The Art Of The Scream

So this is what it's come to? Screaming is an artform now. Apparently, there are two schools of thought in modern metal music; inhale versus exhale screaming. I can't for the life of me understand what has become of "metal" music. There is an article over at Metal Inquisition (Yes, a link from a blog to a blog) with a number of youtube videos illustrating what inhale screaming is. It sounds like a bad parody to me.

For me, metal music has always been about one thing: The Riff. Unless you're Rob Halford, you're vocals should just stay out of the way. I can't count the number times I've listened to a new death-grind-doom-funeral or whatever metal band that is supposed to be the new thing, when the "singer" comes in growls out his personal poetry book in an incomprehensible cacophony. It doesn't help that whoever is mixing these albums feels the need to jack up the snare, bass drum, and vocal levels so that the guitar and bass become an annoying buzz.

Here are some songs that might be cool if they were instrumental: