A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

and other extreme

subgenres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their "ugliness", but their unintelligibility contributes to death metal's abrasive style and often dark and obscene subject matter.Sharpe-Young, Garry. ''Death Metal'',

Definition

Death metal, in particular, is associated with growled vocals; it tends to be lyrically and thematically darker and more morbid than other forms of metal, and features vocals which attempt to evoke chaos, death, and misery by being "usually very deep, guttural, and unintelligible." Natalie Purcell notes, "Although the vast majority of death metal bands use very low, beast-like, almost indiscernible growls as vocals, many also have high and screechy or operatic vocals, or simply deep and forcefully-sung vocals."Purcell, Natalie J. ''Death Metal Music:The Passion and Politics of a Subculture''. McFarland, 2003, p. 11. Sociologist Deena Weinstein has noted of death metal: "Vocalists in this style have a distinctive sound, growling and snarling rather than singing the words, and making ample use of the voice distortion box."

Terminology and technique

Death growls are also known as death metal vocals, brutal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, growled vocals, low pitched vocals, low growls, unclean vocals, harsh vocals,

vocal fry The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound productio ...

, glottal fry, false cord vocals, death cord vocals and disparagingly as "

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vocals". To be done properly, death growls require traditional clean/melodic vocal techniques. In June 2007,

Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre The Radboud University Medical Center (Dutch: ''Radboudumc''), is the teaching hospital affiliated with the Radboud University Nijmegen, in the city of Nijmegen in the eastern-central part of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of N ...

in the Netherlands reported that, because of the increased popularity of growling in the region, several patients who had used improper growling techniques were being treated for edema and

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on the

vocal folds In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speec ...

. The low, raspy, aggressive pitch of

Lemmy Kilmister Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

from

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

was not unlike the death growl and may be thought of as a precursor to the current style.

References

External links

How to Do Harsh Death Metal Vocals,

WikiHow wikiHow is an online wiki-style publication featuring how-to articles on a variety of topics. Founded in 2005 by Internet entrepreneur Jack Herrick, its aim is to create an extensive database of instructional content, using the wiki model of ope ...

{{Heavy metal music Heavy metal performance techniques Singing techniques Death metal

Definition

Terminology and technique

See also

References

External links