What are your options about sabaton?

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I’m mixed on growling and harsh vocals. I really like bands like Amon Amarth, Carach Angren, Antestor, and Opeth, and I can at least tolerate, if not slightly enjoy, the vocals for bands like Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy, and Crimson Moonlight. However, I absolutely cannot get into bands like Emperor, Horde, or Between the Buried and Me due to their harsh vocals. I also don’t really like modern Dimmu Borgir, but that’s because Shagrath managed to find a way to make the style sound pitiful. I still love his vocals on Kamelot’s The Black Halo, though.
 
ZMystiCat said:
I also don’t really like modern Dimmu Borgir
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I saw them in concert with Nevermore (which is the band I was there to see). It was one of the more scary moments of my life. 😝 I was praying Hail Mary’s the whole time Dimmu Borgir was on stage. I didn’t realize he was the guest growler on The Black Halo.
 
ZMystiCat said:
I still love his vocals on Kamelot’s The Black Halo , though.
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Yes! That’s exactly when I like harsh vocals, then they are playing a minor part like a character in a story.

Or, in one of my favorite uses, as an effect to supplement the lyrics. In Threshold’s Slipstream (one my favorite “move out of your comfort zone” songs), Dan Swanö has just one line - repeated four times - but it’s the perfect element to shake the listener out of complacency, which is the point of the lyrics (which are in the summary on YT):

 
Joe_5859 said:
It was one of the more scary moments of my life. 😝 I was praying Hail Mary’s the whole time Dimmu Borgir was on stage.
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Was he really so bad that you needed to ask for Mary’s intercession?

Really, I don’t know what happened. I’ve heard some of their earlier stuff, and he was pretty good, just like in The Black Halo. His stuff on Abrahadabra and Eonian were just awful, though. Maybe it was like that on In Sorte Diaboli, but I skipped that album and am not enough of a fan of the band to make time to listen to it.
Wampa said:
Yes! That’s exactly when I like harsh vocals, then they are playing a minor part like a character in a story.
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A lot of growled vocals tend to come from genres where they fit. It’s generally meant to convey the brutal, horrifying, unnerving, hate-filled, or similar emotion of the genre. Sometimes, though, I think they go way too far and end up sounding less like fitting vocals and more like nails on a chalkboard or, in modern Dimmu Borgir’s case, pig squeals.
 
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Cool song. I think my brother has some of the Threshold albums. I’ll have to give them a listen.

I always liked the way that Ayreon used the harsh vocals. I love the interchange between Saviour Machine’s Eric Clayton and Opeth’s Mike Akerfeldt on “Day12: Trauma.” Akerfeldt plays the part of “Fear”, so it fits perfectly within the theme.

 
Joe_5859 said:
Ayreon
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I keep meaning to get into them. I’ve seen them come up periodically due to having guest vocals from some of my favorites, but I’ve never gotten around to it. I’m also a huge fan of Avantasia, and Ayreon seems to be the closest thing to them.
Joe_5859 said:
😜 It wasn’t his vocals so much as the band’s stage presence.
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Yeah, Dimmu Borgir has a bit of a unsettling nature to them, but that goes for a lot of black metal. If you want something close to the style but less occult-themed and less anti-religious, I’d highly advise Carach Angren. All their albums are concept albums that tell horror stories, but they leave it at the story and are pretty deliberate in leaving out religious and political commentary.
 
ZMystiCat said:
I keep meaning to get into them. I’ve seen them come up periodically due to having guest vocals from some of my favorites, but I’ve never gotten around to it. I’m also a huge fan of Avantasia, and Ayreon seems to be the closest thing to them.
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Interestingly enough, I’m a huge fan of Ayreon and I keep meaning to get into Avantasia. 😄 My brother has all the Avantasia albums, but I haven’t listened to them much, though I feel like I would like them.

They actually cooperated on a song together:


Their newest album “The Source” is pretty solid and includes an all-star lineup: James Labrie, Tobias Sammet, Floor Jansen, Simone Simons, Hansi Kursch, Russel Allen, etc. Here’s the track with all the vocalists. There’s even a section where the lyrics are in binary. 😉


My favorite Ayreon album will always be “The Human Equation”, though. Honestly, it’s one of my top 5 favorite albums period. Most of the vocalists portray a different emotion/characteristic playing inside the protagonist’s (James Labrie’s) head.
 
ZMystiCat said:
Yeah, Dimmu Borgir has a bit of a unsettling nature to them, but that goes for a lot of black metal. If you want something close to the style but less occult-themed and less anti-religious, I’d highly advise Carach Angren. All their albums are concept albums that tell horror stories, but they leave it at the story and are pretty deliberate in leaving out religious and political commentary.
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Yes, that’s probably why I don’t listen to black metal. 😄
 
Re Avantasia and Ayreon, I’ve been into Ayreon much longer and only recently got into Avantasia.

Fans of Ayreon should also try Arjen’s project Star One. I only stumbled upon the Space Metal album a few years ago, but wow, am I hooked. Every song is about a different science fiction movie, novel or TV series.

Try the song Intergalactic Space Crusaders, about the British scifi TV show Blake’s 7 and featuring Russell Allen (Symphony X) and Damian Wilson (Threshold).

 
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I tend not to like Arjen’s side projects as much as Ayreon, but Star One is every bit as good. Stream of Passion is pretty good, too. Arjen was only involved with their first album before they decided to spin off into a band in their own right sans Arjen.

 
I finally had a chance to listen to all the music posted in this thread (that’s why some of you are getting likes two weeks after the fact). Good stuff! I may have to check out some more of Stream of Passion.

BTW, I’m quite surprised we were finally able to have a normal conversation about metal on CAF without the obligatory post that all metal is evil, it’s Satan’s music, the beat takes over your body and makes you sin, etc!
 
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Wampa said:
BTW, I’m quite surprised we were finally able to have a normal conversation about metal on CAF without the obligatory post that all metal is evil, it’s Satan’s music, the beat takes over your body and makes you sin, etc!
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Oh, yeah, we never did. It actually makes me wonder if those people have made it a “pet issue” that they browse the forum for, and Sabaton is too obscure for them to notice.
 
Huh, you’re right. They can’t tell what the thread title means. Brilliant!

Well, our OP did us an unknowing favor with that title. @Alexjpr53, you got a lot of reaction here with this thread (frankly, a surprisingly amount for CAF). Any thoughts now that you’ve read it all?
 
Alexjpr53 said:
I love sabaton music, especially, when they sing the battles and tell stories about what people did in the past both good and bad. I hope they make a song that helps being awareness to veteran suicide like he’ll and back. But I would not recommend some of their songs like burn your crosses. It’s very anti-christian and clear as day. But what do you think do you like them or not. Why. Finally, what’s your favorite song they made. My is the Last Stand.
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Did you read the lyrics of Burn Your Crosses from the Metalizer album?
 
Wampa said:
I may have to check out some more of Stream of Passion.
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Definitely start with “Embrace the Storm”. That album included Arjen Lucassen and was one of his many projects. The rest of the band then decided they wanted to make a go of it as an actual band, and Arjen gave them his blessing to continue without him. I keep meaning to check out their later albums, but I always heard they weren’t as good as the first album, so I never really prioritized it.
 
I like Sabton. I like how they incorporate historical battles and other things into their music. I know they are power metal but maybe battle metal or history metal could be used to describe them also, lol. Like anything else, I take it all with a grain of salt. Most of the bands out there that people think are satanic, I know the OP did not say this, are actually not. Tom Araya of Slayer is a Catholic and does not believe or agree with a lot of the things they put in their music, he has stated as much. It is about an rebellious image that sells records. I can listen to a band and skip a song if I don’t like the message. Now in the bands I have been in I have not written songs like those and would not do so. Plus there is also where people have misinterpreted lyrics of a song. I know in some cases the lyrics are blanket but in others not so much.
 
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