Like, I love thrash/death/heavy metal music, but I could mostly do without the vocals. Is there a genre of music (or specific bands) I should look for?
I’m a big fan of Arcturus, Children of Bodom, etc, but I prefer the instrumentals way more than the singing.
So, is there a specific genre for that?
Edit: Imagine Silent Night, Bodom Night but without lyrics. It’s not that I dislike the vocals; would just appreciate the track more without them. It’s like they’re just in the way of what I want to hear.
Edit 2: Thanks, everyone. I have heard of Animals as Leaders but am not super familiar with them. Will definitely check them out as well as the other recommendations.
So there’s a lot of ways you can go with this. You can definitely find instrumentals of death metal bands, but you can also try something new.
Haggard is one of the best in symphonic metal, and while there’s still a stitch singer, imo they’re MUCH easier to understand.
Native Howl has slayer played by some country boys on banjo and guitar. They also do a bunch of their own stuff that sounds pretty wild. “Thrash grass” is one of their better albums and pretty accurately describes their flavor of fusion (thrash metal played in the style of bluegrass)
Older Arch Emeny stuff is also quite good, and having a pretty lady growling at me is a novel experience. Angela gossow also shows up in metalocalypse so that’s instant bonus points
Dethklok does pretty well at straddling the line between melodic/symphonic/death metal, and if you like the metal without Nathan explosion you can check out Brandon Small’s other stuff where he isn’t growling like a cartoon character.
Last but certainly not least is The Lord Weird Slough Feg. Exquisite technical metal wrapped up in an 80s/90s power metal package. I simp for Slough Feg wherever I can because it’s EXCELLENT metal that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition
I was the same when I first started listening to bodom. Just give it time and you’ll like the vocals just as much :)
You can find instrumentals in the meantime, absolutely. (Or even fan covers on YouTube and the like)
You can try some middle bands like Norma Jean. They have some harder songs but also other songs where the vocalist sings more than yells
First one is def interesting, but a little too chip tune for my taste (still cool though). Definitely liking the second one. Will check out some more of them. Thanks.
A lot of metal bands do instrumental releases
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR1qON1IN1zBN4eo7DFL4IYRwZeuKTvWP&si=xY2lo5ha-8070b2P
Power metal is more traditional metal but with clean vocals (no growls). Bands include DragonForce, Angra, Helloween, Stratovarius
There’s also progressive metal, where the emphasis is more on the intricate instrumentals, so some banda don’t do growls. It is usually less heavier than traditional metal. Bands include Dream Theatre, Liquid Tension Experiment, Symphony X, Tessaract, Haken, frost*, Porcupine Tree
Rhapsody’s Holy Thunderforce is just so damn entertaining.
And Helloween’s Eagle Fly Free is pretty high on my list.
I don’t know where the Hu falls in this but don’t leave them out
You might like some of Haken’s heavier stuff. They’re primarily prog but they go hard, too.
Try the album Vector and the album Virus.From Virus i recommend you try the song Prosthetic
and the song Messiah complex V: Ectobius Rex
From Vector I recommend you try the song Puzzle Box
and the song VeilTheir new album Fauna is really good and has a good mix of different styles which includes heavy elements as well.
Come back if you like them I will recommend more!
🤘 Haken! 🤘
It’s also okay if you don’t like prog, i recognize it’s too different for some. lol
Haken (pronounced “hay-kin”) is fucking awesome. They have a pretty wide range of sound too so most people who like metal I think would enjoy their songs.
Give a listen to Testament! IMO the music is thrash so heavy it borders death metal, and the singer ventures into growling only occasionally. My gateway drug into Testament was their Titans of Creation album.
Just to be clear; are you wanting heavy metal music that’s only instrumental? Or are you wanting heavy metal music where the vocalist doesn’t sound like a small angry demon with a cold that just got karate chopped in the throat?
The former but will settle for the latter. Amazing description, BTW. lol
thought it would be teen titans go, was surprised
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ por que no los dos?
I forget which one, but one of the Between the buried and me albums has an instrumental release. Honestly, all of their albums I recommend regardless because the musicianship is excellent.
Scale the summit is more along the lines of prog metal but purely instrumental (I think).
Protest the hero is prog metal that has a near minimal amount of death growl (still some).
Animals as leaders which has been mentioned by several people.
Exivious is decent, I’m like 90percent sure they’re instrumental.
There’s a Japanese band called té, which is way more prog rock but you might like that.
Death, despite being one of the progenitors of death metal, is less intense on the death metal growl vocals. To me, early death metal in general is a bit different sounding than modern death metal. Regardless, Death has a pure instrumental song called Voice of the soul which is part acoustic. It’s probably one of the most acoustically beautiful songs written in the genre.
You just made me remember The Coma Machine.
One day I’ll figure out the meaning of the song. Real banger, but still don’t have a full picture. One day.
For instrumental music with no vocals, try: Wide Eyes, Invent Animate (their instrumental versions), Modern Day Babylon, I Built the Sky. These aren’t quite Death Metal, but they have really complex guitar and drum pieces.
For with vocals: Sea in the Sky, Ignea, Unleash The Archers, Corelia (also has instrumental version of their 1 album)
OP might want to play around with everynoise.com.
For Wide Eyes it lists one of their genres as instrumental djent, then they offer a sample of each artist that is also tagged with that genre.
It can help explore a niche further or discover adjacent niches.
Unleash The Archers’s version of Northwest Passage is a real banger.
Unleash the Archers are so good!
So you just want instrumental? Check out Buckethead.
Ok, you got my upvote because I love some Buckethead but…
this is a deep well, you and I know it. Please give OP (and me) the “death metal without the screaming” album(s), if you know the titles. I know I have heard two at least that fit this bill exactly but haven’t found them yet. I have been searching tonight but you start listening to Buckethead and there goes the time.
Elder
Dvne
Bossk
Keygen Church
Julie Christmas
Cult of Luna
Sgàile
Nightwish
Skiltron
Glorryhammer
Creeper
No real death in that list though - the vocals are part of the genre
For anyone looking at Keygen Church, also see their adjacent project, Master Boot Record for computer metal.
Anthrax
Haven’t listened to them much in years but I used to like their album, The Sound of White Noise. Singer can be a bit gruff but doesn’t quite scream like I think you are talking about.Maybe try symphonic metal. Bands like nightwish, within temptation maybe?
I was thinking this as well, add in some bands (album suggestions in parens) like epica (holographic principle), kamelot (epica/black halo), Symphony x (divine wings of tragedy), and even a band like battle beast (circus of doom) or unleash the archers (apex) and i think op will have a good time
Hm, Animals as leaders? But it’s not very thrashy.