Metal with soft or no vocals?
Metal with soft or no vocals?
I'm developing some pretty odd taste in music...
I REALLY like metal, but REALLY dislike the screamy-yelly bits, which I acknowledge is kind of contradictory.
I think I just don't like vocals, period, metal or otherwise. Anyway...
The symphonic stuff especially, like Blind Guardian (Wheel of Time, Orchestral is probably my all time favorite song!), Nightwish, and Therion, are fuckin amazing; but even within that subset the vocals are kinda overbearing for my taste - a lot of them have operatics, which I also file under the "eh, I'd rather not" category. Fortunately they have some instrumental versions of their songs, AND I LOVE THEM!
...but I keep plugging them into services like Pandora, Spotify, and Youtube Music, and I get either 1) "Oh you like any type of metal? Here's a playlist of 16 hours of dudes ejecting the entire contents of their lungs into a microphone! BWAAAAAAAAAA---" or, 2) "Oh, you like symphonic metal? Here's the same 10 songs over, and over, and over again!
No amount of thumbs up/down-ing on the results appears to have any impact on the algorithm. Youtube music even gives this snarky little popup when I thumbs a song down "Okay, we'll adjust your playlists" and then later plays THAT SAME FUCKING SONG again - not even a different version, but the same URL, which is still actively marked with a thumbs down.
Side question: is there a streaming service that isn't shit for finding new metal? That actually takes into account the different types of metal?
Anywho, looking for recommendations for songs/albums. Bonus points if it has symphonic elements, but any sub-genre is golden, so long as the specimen in question has no vocals, or just -soft- vocals that don't yank the spotlight away from the instrumentals.
Alright, class is wrapping up, I can start knocking these out. Gonna log my progress here, with a rating out of 10 and any comments (all 100% subjective to my personal taste - not looking to bash anyone here!):
Cloudkicker* - 7 - only complaint is some parts get overly repetitive
Animals as leaders* - 8 - ^same
Mestis - 8
Conquering Dystopia - 9 - Ooh, really like this one!
Polyphia - 7 - Great for ambience
Dysrhythmia - 6 - ^same, but liked Polyphia just a touch more
Scale The Summit - 9
Chon - 5 - Heavy on the higher pitches, and kinda repetitive - I'd have to be in a specific mood for this one.
Tigran Hamasyan* - 5 - Didn't really care for this specific song, but thumbing through his others and am digging it.
Protest The Hero - 9 - Great energy, great variation!
The Ocean* - 9
Periphery - 8
Tesseract - 9
Porcupine Tree* - 7
Calligulas Horse* - 8
Leprous - 6 - Really liked the instrumentals; REALLY disliked the singer's voice, lol
Tesseract - 7 - Vocals not terrible, but still really prefer the instrumental version.
Sleep Token* - 7
Cynic* - 7
Haken* - 8 - bro wtf did I just listen to rofl. Bonus point for weird shit!
Katatonia piano covers vol 1, 2 - 5 - Not the metally music I was looking for, but this is going on my studying playlist.
In Flames piano covers - 5 - Same^
Dark Tranquility Piano Covers - 5 - Same^
Between The Buried And Me - Colors - 6 - This one's hit and miss for me. The hits hit hard though!
Clayman - 8 - Not a fan of the vocals, but there are instrumental versions of this that kick ass!
Whoracle - 8
Colony - 7
Mr Bungle's California - 6 - Simultaneously not really my cup of tea, and also catchy as fuck.
Baroness Red, Blue, and Yellow; Green
@foggy@lemmy.world, @BitSound@lemmy.world, @Orbituary@lemmy.world, @joshLaserbeam@sh.itjust.works, @ttmrichter@lemmy.world, @cokane_88@lemmy.world, @watson387@sopuli.xyz, @raptir@lemdro.id, @yeetsinfection@lemmy.world, @kttnpunk@lemmy.world, @Fecundpossum@lemmy.world, @Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world, @manapropos@lemmy.basedcount.com, @MrJameGumb@lemmy.world, @Fump@lemmy.world, and at this rate probably a few more just in the time it'll take to type this.
Holy shit, all.
This thread has been up for like an hour, and I've got probably several days worth of back-to-back songs to check out - a whoooole bunch of which is stuff I haven't seen before.
I did NOT expect this kind of response. Y'all are my hero.
Try Russian Circles or Pelican.
Sounds like you'd probably enjoy some prog metal or maybe just prog rock in general? Those bands don't typically have a lot of screamy vocals. I use Amazon Music. It seems to do a pretty decent job of suggesting new bands based on my playlists
There's a lot of djent - a subgenre of progressive metal - that has no vocals. Check out...
- Arch Echo
- Scale the Summit
- I Built the Sky
- Intervals
Caligula's horse
Also, not really my jam, but there's a bunch of folk metal and like Viking metal that has clean vocals and symphonic elements
Oh and Dream Theater obviously
The only instrumental acts I can think of that haven't been mentioned are Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner), David Maxim Micic, Wide Eyes, and The Helix Nebula.
You could also try Walking Across Jupiter, Oh Hiroshima, and If These Trees Could Talk, but I can't remember if they have (guest) vocals or not.
While they do have vocals you could also try Wheel, their album Resident Human is really good.
Good luck in your search!
I wonder if you would like Jeff Loomis' solo work? Sadly hasn't released anything in the last 10 years. His most popular song is Miles of Machines but my personal favorite is Jato Unit.
The Contortionist might be up your alley. Language is more metal, Clairvoyant less so.
I believe the band pelican, is all music no lyrics.
1 song from solution .45 (lethean tears) is also without screaming etc
Theres a decent site... metal-archives, that has a ton of band info, including band members, similar bands etc
Check out Redneck Stomp by Obituary. Most of their songs have vocals, but this one doesn't.
Maybe look into electric moon, the sword, mogwai, sleep, witchcraft,? I kinda lean towards softer, melodic doom metal but those are just some suggestions off the top of my head
Windhand would be a good addition to your list
The Sword are great.
Instrumetal. I like this playlist on Spotify: https://spotify.link/DHO1sVLGUCb
I like to call Leah "The Enya of Metal". If you want almost pure instrumental metal there's Amogh Symphony (or Wang Wen if you want something metal-adjacent that's mostly instrumental).
A few of my recs: Soen, Katatonia (Viva Emptiness and after), Riverside, Aryeon, Riverside, and Haken (Visions and after).
Tempel is good with few vocals.
I really love Unleash the Archers. Female lead vocals and power metal so if its easier for you to digest i would suggest them. Their music and videos are also awesome. Also sort of weird but I would suggest Tool because they have a lot of musical interludes that just hit so right.
I personally really like the band Long Distance Calling; it's all instrumental, no vocals. https://spotify.link/TU3yiTIZVCb
I'm in the same boat as you, but add to that list guys who sing like 80's "metal" style or Iron Maiden-ish, guys who try to sound like Ozzy Osborne. I like heavy music but please give me someone with a normal voice who sings like a normal person.
The newest Genghis Tron record is all clean singing
- Candlemass
- Witchcraft
- Ghost
- Crowbar
- Danzig (just the first 2 and a couple of songs off of 3)
- Shit... just check out the classics like Judas Priest, Maiden, etc. Harsh vocals have only really been a thing for 40 years or so
You could always go the post rock route:
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- Russian Circles
- Pg.lost
- Wovenhand (the latter records are kind of heavy dark Americana)
That's whole subgenre of metal. Power metal is the first, big one that you want to investigate.
Check Out Nuclear Power Trio. I don’t know who they are but they sound good and their song titles make me laugh.
Also as already mentioned, Animals as Leaders are excellent.
It's not instrumental, but check out Daron Malakian. For example the song Guns are Loaded.
The basis for a lot of metal is classical music. I might suggest trying out different composers to scratch that itch.
Replying to myself:
Vivaldi - Four Seasons (specifically Summer) Bach - Little Fugue in G Minor (depending on which version)
Intervals is a good one. I haven’t listened to their newer stuff but their early work is instrumental.
Special mention: Chon. They’re more math rock than metal but the musicianship is incredible and very few of their songs have vocals
Wretched - Exodus of Autonomy (Instrumental)
https://youtu.be/koLxbHejOII?feature=shared
Also, check out "They Rode On" by Watain. It's a slow jam, and without all the coarse vocals.
https://youtu.be/29nvdkIxIpY?feature=shared
Here's a link for Fleshgod Apocalypse's album "Veleno" instrumental version.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR1qON1IN1zBN4eo7DFL4IYRwZeuKTvWP&feature=shared
Holy Serpent's "Endless" is one of my favorite albums. I think it's considered psychedelic doom?
I really like that the singing is softer, never screams. One of my favorite tracks: https://holyserpentband.bandcamp.com/track/daughter-of-the-light
I use Amazon music HD, the paid one. It works for me. I don't really look for new metal that much. Usually my music choices are influenced by whatever concerts I'm going to see in the future. But the options are unlimited and I could play a different album forever on Amazon and not have to repeat them ever.
Death core bands, a few of them will release their albums with singing and full instrumentals. Shadow of intent, Lorna shore.
Body count just released an instrumental version of their newer album.
Oceans are Alaska
Wet Ass Plutonium - Nuclear Power Trip 👈 these aren't metal but something worth checking out on YouTube.
Check Riverside and Earthside. Although they have similar sounding names they’re not related.
With Earthside leaning to mostly instrumental music, Riverside has clean vocals.
Enjoy!
A lot of stoner and doom metal doesn't have much screaming, check out Weedian's bandcamp for compilations. You might find something you like.
wow! thanks for all the new suggestions!
I like Dark Moor
If you want no vocals at all you may enjoy bands like Animals as Leaders or Intervals, and many bands also put out instrumental versions of some of their albums (Vildhjarta and Tesseract come to mind).