Speaking of food as drummers, here is an oldie but goodie. For the intro to last year’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, Mastodon did a song called “Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife.” It welds King Diamond falsettos to Judas Priest power metal, and is my favorite work by Mastodon since Remission. Only Brann Dailor’s difficulty playing a straight beat in the chorus gives away the band’s identity.
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This is a good time as any to ask you if you know of any bands with a strong King Diamond vocal influence, because it’s pretty amazing to me how this hasn’t happened a lot.
There’s a lot of medium range/suddenly high screech metal singers, but that’s not enough. I mean actual multi-persona vocalists whose method of singing is atypical. If you notice King, he doesn’t do a falsetto scream like say, James Riviera at all, it’s very childrens-story-voiced for lack of a more proper term. And his medium range voice is like Paul Baloff!
We need more singers with distinctive voices like that.
About the Mastodon song, it utilises the chorus-with-falsetto-ending hook very well, yes.
I’m always amazed at how many “bands that sound like x” search queries lead to this site. As far as singers that sound like King Diamond, the only one that immediately comes to mind is 3 Inches of Blood’ Cam Pipes (whose vocals combine a Halford start with a King Diamond finish). KD influence is rare b/c singing that high is difficult for men!
As far as singers that are aesthetically like King Diamond – he seems to have “children’s stories metal” on lock.
As far as singers with multiple personas, there are a bunch. All that good cop/bad cop nonsense. Leo Miller from Animosity uses a ton of different articulations, sometimes in the same line, so he often sounds like several people. Mike Patton, of course – and thus Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan. Tommmy from Between the Buried and Me switches between indie rock crooning and a death growl. I’m sure there are tons more, but I frankly don’t usually listen to metal with super-versatile singers. Those are probably more likely to be found in more theatrical (eg, prog or avant-garde) stuff.
I would also suggest Into Eternity on the “multiple persona” tip. Three separate vocalists switch from standard death grunt to rich power metal harmonies to a ridiculously high falsetto squeal with no problem at all. Appreciate the versatility even if you hate the band. I’m quietly addicted to Scattering of Ashes.
Oh and how could I forget Unexpect and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum?
Ishahn from Emperor could shriek with the best of them when he felt like it – there are a few moments on IX Equilibrium that are spine-tingling.
I’ve always felt that Mastodon’s vocals were their Achilles’ heel, so to speak (except on their early records), but if their upcoming album incorporates this kind of thing I probably won’t mind so much.
Brann Dailor’s drumming on that song is amazing…I think I’ll check out “remission.” I don’t think he has difficulty playing a straight beat, he keeps good time.