History Main / HarshVocals

* Das Ich is a good example of this trope's use in darkwave.

* All DeathMetal singers (Wiki/TheOtherWiki even refers to this vocal style as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_growl "Death Growl"]]). In the early years of the genre, [[Series/SesameStreet "Cookie Monster"]] vocals were basically the only thing that separated it from just dirty, fast thrash. (in fact, a lot of Allmusic reviews of the genre use the words "[[http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cookie+Monster%22+site:allmusic.com Cookie Monster]]") Bands who go beyond strict use of deep growls (and perhaps occasional high-pitched screams) are often accusing of being sellouts and posers unless the band in question has ProgressiveMetal leanings or otherwise has segments where cleans could actually fit the song.
*** Or if they're playing MelodicDeathMetal.
** Music/{{Cannibal Corpse}} Singer George Fisher has been growling so long that he can switch this voice on and off. While off, he sounds like he's been smoking eight packs a day.
** Many ThrashMetal singers, get pretty close to death metal vocals, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TGW78Uj3k Mille Petrozza]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cFQPF_G5OQ Randy Rampage]].
** And to show how "harsh" it is, Cookie Monster creator Creator/FrankOz stated that the guttural voice [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090103110228/http://opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007902 "blew my pipes out" the first time he tried, and once performing it for a whole day, "my normal voice would be a half an octave lower."]]
* Music/DreamTheater's James LaBrie normally did melodic vocals but has done occasionally employed harsher vocals, notable on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The song ''A Nightmare to Remember" is also the only time the band has used the death growl technique, though that wasn't done by LaBrie.

* Music/LadyBaby has this with Ladybeard. The girls come in singing in a tone normally meant for J-pop, then he comes in with the growling vocals. Its screams were originally performed by a crossdressing Australian pro-wrestler, six feet tall with a full beard, whose shtick was that he was in fact a five-year-old girl. After he left, the group was without a screamer for over a year until the only remaining member recruited Emily Arima, who can growl lower than plenty of men but is praised for her mid-range screams.

* This is a common feature of FolkPunk-- musicians such as Music/PatTheBunny or Sean Bonette of Music/{AJJ} have gravelly voices that add to the punk nature of the music.

* This is a common feature of FolkPunk-- musicians such as Music/PatTheBunny or Sean Bonette of Music/AJJ have gravelly voices that add to the punk nature of the music.

[[folder: Folk/Country]]

[[folder: Industrial]]

[[folder: Metal]]

* All DeathMetal singers (Wiki/TheOtherWiki even refers to this vocal style as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_growl "Death Growl"]]). In the early years of the genre, [[Series/SesameStreet "Cookie Monster"]] vocals were basically the only thing that separated it from just dirty, fast thrash. (in fact, a lot of Allmusic reviews of the genre use the words "[[http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cookie+Monster%22+site:allmusic.com Cookie Monster]]") Bands who go beyond strict use of deep growls (and perhaps occasional high-pitched screams) are often accusing of being sellouts and posers unless the band in question has ProgressiveMetal leanings or otherwise has segments where cleans could actually fit the song.
*** Or if they're playing MelodicDeathMetal.
** Music/{{Cannibal Corpse}} Singer George Fisher has been growling so long that he can switch this voice on and off. While off, he sounds like he's been smoking eight packs a day.
** Many ThrashMetal singers, get pretty close to death metal vocals, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TGW78Uj3k Mille Petrozza]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cFQPF_G5OQ Randy Rampage]].
** And to show how "harsh" it is, Cookie Monster creator Creator/FrankOz stated that the guttural voice [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090103110228/http://opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007902 "blew my pipes out" the first time he tried, and once performing it for a whole day, "my normal voice would be a half an octave lower."]]
* Music/MarilynManson varies depending on the song, but when a song with harsh vocals is done live, oftentimes, it will become even harsher.
* Music/{{Epica}}'s and Music/AfterForever's Mark Jansen
* A female example - while not being actual growling, Magali Luyten's both singing and talking voice are very raspy.

* Dicky Barrett from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones!
* Music/CaptainBeefheart used this voice, among many others, quite often. However, unlike Music/TomWaits, it was nowhere near his natural voice.
** In his case it was more like a transparent imitation of Music/HowlinWolf.
* Buster Poindexter (aka Music/NewYorkDolls) singer David Johansen, best known for singing "Hot Hot Hot".

* Buzz Osborne of Music/TheMelvins' primary vocal style can be described as this. As with Captain Beefheart, his speaking voice is quite different.

* Terje Winterstø Røthing from Music/KaizersOrchestra when he's singing for his project, Skambankt.
* Nils Frydakahl of Music/SleepytimeGorillaMuseum.
* Frances Quinlan of Hop Along pairs this with country-inflected crooning to make some damn interesting indie rock. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO_N-xNaU6A See here.]]
* The lead singer of Skillet, John Cooper. Not only does he sing like this, it's his normal speaking voice.
* Music/LouisArmstrong.

* Johan Hegg of Music/AmonAmarth.
* Screamin' Jay Hawkins. When he isn't, y'know, screamin'.
* Das Ich is a good example of this trope's use in darkwave.
* Minoru Niihara of Music/{{Loudness}}.
* Hurricane Smith, best known for "Oh Babe What Would You Say"
* Music/PJHarvey's song "Joy" from ''Music/IsThisDesire''.
* Albert Kuvezin's singing is all like this. This is a result of him being a VERY accomplished throat singer. Here's an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F548r32GdT0 example.]]

* Dan [=McCafferty=] of Nazareth. His gravelly style is rather similar to that of Music/DeepPurple's Ian Gillan, although both (especially Gillan) are capable of more melodic styles.
* Carl [=McCoy=] of Music/FieldsOfTheNephilim.
* Masha Arhipova from Arkona.
* Music/MarianneFaithfull, since the 1970s.
* Detonator, vocalist of the Brazilian comedy Metal band ''Music/{{Massacration}}''. The InUniverse explanation is that the God of Metal ordered him to cut off his nuts to make his voice more Metal. Yeah, it's THAT kind of band.
* Another female example: [[Music/ArchEnemy Angela Gossow]]. And her hand-picked successor, Music/AlissaWhiteGluz.
* Infamously to anyone who's played ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 2]]'', Mallika Sundaramurthy from Abnormality (as in "Visions"), who is also a rare female example.
* Music/MikePatton sometimes uses this type of vocal style in his music. [[ManOfAThousandVoices But that's because he uses almost ''every'' vocal style in his music]]. His performance as ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'' in the videogame of the same name essentially is Nightmare Fueled death metal vocals.
* Nathan Explosion of Dethklok[=/=]WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}. It's his normal voice.
* Not ''quite'' what's meant here, but Music/LeonardCohen did say, "Only in Canada could [[SelfDeprecation somebody with a voice like mine]] win Vocalist of the Year" when accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1992.
* Music/{{Otep}}'s Otep Shamaya does a lot of this, and is also another rare female example.
* Very common in {{Industrial}} and related styles, pioneered by Music/SkinnyPuppy back in the 80s.
* Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman mainly alternates between harsh vocals and a much smoother, crooning style - sometimes both get used within the same song for the sake of contrast. For a few musically LighterAndSofter albums in the mid-80's, he dropped the growling almost entirely.

* Another female example is Jyou of Music/ExistTrace, although she's cut down on it in later releases.
* ''Music/{{Psychostick}}'' takes it to the logical conclusion and has the vocals for ''Six Pounds of Terror'' performed by [[DeathbringerTheAdorable a small dog]].
* The web series "[[https://www.youtube.com/user/womenofextrememusic The Female Vocalists of Extreme Music]]" showcases...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty much exactly what the title says]]: women who do growls, screams, etc., usually in HeavyMetal, but other genres slip through sometimes. To date, it's covered hundreds of bands and vocalists--far too many to list on one page.
* Music/{{Pantera}}'s Phil Anselmo, one of the most influential vocalists in post-HeavyMetal, combining both [[TestosteronePoisoning machismo]] and [[AxCrazy sociopathy]] to create a sound much more terrifying than your usual, run-of-the-mill "scary" voice. You can even hear some of it as far back as ''Power Metal'', his debut with the band during their forbidden [[OldShame "glam phase"]]. Granted, the tone itself was mostly copy-pasted from Kyle Thomas of fellow Texas ThrashMetal band {{Exhorder}}, though he would later take certain... liberties with it.
* ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoIIMelodyOfMetafalica'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH7gslZm5k EXEC_over.METHOD_SUBLIMATION ~ ee wassa sos yehar]], with its infamous "kowarero" refrain.
* Project Pitchfork prominently began using this vocal style in the early-mid 2000s. There are a few exceptions, such as "Timekiller", where the singer uses a relatively normal baritone voice.

* Parodied on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', where Strong Bad describes DeathMetal as being sung from "the bowels of your lungs", as opposed to "the top of your lungs".
* Villains [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPbxwbnfY04 Black Shadow]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4rP7WpfaYg Blood Falcon]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gy4IRn291k Deathborn]] all have the same sinister, distorted guttural vocals in all their {{Leitmotif}}s in ''[[VideoGame/FZero F-Zero GX]]'' (while Deathborn's adds OminousLatinChanting and an OminousPipeOrgan.) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPQupzudw-g Bio Rex's]] theme isn't as sinister, but still uses lots of harsh growling and the occasional MetalScream.

* The futurepop band Pride and Fall uses these in "Turn The Lights On", which is somewhat of an OutOfGenreExperience for them.
* Music/DiamandaGalas: Who made shrieking an art.

* Michael Bohn of Music/{{Issues}}, who [[SopranoAndGravel contrasts]] his vocals with the smooth, poppy, RAndB vocals of fellow vocalist Tyler Carter.
* Music/DreamTheater's James LaBrie normally did melodic vocals but has done occasionally employed harsher vocals, notable on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The song ''A Nightmare to Remember" is also the only time the band has used the death growl technique, though that wasn't done by LaBrie.
* Music/{{Hacktivist}} has emcee Ben Marvin, who does this combined with rapping in contrast to fellow emcee Jermaine "J" Hurley, who uses clean vocal raps.

* Music/LittleRichard.
* Much like fellow metal virtuoso vocalist Mike Patton, Music/DevinTownsend uses almost every vocal style under the sun, and is ''very'' good at implenting harsh vocals into his music.

* Music/LadyBaby has this with Ladybeard. The girls come in singing in a tone normally meant for J-pop, then he comes in with the growling vocals.
* Harvey Fierstein, despite very much being a CampGay, has a ''very'' gravelly voice that you really wouldn't expect to hear in the show tunes he usually sings.
* Music/APaleHorseNamedDeath use harsh vocals very sparingly, such as on "Devil Came with a Smile".
* Former Music/{{Kiss}} drummer Peter Criss was known for his very rough and raspy voice that he used to great effect when he sang. Most notably on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeUosbClag8 "Black Diamond"]]
* Music/{{Sabaton}} vocalist Joakim Brodén usually avoids traditional growls, though his singing voice is noticeably deeper-pitched and gruffer than is common in PowerMetal.
* Simone Pluijmers from the Netherlands, another female vocalist.
* In recent years, Music/BobDylan has started veering into this territory when he sings. His trademark nasal groan is still present, but age has added a gruffness that may even rival that of Tom Waits.
* Yet another female example would be Music/CourtneyLove.
* And a less famous female example in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain_Black Porcelain Black]].
* Music/TheDarkElement's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eidS1nyQB50 "Dead to Me"]] has guest vocalist Niilo Sevänen providing a deep-pitched roar at several points.
* Music/BruceSpringsteen probably has the roughest voice ever to grace the Billboard Top 10.
* CountryMusic singer Tyler Farr is known for having an incredibly raspy and guttural voice.
* For a full-on "Cookie Monster" female, Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires, a Music/DimmuBorgir fan who in a few songs [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BvT7RNSAfp9/ growls]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ny3ZpZMOXY like her idols]] (and has downright [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCwDlmiudp0 covered them]]).
* Japanese Idol-fusion GirlGroup Music/{{PassCode}} has Yuna Imada, an adorable 4'10" young lady whose death-screams (which sound ''nothing'' like her real voice) punctuate 90% of the group's songs. Her fellow member Kaede Takashima also tries it in a couple of songs.
* Another Japanese Idol example is Music/{{Ladybaby}}. Its screams were originally performed by a crossdressing Australian pro-wrestler, six feet tall with a full beard, whose shtick was that he was in fact a five-year-old girl. After he left, the group was without a screamer for over a year until the only remaining member recruited Emily Arima, who can growl lower than plenty of men but is praised for her mid-range screams.
* Andrew and Grant of Music/UnleashTheArchers provide these.
* Depending on the outcome of a skill check in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', singing Karaoke in-game can lead to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh75iZ7wsDU a performance of "The Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns"]] in a ''very'' growly voice. Fail said check, and, [[HollywoodToneDeaf well]]...

* Music/{{Sabaton}} vocalist Joakim Brodén usually avoids traditional growls, though his singing voice is noticeably deeper-pitched and gruffer than is common in PowerMetal. The exception is when he sings the bridge in the band's cover of MelodicDeathMetal band Music/AmonAmarth's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qlI6wBUQdk "Twilight of the Thunder God"]], shifting into a MetalScream for the last line.

Please note that Harsh Vocals are not the same as Screamo, which is another genre of music entirely. Most metalheads will [[FandomBerserkButton be rather upset]] if you refer to them as such.

* For a full-on "Cookie Monster" female, Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires, a Music/DimmuBorgir fan who in a few songs [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ny3ZpZMOXY growls like her idols]] (and has downright [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCwDlmiudp0 covered them]]).

* Frances Quinlan of Hop Along pairs this with country-inflected crooning to make some damn interesting indie rock. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO_N-xNaU6A See here]].

* All DeathMetal singers (Wiki/TheOtherWiki even refers to this vocal style as a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_growl Death Growl]]"). In the early years of the genre, [[Series/SesameStreet "Cookie Monster"]] vocals were basically the only thing that separated it from just dirty, fast thrash. (in fact, a lot of Allmusic reviews of the genre use the words "[[http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cookie+Monster%22+site:allmusic.com Cookie Monster]]") Bands who go beyond strict use of deep growls (and perhaps occasional high-pitched screams) are often accusing of being sellouts and posers unless the band in question has ProgressiveMetal leanings or otherwise has segments where cleans could actually fit the song.

* No humans or any other living creatures on Earth hold a candle to the sound of a whale, as evidenced on the album ''Music/SongsOfTheHumpbackWhale'', which showcases nothing but these sounds. The singing is very loud, for it can be heard from quite a distance around. Yet "vocals" is not really the correct term here as whales have no vocal chords and generate sound by forcing air out of their nasal cavities. And what we call singing is merely a series of grunts, squeals, cries and rumbles.

->''"Blgfrhg, blrghghth, grgahtg, grgathhg'' ''SATAN!"''

* Buster Poindexter (best known for singing "Hot Hot Hot").
** Buster Poindexter is the psuedonym of former New York Dolls singer David Johansen.

* Buzz Osborne of the Melvins' primary vocal style can be described as this. As with Captain Beefheart, his speaking voice is quite different.

* Bruce Springsteen probably has the roughest voice ever to grace the Billboard Top 10.

* Music/{{Sabaton}} vocalist Joakim Brodén usually avoids this, though his singing voice is noticeably deeper-pitched and gruffer than is common in PowerMetal. The exception is when he sings the bridge in the band's cover of MelodicDeathMetal band Music/AmonAmarth's "Twilight of the Thunder God", shifting into a MetalScream for the last line.

* ArTonelico 2 has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH7gslZm5k EXEC_over.METHOD_SUBLIMATION ~ ee wassa sos yehar]], with its infamous "kowarero" refrain.

* Detonator, vocalist of the Brazilian comedy Metal band {{Music/Massacration}}. the InUniverse explanation is that the God of Metal ordered him to cut off his nuts to make his voice more Metal. Yeah, it's THAT kind of band.