Hiro11

I've been listening to a lot of Agalloch and Alcest lately. Deathspell Omega's latest album is a little different but amazing as well. I'm also a fan of Wolves in the Throne Room. Any suggestions along these lines?

mndtrp

Blut Im Auge, maybe.

roughdraft_zero

When one says they like Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch, more often than not the most obvious and natural recommendation would like be Drudkh. Featuring the atmosphere of Wolves and some of the folk element of Agalloch, but definitely with a sound all their own. Negura Bunget may fit as well but isn’t always as easy to get into. You might also like the legendary Bay Area band Weakling. They are widely regarded as Wolves’ biggest influence, but they can be a bit of a tiresome endurance test for some. They only have one album, but it is brilliant.

Some others I can recommend:

Altar of Plagues (post-black metal with great atmosphere; from Ireland)

Deep Mountains (raw Chinese black metal occasionally featuring traditional Chinese instruments. Also check out Zuriaake if you like them)

Dordeduh (founded by ex-Negura Bunget-founder, truly unique, brilliantly atmospheric music. Too bad there’s only a 13-minute 7” to judge by so far. Though there are some lengthy videos of live performances online that are amazing.)

A Forest of Stars (post/psych black metal featuring clean female vocals and folk/classical passages)

Gris (depressive black metal from Canada; INCREDIBLE atmosphere)

Sombres Forets (more of the same, again from Canada)

Misere Luminis (collaboration between members of Gris and Sombres Forets, so you know what to expect. Wonderful again.)

Panopticon (largely a raw and anarcho punk-tinged band, his most atmospheric and folk-infused release is Collapse, so I’d recommend starting there)

Skagos (nature based raw/post black metal from British Columbia, their best work is likely featured on the recent split CD with Panopticon)

Ulver (as far as your topic goes, this Norwegian legend’s “black metal trilogie,” or their first three albums, would interest you the most. It ranges from black/folk metal, to purely acoustic traditionalist chamber folk, to raw, dirty and aggressive black metal. After their first three albums though, they more or less abandon metal altogether for what can only be most largely considered electronic music.)

Velnias (post-black metal featuring folk and doom elements)

Hiro11

Great! Thanks for taking the time to put that post together.

dick_grayson

I think Blood Inside is up there along with those other 3 you mentioned. Drastically different, but a killer album.

Some other bands you might like:

VINDENSANG
Borknagar - Archaic Course and Quintessence albums esp.
Thyrfing - Valdr Galga and Vansinnesvisor
Horna - Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne
Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors or Las Masquerade Infernale
Summoning - Dol Guldur
Taake - Nattestid ser porten vid...
Skyforger - Kauja pie Saules

islandclaws

I'm a HUGE fan of Agalloch and WITTR, but I think roughdraft_zero did a good job of nailing it. I'd also add Ea, Nortt, early Dimmu Borgir, Ahab, The Flight of Sleipnir, Lycia and The Wounded Kings. I'm not at home now, but if I can find more on my iTunes later I'll post them.

nodeerforamonth

Check out:

Om
Sun O))))
Orthodox

Hiro11

I got "Blood in Our Wells" and "Autumn Aurora" by Drudkh, great stuff and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the suggestion. I got some early Ulver as well, haven't listened to it yet.

FantasticVSDoom

Unearthly Trance may fit the bill... Been listening to them a lot lately. Probably mainly because they are local, but seem to fit in the same vein

nodeerforamonth

I LOVE the music... then the vocals come in and completely destroy everything. Whoever can get away with doing all this music as just intrumentals or having a non-cookie monster singer will probably be the one to really hit it big.

Hiro11

Pelican and Isis might have already done what you're looking for. I like the sound of the vocals, it's a little ridiculous and totally over the top, but if I'm outside for a walk in the middle of a Chicago winter, it's 20 below and snow is falling, everything in the music fits together pretty perfectly.

Lemmy

x 1,000

Don't these bands realize how generic they sound by having nearly every vocalist* sound almost exactly the same? These bands have the guts and balls to make Metallica sound like John Denver, but then, they ruin it with Cookie Monster vocals. Because of that single complaint, they've lost years and years of "loyal fan" income from someone like me, who regularly purchases lots of music on CD, concert tix, DVDs/blu-rays, t-shirts, etc., much (most) of it "heavy".

*very broad use of the term "vocalist"

Trout

Would you rather they sing in the generic high pitched cat screeching style that was big in the '80's. The vocals actually sound different, compare Ulver to Nortt, both are totally different.

JHosk

Gotta agree with Lemmy and Nodeerforamonth. Nothing worse then some wicked tunes ruined by scream vocals. Take the latest High On Fire disc. The music is amazing but I can't make it through the lp in it's entirety because of the vocals.

Scream vocals are one of the main reasons I switched from straight up metal to stoner metal / desert rock years back. There a few exceptions to the rule of course.

nodeerforamonth

I'd rather they just not sing at all and leave the music as instrumentals. It's very well crafted, structured, intense, atmospheric music. There's no need for vocals.

I'll take King Diamond over the Cookie Monster any day, though. And I'll take the Darkness over any band mentioned on these pages.

The high pitched cat screeching vocals are just as annoying, but they don't make me laugh as much. When I hear the Cookie Monster singing, I break into laughter, which probably isn't the reaction those big tough Cookie Monsters are looking for.

Lemmy

Agreed 100%.

And as for "high-pitched screaming" of hair band vocalists all sounding alike, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, and King Diamond are all easily differentiated, something that cannot be said of the BM bands mentioned in this thread.

Heh.

BM bands.

Heh-heh-heh...

Ravenous

Thanks for the tips Zero

I will add to go check out Les Discrets OP. If you like ALcest, these guys are LOADS better than Alcest, and for everyone else, their vocals are all clean, though they sing in French.

Also Woods of Ypres would be good to hear if you like Agalloch.

joeblow69

What's with the cookie-monster vocal hate?
That's like going to the opera and saying, "Yeah, it was good, but I would have liked it a lot better if they didn't sing so opera-y".
Some music just isn't meant for you.
Get over it.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I've seen too many good "cookie monster" bands turn to shit, because they succumbed to pressure from so-called "fans" to create a more friendly, clean vocal sound (*cough* Opeth)

FantasticVSDoom

JHosk

Your opera comparison is kind of an apples to oranges comparison. There are a ton of heavy bands that don't scream all the time. Baroness, Mastodon, Kylesa, etc. They all mix in some normal vocals in with the screaming. Opera is defined by it's distinct style, where metal isn't necessarily defined by screaming. You've never watched a movie or listened to a cd and said "jeez...this stuff is awesome, but I wish this was tweaked a little" ??

Lemmy

There's your proof that these "singers" simply cannot sing. When they try to do something that isn't easily replicated by any 15-year-old with a microphone, they tend to fall flat on the grunting faces, because THEY AREN'T SINGERS IN THE FIRST PLACE. I can sing Cookie-Monster-style-vox effortlessly, and I'm 47 fucking years old. How do I know? I've done it for laughs when jamming with other musicians. And not one serious musician I've ever met takes any of that musical genre seriously. How can anyone? It's patently ridiculous.

Again, I refer to my initial comment: If these bands had decent singers, they'd rival Metallica and Slayer easily (no need for great ones, just half-decent would be a huge step up).

But, NOOOOOOO, they wanna "grunt" their songs.

Hiro11

Lots of black/death metal bands mix in some clean singing as well (most of the bands I mentioned do, for example).
I'd say the black metal is most definitely defined by the vocal style. I don't really care about the insanely niche-y labeling/pigeon-holing of bands that some metal fans are obsessed with, but in my understanding the template for the black metal sound was laid down by bands like Mayhem/Burzum and Emperor in the early ninties and most BM (haw) bands are heavily influenced/straight up copying that sound. Most musical sub-genres have "templates" that they follow (blues, the different sub-genres of jazz, folk rock etc) and black metal's no different. The vocals are a key part of that "template" and a key part of the overall sound, IMO.

Just like every other genre, there's bands that are better at experimentation and stretching the limits of the sound and there are bands that stay close to the rigidly defined "template". There are really good bands in both categories. US-based and Eastern European black metal in general seems to have been more willing to bring in other influences and experiment with the sound. So even within a genre with a pretty rigid "template" like black metal, there's a lot of diversity. Overall, I'd say rejecting the entire genre because of the vocal sound of some bands is a little short sighted.

CRM114

I just popped in to find out how "folk" was being linked to "black metal." Still don't know.

EDIT:

joeblow69

They don't have "decent" singers because they don't WANT decent singers. They are producing the kind of music that they want to, and believe it or not, there are people that enjoy it. Don't understand what the big deal is to you. They don't owe you anything.

Trout

For hours/weeks/months/years at a time? And are you really "singing" or doing the "barking like a dog" style?