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.
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
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?
¯\_(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!
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.Try out the band called Scale the Summit
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.
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.
Hm, Animals as leaders? But it’s not very thrashy.
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
It probably wouldn’t fit your thrash and death metal tastes, but sludge metal and doom metal are a lot less likely to have screaming or annoying vocals in them. I personally really don’t like screaming even though I like metal, haha.
Otherwise, acoustic metal is where you want to land. It can be hard to find in my experience, though.
You might like a lot of stuff by The Sword.
There are vocals but they are smooth and crisp rather than the xtreme death metal habit of trying to eat the mic.
I am also not a fan of super growly vocals. There’s a lot of stuff I love musically but the vocals put me right off. I’d listen to bands like Opeth and Beyond the Buried and Me more often if the growls weren’t present.
If you’re looking for metal with cleaner singing, I second the suggestions for Unleash the Archers and Nightwish. I can also recommend Blind Guardian, though the singer’s voice is polarizing. One of my favorite metal singers is John Bush from Armored Saint. He also did a few albums with Anthrax in the 90s.
For instrumentals, I can’t recommend much aside from guitar virtuosos like Steve Vai. Occasionally bands will release instrumental versions of their songs as B-sides, bonus discs, etc. Might be worth checking into.
Not a metalhead, but I do enjoy Bongripper from time to time. Mostly instrumental stoner metal.
