Let’s be honest: women vocalists in extreme metal are still a curiosity. I’m referring to women whose vocals range from bestial growls to blood-curdling shrieks, not the ones who sing pretty in folk metal bands or outfits like Nightwish and Epica. Of course, as soon as you step outside the extreme-metal-loving world, dudes who sing harsh are curiosities, too. Fuck, in that outside world, so are all of us. But within our world, it’s the female growlers who are the novelties.
What makes them a curiosity isn’t that they can do it well, it’s that they can do it at all. And so some fans get overly excited about women vocalists whose vocals really aren’t all that great. On the other hand, because metal is a male-dominated culture, good female vocalists are also the victims of prejudice — the kind of judgmental pomposity that proclaims there’s no place for a woman in the front of an extreme metal band. Consider those two phenomena together and you reach the conclusion that it’s damned tough for a woman’s vocals to be considered for what they are, on the merits, divorced from who’s delivering them.
Maybe the day will arrive when everyone becomes gender-blind in judging metal vocalists, but human biology and male-female relationships being what they are, I doubt it. Fuck, I’m as susceptible to the curiosity effect as anyone else. Why else do you think I’m writing this post?
What I’ve collected here are four new songs or videos by female-fronted extreme metal bands: Landmine Marathon (U.S.), Wykked Wytch (U.S.), and Izegrim (The Netherlands).
LANDMINE MARATHON
Last year, Andy Synn reviewed this band’s fine 2011 album, Gallows, for us (here) and wrote this: “The sandpapered vocal chords of Ms Grace Perry vomit forth a virulent stream of putrid bile and hateful invective over a plethora of gut-wrenching, street-level death metal riffs and sharpened knife-fight guitar melodies, which flicker and stab without warning.”
Grace Perry does indeed deliver the sandpapered vocals, and she’s also a riveting presence on stage. You get good evidence of both in the band’s new video for the song “Beaten and Left Blind” — a vicious, cutting piece of black thrash:
WYKKED WYTCH
I featured this South Florida band in our last post devoted to girl growlers in December (here). At that time, I had a teaser for an album called The Ultimate Deception, which was to be released by Goomba music. Based on the teaser, I was impressed, and wrote this about front-woman Ipek: “Sounds like she can (a) shriek like a black metal banshee, (b) growl like a death metal animal, and (c) do some decent clean vocals, too.”
That album is now on the verge of release — February 14. In the run-up to the release date, the band have debuted a song called “Despised Existence” at Hails and Horns (here), as well as a creative cover of Metallica’s “Fade To Black”, which also appears on the album. Here are both songs, which feature all of those Ipek vocal styles I attempted to describe above:
“Despised Existence”
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/33201825″ iframe=”true” /]
“Fade To Black”
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/35860581″ iframe=”true” /]
IZEGRIM
Izegrim is a Dutch death/thrash band who’ve been around since about 1998, though their current vocalist — Marloes — has only been with the band since 2008. Last year, they signed to Listenable Records for the May 2011 release of their most recent album, Code of Consequences.
Over last weekend, the band released an official video for a new song called “Victim of Honor”, which is intended to bridge the gap between the last album and the next one. Marloe’s vocal tone reminds me of Angela Gossow’s, though I confess I could be influenced by the fact that she’s also blonde and easy on the eyes. Through this video, we also get some insights into what she thinks should happen to men who beat up women. Can’t say I disagree.
72 Responses to “FEMALE GROWLERS”
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I’ve long championed Landmine Marathon as an amazing live band, though Gallows is really the only record of theirs to capture that excellence on wax. Landmine may not do anything highly original but their bruising take on Grindcrusher-era Earache is much appreciated by me.
I dug that Izegrim track quite a bit and will check them out as well.
Personally, I look forward to the day that women are as accepted as men in metal. I still vividly remember audience members turning their backs on Karyn Crisis back in the mid-90’s because “women shouldn’t sing like that.”
Gallows is a great album, and Grace Perry’s vocals can go toe-to-toe with those of most men. I’m still itching to see them live. The live videos I’ve seen are over the top.
I don’t remember the 90s (and I’m glad for that), but I, too, look forward to the day that women and men can stand together and throw the horns in unison while growling and pig squealing.
Also, the idea that women can’t do growls as well as men is something I find very strange. Som, from Cerebral Bore is one of my favorite extreme metal vocalists, and her voice is as deep and brutal as any vocalist I can think of.
I want a girlfriend like any one of ’em. She can growl me to sleep.
I’m going to be the one who comes off as sexist I have a feeling.
Without articulating my opinion, here is my summary.
All female vocalists sound the same
All female vocalists usually deal in tired, boring subject matter
All female vocalists usually piss me off as people, the arrogance that seems to run in them on a norm annoys me
All female vocalists lack the suitable power to hit me in the chest as it were.
These three things combined leave me only with the option of using them as eye candy, which if these women are meant to be eye candy the metal community has pretty shitty taste in women.
Sorry. This subject makes me mad. I’d be open to being proven wrong in certain cases (Cerebral Bore) but for the most part I think most women in metal are doing their gender a huge disservice by being involved in it.
Four rather.
Fuck. Rage drunk.
Man, I know I have brutally fucked up my hearing over time, but it’s not dead yet: I don’t see how you could listen to the four songs in this post and say that all female vocalists sound exactly the same. I have other reactions to this provocative comment, too . . . but I’ll let others have their say first.
I listened to all 3 songs and just don’t see it man. They all have that annoying high end screech/his tone to them except for the chick from Landmine Marathon, who to me sounds like every lower pitched female vocalist ever. Maybe she’s like, THE SLIGHTEST bit lower toned than most but not enough for me to jump on board.
Yep, you came off as sexist.
The main thing I want to point out as being particularly poorly thought out:
“I think most women in metal are doing their gender a huge disservice by being involved in it.”
This somehow implies that all women in metal are judged by the actions of others, but would you say that
the shitty male vocalists reflect poorly on men in metal? If you say “yes,” I would call you a liar.
It’s the same as racist fucks making comments like: I saw a person of X race do this, so, you know, all people of that race are like that. OR You know, you shouldn’t do something, because it makes your race look bad.
Anytime you judge a group of people based on the behavior of a single person (or even some of the people), you’re being discriminatory.
I suppose I need to clarify that. Rage and grogginess do not mix.
I don’t mean by the very fact they are involved but, most of THESE PARTICULAR WOMEN I think make women look like they’re a real joke in the metal community. Let’s look at Angela Gossow for example. The EPITOME of the shallow frontal image of a strong independent woman who is all more than willing to bank herself on the fact that men in metal get raging boners over her based off of a dominatrix persona soley based off the fact she’s in a metal band and does the screamy parts. This is also on top of her STUPIDLY over the top pretentious lyrics that belong more in a metalcore or nu metal band that are more tired old anthems of individualism and abnoxious parroting of baseline concepts of rebellion.
I don’t take that seriously. I think I do all women a disservice if I were to take it seriously.
Okay, but my point is that you’re basically saying that some people do shitty things, so it reflects badly on their group. But that’s discrimination…
If I said that a Irishman got drunk and tried to start a fight with me, therefore it reflects badly on all Irishmen and they are all assholes, it would be discrimination, wouldn’t it?
So, basically, any time you say that one person’s actions reflect badly on their group, it’s discrimination, because it is suggesting that it’s okay to judge one person based on another person’s actions.
Angel Gossow may or may not be a shitty singer (I have no idea, because I’ve heard like three Archenemy songs), but if you say that her actions reflect poorly on women, that’s absurd. Her actions reflect poorly on HER. There’s no reason why you should assume that it reflect badly on others as well.
I’m stating my stance based on the opinions of the female metal heads I talk to. This is how A LOT of them feel. It’s the men who will jump on the sexist band wagon with this subject.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but it seems like you’re saying two very different things.
If you’re meaning to say that most of the women metal heads you’ve talked to feel that they are poorly represented in metal today, that’s one thing. I don’t know how those people themselves feel, but that would make sense to me.
But that’s very different from saying that contemporary women vocalists give women a bad image, because you’re implying that we can judge all women by what a select few do/have done.
The second is what I thought you were saying (and I think, passed on your first post, you can see why I would think that, but I understand that you’re tired, so that’s cool).
Perhaps I misread your second comment, and perhaps we’re talking at across each other, because I thought you meant that Angela gives women in metal a bad image. This, to me, is problematic, because we shouldn’t judge anyone based on their group. The idea that any one person can give their group a bad name is essentially discriminatory, in my opinion.
Angela Gossow generates a lot of heated debate about her vocal skills or lack thereof, but I honestly don’t think she can be accused of flaunting her sex on stage or off. Yes, she’s a very pretty woman, but she’s also quite smart and is an advocate for strong women in metal. And she doesn’t dress all that provocatively while performing either (unless you count showing a navel now and then to be whoring it up, which would be a retarded thing to do).
First off, tired old concepts of individualism and rebellion are a cliche in all metal, and have nothing to do with Angela Gossow specifically, or even all female vocalists. This also applies to your assertions that all female vocalists sound the same (as BadWolf already mentioned). I can probably count the number of distinctive male death metal vocalists on one hand and still have fingers left. Same goes for most black metal.
You can’t judge all women in extreme metal just based on Angela Gossow. She might be a marketing gimminck, I dunno one way or the other (I would like to think that she is not), but even in this post, I don’t really see any of these vocalists banking on sexy/dominatrix/novelty. Every video or picture I’ve seen of Grace Perry, she’s on the stage in street clothes. Blue jeans and plaid don’t exactly scream “sex.” The vocalist for Izegrim wears a friggin’ trench coat. The only way you could show less skin is if you put her in a burkha (I’ll concede that her tounging the other girl seems a little contrived/fanservice-y). You might view it all as a ploy, but I don’t see what evidence you could be basing it on other than your own cynicism, as you have no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes, nor what the intention of the artists are.
As far as lyrics go, I don’t know about the other two, but Gallows is about early versions of fairy tails. That’s one of the most original lyrical ideas I’ve ever run into in metal. Just because one female-fronted band seems cheesy to you doesn’t mean they all are.
*Doesn’t note that I gave credit to Som from Cerebral Bore*
* doesn’t change that you said a really sexist thing
Y’know, you’re entitled to your opinion, but if you removed the phrase ‘female’ from everything you just said up until “use them for eye candy” it would be my opinion of metal vocalists period. Regardless of gender we can’t all be Randy fucking Blythe and have an amazing range and intelligent lyrics.
Dude, this is rock and roll, this is punk, it’s ALL tired subject matters poorly sung by assholes who sound the same. your critiques don’t lack articulation, they lack merit; you’re just letting your own confirmation bias write off an entire gender and piss off those in that gender or support that gender who care about metal.
Reducing everything to equal value because it shares some characteristics doesn’t work for me jOoseph.
Once again as I said to Phro, I do not know many females who feel that the females in metal bands represent them or are doing their gender any good in terms of recognition in the slightest bit.
Let’s not forget the expectations that are put on females in metal that these figureheads produce. Something that many female metal heads I’ve known complain about quite often.
I didn’t say anything about them representing women well. I don’t think most metal front men represent MEN very well. That’s not what is in question. what is in question is this: did you make a chauvinist statement. the answer is unequivocally yes.
Look, frequently women–FEMINIST women–are massive sexists and enforce their own double standards. that’s probably true of some of these women, as it’s probably true of the women you’re getting these ‘women’s opinions’ from. I don’t like that these women are objectifying themselves either. But you know what, they’re making art objects out of themselves–that’s part of being a musician today, and the subjects of any art are exploited and fetishized, just in different ways. These women are fetishizing lame-ass S&M in much the same way Municipal Waste fetishize alcoholism. but all of this is beside the fucking point.
What I’m saying is you said something that sounds damn ignorant. You cannot just make blanket statements about a group of people and offer a simple disclaimer that it is ‘just your opinion.’ there are no wrong opinions, but there are opinions that can be used to justify horrible horrible things, and the one you JUST expressed is akin to such a weaponized opinion. and that eye candy bit. Jesus man, you’re buying into the issue you have with your own critique: its verboten for these women to objectify themselves as dominatrixes, but it’s ok for you to ‘use them as eye candy.’ WTF!?!?
That’s the bitch of it ain’t it?
I disagree about the women looking at it from a double standard standpoint. I think they are the ones who have the most right to have an opinion on this subject, and I only know what the female metal heads I’ve known and met have had to say about the subject. So, until I find more of a majority, I take the women’s side. In the end I’d say that the most respectable and most original female vocalist in metal is Otep Shamaya. You definitively know her when you hear her, she has some real anger and rage behind the issues she talks about and she doesn’t dress herself or carry herself in any way that is possible to objectify.
http://www.amazon.com/Female-Chauvinist-Pigs-Raunch-Culture/dp/0743249895
I have a feeling there is a misunderstanding here…
I’m accusing women who front metal bands of majorally being willing to sell themselves as sex objects to the masses. I’m talking about looking for women in metal who aren’t.
Man, rock ‘n’ roll has been about sex from the beginning. What do you think “rock ‘n roll” means? And men have been objectifying themselves in rock ever since Elvis started gyrating his pelvis about 60 years ago. Men in metal do it, too. There’s a reason so many play stripped to the waist, and it’s not just to keep cool. Take a look at that Stam1na video from yesterday — that dude was playing NAKED, and I don’t think it was just to be funny.
I have no problem at all with women displaying their sexuality when they perform in bands (we’re all sexual beings after all), as long as they have some musical chops to go with it. Why should women in metal be forced to be demure when none of the men are?
I stand by my comments re: you said a sexist thing.
I also reiterate what was above mentioned: grace perry is NOT a very sexualized vocalist, revolver-shoots aside. Also: Ludicra. Also: Worm Oroborous, The Devil’s Blood.
There are some men (I am not generalizing this behavior to all men) who can’t see women without seeing them as sex objects.
Given your comments, particularly that you think women fronting metal bands are “sell[ing] themselves as sex objects to the masses,” and comparing that against the way these women actually look and dress, I can’t help wonder if you’re capable of seeing women as anything else.
In other words, there is a difference between behaving as a sex object and being perceived as one by the audience. I’m wondering if you can tell that difference. Because from here, it sounds like you can’t.
And that’s not something you can blame on the singers.
@ Beth W: “there is a difference between behaving as a sex object and being perceived as one by the audience” That probably sums up one of the biggest obstacles women in metal face. Actually, it probably sums up one of the biggest obstacle women face generally — the refusal (or inability) of many men to perceive women as anything BUT sex objects.
I’ve never heard this woman sing, but just based on a Google image search, I’m not sure what makes her different image-wise from a lot of other female growlers.
Also, it’s theoretically possible to objectify any attractive woman, regardless of what they wear.
^ THIS!
Nice to see I sparked healthy heated debate.
But the points are all stupidly obvious/not within total reason.
Also Joseph, all I need are Revolver shoots. Lapse in integrity much?
I interviewed her about this very issue. She was, for revolver, a VERY conservative dresser: a corset-with-jacket and some heels. I wouldn’t advise her to go to court wearing the outfit, but it was certainly much less than what you’d call evening-wear.
While I think having a female vocalist in an extreme metal band is still mostly a marketing gimmick, I do think that all of those I’ve heard so far do a decent job at the harsh vocals, that is to say, they can match up to their male counterparts in terms of brutality and vocal power.
I’m waiting for a female vocalist who can do both harsh and clean vocals well. That someone is worth waiting for.
the girl in Ludicra
First person who came to my mind: Arkona’s Masha Scream:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt6_65LDZ60
I think your sexist comment is doing the Israeli people a huge disservice.
Yeah Islander..stop being sexist to Israeli’s
Grace Perry is one of my favorite metal vocalists. Not just my favorite female vocalist, but one of my favorites, period, gender aside. Her voice sounds like a razor blade coated in acid. Her presence and performance matches, too. Especially in that “Beaten and Left Blind” video; she looks utterly unhinged. I really admire a performer whose stage presence is as insane as their music.
I didn’t listen to Wykked Wytch the first time you wrote about them, but I did just now. I liked the vocalist’s lower register growls a lot, which is weird, because I’m usually more partial to highs. And that bit right at the end was particularly gnarly.
When it comes to female vocalist that does guttural/harsh vocals, Dana Duffey (Demonic Christ/Mythic) comes in top for me. Raw and filthy
Didn’t know about them — but a nice discovery. I just listened to this (long, 3-minute run-up to the vocals, but she sounds like the real deal):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKMe8FAyO30
Oh man, I figured you knew that band…I let you down dude
Don’t let it happen again.
“All female vocalists sound the same.”
Self evidently not true.
“All female vocalists usually deal in tired, boring subject matter.”
Female lyrics are no different than male lyrics. Metal subject matter can be very genderless.
“All female vocalists usually piss me off as people, the arrogance that seems to run in them on a norm annoys me.”
A) You’re going to the wrong shows, B) I’ve never seen this “arrogance” that you speak of, C) this seems more of an issue with you than with them.
“All female vocalists lack the suitable power to hit me in the chest as it were.”
Again, sefl-evidently not true. Either that or you’ve personally set your standards tp specifically discriminte agaisnt female vocalists.
Tokenistically pointing to Som from CB doesn’t make your comments any less moronic and massively generalised.
Women are sexy… they should be allowed to be sexy while being in metal bands. This is not a bad thing.
Now can we all shut up ont his tired debate. Israel’s opinions/attitudes towards women are somewhat twisted. We’ve all seen this before. Nothing new here people. Move along.
Party pooper.
Stevie Floyd from Dark Castle. Bestest.
Cant stand Wykked Wytch..that band does nothing for me. Izegrim is a cool band, and I honestly think shes a better singer than Gassow (whose way overrated in my opinion) Landmine Marathon is a band Ive been interested in, but never given them the time they deserve..need to rectify that.
As for the novelty aspect. Yeah, most of us are men and we like to look at attractive women, theres no getting around that. Just because we, as men, are attracted to a frontwoman does not mean that is the bands intention. Women like metal..they like to play it, sing it, and listen to it. If you cant tell the difference between a band like In This Moment whose obviously using their singers tits for attention, and a band like Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult who just happen to have a female up front..thats on you.
For people who dont think girls can go in metal:
Derketa – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ0Upz8st2o
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZi1mHTBlA
Cripper – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWjMCeVr6Qg
Man, I think I know what my next guest article is going to be
Bring it!
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult was one of the first bands that came to mind when I thought of gimmick-free, doing-it-for-the-music female fronted metal. Also, Hoglust: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hoglust/129493480421349
Hell, Nuclear Death…grind and punk have always been a bit more accepting of women in the music scene
I wish I could remember it… there is a female fronted thrash band with the 80’s and I AM CERTAIN that their vocalist is indeed the predecessor to Gossow’s style. Wish I could remember. Had something to do with wolves i think?
You’re probably thinking of Holy Moses. I’m pretty sure Gossow has actually mentioned them as being a big influence on her.
I had no idea DNS had a female vocalist! Not that it makes any difference to how great their music is.
Seriously, you guys need to stop saying “blood-curdling” so much. It’s supposed to assign positive value the way that it’s used, but it turns out 2 out of every 3 vocalists in extreme metal employ such vocals.
IDK if someone talked about them but Suffering Mind grindcore from Poland does have a female vocalist and this band is awesome.
Thanks for that tip . . . some really nice discoveries in these comments.
Djent band Neurothing has a female vocalist now.
I love how the article is entitled “FEMALE GROWLERS” yet none of them growl.
Editorial license? 🙂
(Grace Perry and Ipek do some growling, so there’s that.)
This was a good post, and the ensuing discussion proved interesting as well. Even simply titling an article “FEMALE GROWLERS” implies a certain amount of sexism, but you worked you way out of that hole by attempting to advocate a non-sexist agenda. It’s difficult to stand out as it is while limiting the range of your voice from just brown-note absolute low to just dog-head-tilting absolute high, also while limiting the ability to understand what you’re saying altogether. Screamers/growlers/cookie-monsters/hardcore-what-have-yous, it’s all about intensity and intent. What brings me back to the real rough stuff is that yes, the subject matter and delivery can be repetitive, but the conviction in which it is portrayed is so damned insane that you’re forced to obey (when it’s done well, of course). I never go “My word, that’s jolly well done”, it’s more like “That sounds so fucking painful that it must come from a very meaningful place and nowmynoseisbleedingandwhyamIhittingthisperson?!?!” Metalheads strive to sniff out posturing as a marketing scheme, yell sell-out, and turn their heads faster than ANY OTHER AUDIENCE IN MUSIC. Look on these blogs we read and you’d have to agree. We’re JUST as critical of male-fronted groups for JUST as inane and unfounded reasons as someone forswearing the artistic merits of a whole sex within it. I, for one, immediately judge a metal band just by the look of them and admittedly have missed out on good music because of this. So I think the larger question here is “Why we all mad, bro?” What makes metal as a community so vehemently self hating that we’re constantly eating our own for standing out in any way? And above all, what kind of diversity will we EVER accept in our bands if we can’t let 51% of our species do whatever they want to in them?
Oh, and Landmine Marathon made my nose bleed. Thanks for the tunes.
Mainly, I wanna say thanks for that comment, because there’s lots of truth in there.
Also, you nailed why — and when — I like harsh vocals. It really is mainly about intensity and intent, power and emotion, and you don’t need to make out a single word that’s being sung in order to appreciate that.
And while I do not consider myself a sexist, I do (and did) confess that I can’t help but think about women vocalists in a way that I don’t think about male vocalists. Mainly, it blows my mind that women can sing like this (though it also blows my mind, to a lesser degree, that men can sing like this). Plus, I like watching a nice-looking woman do just about anything. 🙂
As do I! But there’s a difference between being sexIST and sexUAL, and I think you avoided being purposefully sexist here. Our brains aren’t used to hearing those noises come out of women, and that’s more preconception and unconscious mapping than being a sexist, I think.
One thing I did notice is that you sure as hell cant be an “ugly” (front)woman in metal, even though generally speaking metal bands involve large/hairy/sweaty/bearded/dirty looking dudes. Islander mentioned that a good number of dudes go shirtless, falling inline with the eroticism/passion that heavy music might evoke. That said, the flip side of this is that men aren’t normally “allowed” to be pretty or handsome, lest they be made fun of for being goth or theatrical or whatever.
I suppose this is not really a problem that has a solution though. (or if it’s truly a problem.) After all, Janis joplin was wildly erotic and had a commanding pressence with amazing talent, but was rather homely; a phenom like that who defies conventions only comes along once in a lifetime. I certainly wouldn’t expect every woman to follow that “fuck what you think”/reckless abandon kind of philosophy.
Interesting in many respects. In the realm of pop music, pretty boy faces seem to be what sells, but you;re right about metal — if a man has the face of a male model, it’s like an obstacle to be overcome (unless it’s accompanied by long hair or a beard and the music’s really nasty).
And about Janis Joplin — in addition to a shitload of talent and a one-of-a-kind voice, she had so much soul and not an ounce of phoniness or pretense, and I think all that together made her magnetic, regardless of her looks. Yeah, that’s rare.
SHROUD EATER. Please.
Hell yes!
I don’t know a lot of good female growlers. My experience with female vocalists lies more in the power/trad metal area (Shadowside, Crystal Viper, Benedictum etc.) but I do love me some Landmine Marathon.
I’d let Grace Perry beat and leave me blind any day, if you know what I mean.
Hydrofluoric acid to the eyes and a monkey wrench to the back of the head?
Prep the over night bag, we’re having a reeeeeeal party tonight!
Exactly! I’m glad at least someone knows what I want. Though, myself being Canadian, I prefer a hockey stick to the back of the head.
Great discussion on a subject we, except for Andy Synn, won’t get tired of until women who growl are too numerous to be noteworthy. Bobtastic made some especially good points, and many unfamiliar bands were mentioned that must now be checked out. Although MadIsraeli has been pretty thoroughly trounced one comment remains unaddressed:
I’m stating my stance based on the opinions of the female metal heads I talk to. This is how A LOT of them feel.
Avoiding men who make statements like yours is part of my strategy for avoiding scenarios like the one in Izegrim’s video. As a result, there is not a single person in my life who would agree with you. The fact that you know A LOT of women who do doesn’t make you a representative of feminine opinion (hint: there isn’t one). It just means sexist women are the only women who will talk to you. Assholes of a feather, as the saying goes.
Check out a channel on Youtube called Womenofextrememusic which, to date, has about 350 bands (not all metal) that now have or have had women doing some kind of harsh vocals, and does update it regularly. I just recommend this channel to people now instead of trying to think of individual bands as any band that I (or most people) could recommend are right there with pictures and audio clips. And if it isn’t there, it probably will be in a future video.
I for one don’t really don’t understand why women in extreme metal are seen as gimmicks all the time because it is neither as rare or as new as many people think it is. It’s also very insulting to the women in the bands, as if they were some kind of cheap theatrics or shock value lyrical content and not a living, breathing person who wants to convey ideas in a brutal and angry manner like anyone else in the genre. It’s also rather insulting to a lot of the men (in the mixed gender bands) because it assumes they all think of women only as ways to grab publicity and get famous and don’t think they could actually, you know, want them in the band because they like their vocals and whatever else they can contribute artistically.
Sorry comment is so late and I didn’t even get into HALF of the things I’d like to say, but I just stumbled across this today and am a little pressed for time.
I’m hitting this thread a bit late…in my search for new music fronted by “my kind”…I find it pretty hilarious that this “opinion” still comes up…The times that I do see it come up are from people who are ridiculously insecure; and it’s obvious. Needless to say that most women in metal, fetishized or not, are not there for male approval. I don’t see the problem with women doing things their way and making it look hot or not, whatever. I’ve seen just as many sexpot metalheads as I have seen those that “don’t care”…who is anyone to say why they are there, or who is more righteous in their actions? I front a thrash metal band. I’m a woman. My roots in metal come from my background in classical violin and singing blues and rock and roll- because I wear tight clothes and can shake my shit doesn’t take away from what I have invested or put into my music- a show is still a show, and let’s face it, metal can still be the ultimate show. I feel like the baseline woman that is putting herself up in front of a group of men that are potentially like the mad israeli here, and still not giving a fuck, is still better than the MAJORITY of male fronted bands that are fearlessly put together because, they ,by default, are supposed to be there already? Please, I don’t think women really care that much, but it’s totally fun to troll the trolls. Women are in support of these women, and people who are critical of music as they want to hear it will support them as well. As for anyone else who is sitting around whacking it to pictures of their grandmas- stay in your basement, you won’t be missed in the pit. By the way my recent obsession has been Dark Castle, and I just saw Cerebral Bore for the first time- home girl was awesome.
Well said. And on the subject of Cerebral Bore and some of the topics you mention, there’s this newer post from yesterday:
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2012/11/25/som-pluijmers-leaves-cerebral-bore/