Hot Death Metal Chix

July 17, 2007

So a buddy of mine was telling me about some crazy death metal bands with girls as their frontman - or should I say frontwoman. I didn't think much of this until he sent me some Youtube links to their videos and then my jaw dropped. If I hadn't seen that it was a woman singing in Arch Enemy, I wouldn't have believed that it was a female singer. Her voice is sooo low, raspy and gutteral. This type of singing is called death growl. Very impressive. Apparently she was actually trained by someone to sing this way and also to help ensure that she doesn't ruin her vocal chords. Arch Enemy with frontwoman Angela Gossow is a swedish band. She joined this group in 2000.

Here is a link to a video of Arch Enemy playing the song Enemy Within on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NizPNmUjeDU

The other band I have heard of with a female frontwoman is in the Italian band called Lacuna Coil. They sing metal goth rock and the lead singer does not sing in the deal growl that Angela Gossow does. One of their lead vocalists is Cristina Scabbia who originally was only supposed to sing backup vocals for the band. They liked the way she sounded so much they asked her to become a permanent part of the band, singing alongside their other male, lead vocalist.

Here is a link to Lacuna Coil playing two songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live Concert Series. They are performing the songs Our Truth and Enjoy the Silence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwcIkH2GSz4

This link is to a music video of Lacuna Coil performing the song Heaven's a Lie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxtnrWb17Y

It is pretty unusual to see women fronting heavy metal bands. These bands are similar to a more mainstream band that is more widely known: Evanescence. However, Arch Enemy and Lacuna Coil are more goth rock rather than pop rock.