamb of God and Parkway Drive, and they're done with growling.

In terms of Trivium, Matt Heafy (their vocalist/guitarist) is notorious for being incomprehensible though. I have heard growling which is far easier to interpret than his nonsense.

If you know their song "Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr" you'd know what i'm talking about. Just go on youtube and look up "Boat Rudder Strange Mountain". It's pretty funny :D

I saw them a while back when they opened up for DT in Albany. I wasn't impressed with the sound. Bulb is an awesome player tho.

I was quite dissapointed reading Periphery will be opening for DT. I just can´t relate the bands to eachother. Ok, the may be great instrumentalists, but come on, that growling for 45 minutes... Maybe it makes me appreciate DT even more.

=Niels B said:I was quite dissapointed reading Periphery will be opening for DT. I just can´t relate the bands to eachother. Ok, the may be great instrumentalists, but come on, that growling for 45 minutes... Maybe it makes me appreciate DT even more.

Yes and no - it was actually Roadrunner that suggested it, although John is a big supporter and really likes the band. I think they are amazing.

I like a lot of their stuff, but I was a bit disappointed with their sound warming up for DT the other day. The mix was really muddy and the drums came through waaay too much and most of the time I almost couldn't hear the vocals, but I guess that wasn't entirely their own fault; they're probably playing with the same settings as DT and no proper soundcheck (?). It was fun to see them though. A lively bunch of dudes, for sure.