Female Metal Vocalists (Female Fronted Metal)
I listen to a lot of music, including many various genres, and have always found the vocals to be the most powerful musical instrument that there is, specifically female vocals. Why? I don't know... This is not a "hottest women" list, it is simply my opinion on the greatest female vocalists in metal today. There are many, many sub-genres of metal. Most metal music with a female lead singer is either symphonic and/or gothic metal, however, there are exceptions. Here is my current list of the greatest female voices in metal music today, as well as an extra large HQ YouTube video for each one.
Dec 22, 2012: Wow. Neat.
Dec 20, 2012: I made this page during one night at work years ago in 2009 and it has apparently been getting a lot of visits now and it comes up as the sixth match on google when searching for female metal vocalists or female metal singers. So I figured that I would fix all the dead youtube links. I have kept all of the cheesy text the same though, even if it's dated now and my opinions have changed a bit. I have also added "Chibi" of The Birthday Massacre to the list as well. There are so many other great vocalists, but I wanted to keep the list short and the display as minimalist as possible.
Dec 20, 2012: I made this page during one night at work years ago in 2009 and it has apparently been getting a lot of visits now and it comes up as the sixth match on google when searching for female metal vocalists or female metal singers. So I figured that I would fix all the dead youtube links. I have kept all of the cheesy text the same though, even if it's dated now and my opinions have changed a bit. I have also added "Chibi" of The Birthday Massacre to the list as well. There are so many other great vocalists, but I wanted to keep the list short and the display as minimalist as possible.
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Tarja Turunen
Tarja has been declared as "the voice of Finland" by the current president of Finland. She has done a lot of work outside of metal as well, mostly classical music and now she is currently a solo artist. However, her best work was as lead singer of the symphonic power metal band, Nightwish. Just listen to her soprano vocals on this live Nightwish clip. Truly Epic, this is my favourite recorded live performance of a single song. It defines "symphonic metal."
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Simone Simons
Speaking of epic... this talented woman from the Netherlands is the current lead singer of the symphonic metal band, Epica. Whereas Tarja is known as a "vocal soprano," Simone is a "mezzo-soprano." In short, the vocal range is different, she has a softer, comforting voice. My friend once described this music fairly well by saying that she "pictured a bunch of medieval soldiers storming at a castle wall" while listening to one of Epica's songs. This video is from a DVD that Epica released back in 2004.
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Vibeke SteneVibeke is the former soprano vocalist for the Norwegian gothic metal band, Tristania. Her vocals sound much different than any other singer, and often have a chilling, yet soothing sound. Many fans will tell you that Tristania sounded better with Morten Veland, the former male vocalist, and that they do not compare anymore. However, with Vibeke's vocals, it almost doesn't matter who the male singer is, and her voice has only gotten better over the years. Sadly, she left the band in 2007 to teach singing lessons. This video is a low budget production from 1999.
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Alissa White-GluzA voice much different than the above women. Alissa is the lead vocalist for the Canadian melodic death metal/metalcore band, The Agonist. For those unfamiliar, think of Killswitch Engage, but with a female singer. The appreciation for such a voice comes in the fact that in metalcore music, you need to be able to growl like a mofo, and yet still sound great on the softer, more melodic parts of the music. This is an official video from The Agonist that demostrates just that, as I could not find a live clip that sounds nearly as good.
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Kaisa JouhkiFrom Indonesia, Kaisa is the female vocalist for the Finnish metal band, Battlelore. Their music is rather difficult to classify, but you can just call it Folk Metal. Like Tristania above, and many gothic metal bands, Battlelore utilizes the "beauty and the beast" vocal style, and they are arguably the best at it. That is, male vocals (usually harsh) combined and often overlapped with female vocals (usually soft and gentle), providing a unique sound that is all about balance. Kaisa can also scream when the moment calls for it. This song is a great example of the "beauty and the beast" vocal style, and Kai's soft vocals.
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Monika PedersenMonika's best vocal work was when she was the vocalist for the Norwegen gothic metal band, Sirenia. She is from Denmark herself, and has only released one album with the band, "Nine Destinies and a Downfall," one of my top 3 albums of 2007. As is all too common with female vocalists in metal bands, she left the band soon after for personal reasons. Her vocals are fairly simple, yet very distinctive. This is one of two of Sirenia's music videos with Monkia.
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Anneke van GiersbergenLike Simone, Anneke is another mezzo-soprano from the Netherlands. She was the lead vocalist for the metal/rock band The Gathering from 1994 to 2007. They describe their sound as "trip rock." There is an almost psychedelic sound to their music, and with Anneke's passionate vocals, it is easy to get lost in. This is a good voice to fall asleep to. As usual, a live video will show off the true voice more than a music video, enjoy.
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Floor Jansen
Keeping with the above trend, Floor is a dramatic soprano from the Netherlands. She started singing with symphonic metal band After Forever in 1997. Unfortunately, the band disbanded in 2009. Like Tarja, she is known for her ability to sing both classical and rock music. Floor's voice is just another "epic" sounding one. This is the first live youtube video that came up when searching, and it's a good example.
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Sharon den AdelYes, another Dutch mezzo-soprano vocalist. She started singing with various bands when she was just thirteen years old. She joined the symphonic metal band Within Temptation in 1996. Her vocals are much softer than the other soprano's, for what they lack in power, they make up for in passion. As is a trend with symphonic metal bands, Within Temptation sounds more rock than metal now, as Sharon herself described their sound as "symphonic rock." Here is a live video of one of Within Temptation's more popular songs.
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Lori Lewis
Aesma Daeva and Therion are two more names in the symphonic metal scene. Lori is the lead singer for Aesma Daeva as well as a touring singer for Therion. She sang for both of them when they were on tour together as well. An American soprano, she is also singing in a professional choir in Minneapolis. Her voice is similar to Tarja's, and she could have likely became as popular if she were in another band. Here is one of the only live clips of Aesma Daeva.
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Cristina Scabbia
What list of greatest female fronted metal band singers would be complete without mentioning Lacuna Coil's Christina Scabbia? Christina's vocals sound more and more perfected after every Lacuna Coil album, and the band has seemed to found the ideal formula for the contrasting beauty and the beast vocal style with Andrea Ferro equally sharing the lead vocals. Here's a video that doesn't waste your time with an intro.
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Chibi
Although I would not exactly classify the band The Birthday Massacre as metal per se, but perhaps rather (synth) rock that can get pretty heavy, I cannot recommend them enough. If you are a fan of powerful and passionate female vocals the likes of the women listed above, then I assure you that will love this bands amazing skills with Chibi's unique style of vocal talent that words cannot even begin to describe. That's all that I'll say besides how I think it is amazing how they are not more well known. Here's a good example from a live clip of one of TBM's songs with some heaviness mixed in. Just listen.
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