Inspired by this post, I wanted to make a post asking about your favorite metal bands with women in them and maybe your favorite release from them too.
For me, that’d be Crypta. They’re a Brazilian Death Metal band made up of only women. Their Shades of Sorrow album is absolutely incredible with some really mean vocals and great riffing.
I discovered Brutus a few weeks ago. Stefanie Mannaerts is the vocalist and plays the drums simultaneously. The power in her voice while smashing the hell out of her drums… incredible. I was blown away when I saw a Video of her performance and realized it. What Have We Done is probably my favorite.
In the realm of epic/symphonic metal you probably can’t throw a stone without hitting an amazing female vocalist. Simone Simons from Epica, Nightwish’s Floor Jansen, Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), and Zora Cock for Blackbrariar are the first that come to mind.
For folk metal there’s Eluveitie with two members and Folkstone with I think one.
Very worth mentioning is Alyssa and her harsh vocals, from Arch Enemy.
While she’s not been a member in a long while, I have to mention Vibeke Stene as the vocalist from Tristania, maybe my all time favorite.
For all female bands there’s Girlschool, and you could say Babymetal, even if they have more members playing with them I don’t know how permanent they are.
Others that I know of but haven’t really listened much by would be Jinjer and Halestorm.
That’s what I can think of off the top of my head, but there’s so much more.
Edit: I almost forgot but I have to add: Amy Lee from Evanescence and Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil.
I’d add Adrienne Cowan from Seven Spires and Melissa Bonny from Ad Infinitum to that list. But, as you said, in symphonic metal you’d be hard pressed to find a band without an amazing female vocalist.
Adrienne Cowan from Seven Spires and Melissa Bonny from Ad Infinitum
Saw them last year with Kamelot, it was an amazing show. I didn’t know them before but I’m a fan now!
Lmfao Arch Enemy was the first band that made me go “woah wait that’s a woman?”
Angela Gossow was a beast, glad they found a very suitable replacement when she left.
Arch Enemy fucking rocks. Angela and Alyssa are both badass and are probably my first time seeing a woman do harsh vocals like that.
Symphonic epic folk metal with female singers is my jams
- Grai - Russian pagan / folk metal
- Folterkammer - Operatic / symphonic black metal
- Draconian - Swedish doom / goth metal
- Messa - Scarlet Doom metal
- Wardruna - Nordic folk metal
Adding one more: Battle Beast. Noora Louhimo’s voice just remained imprinted in my brain. Can’t really pick a favorite release.
After my teenage years it’s been very rare for me to dig into a band deeply enough to learn anything about their members, so the easiest examples are all going to be women doing clean vocals, which is the one time you can (usually) explicitly tell the difference just by listening. Some of my favorite examples are Liv Kristine’s work in Theatre of Tragedy, Tarja-era Nightwish, the first Stolen Babies album, and Sirenia’s first two albums along with all of Tristania’s discography pre-Rubicon.
I have two examples that immediately come to mind outside clean vocals:
Samantha Escarbe is the guitarist for Virgin Black and my understanding is she essentially splits the songwriting load with Rowan London. The Requiem stuff I still need to give more listens, but I think the first two albums are absolutely spectacular music. In “Museum of Iscariot” she does one of my favorite guitar solos I’ve ever heard.
Angela Gossow’s vocals on Arch Enemy’s “Wages of Sin” album are some of the absolute best in metal. I live for that shit. I never really got into anything else Arch Enemy did though.
Throwing some support in for Nightwish. They’ve some good shit.
Ghost Love Score, the live at Wacken version, is top tier material.
I feel like “Once” is the album where filler tracks started creeping into Nightwish, but “Ghost Love Score” is the Nightwish song. It’s spectacular.
Visions Of Atlantis has two singers, male and female, with the female being the lead. I forget their names, and I know a quick google search would tell me, but I’m having trouble balancing this message and the steering wheel, plus this bowl of soup is REALLY hot.
I saw Visions open for Korpiklaani last May and quickly fell in love with them. Illumishade also opened, another band with a female vocalist.
That’s awesome, did they play Master The Hurricane? That song makes me speed in parking lots.
First song in the setlist.
Kittie was a favorite of mine back in high school. Haven’t listened in a while but I know what I’m listening to today
Came here to say Kittie. New album is fucking TIGHT
There’s a ton of great women in metal, I’ll drop two.
Mares of Thrace, Calgary AB based sludge/post/hardcore 2 piece, guitarist/vocalist is part of the original lineup, it’s heavy and catchy.
I really like Hulder, black metal solo project, some of her early demos are amazing, this version of Into The Crypt of Rays comes to mind, got a wall flag of the art from this in my office.
Feminazgul and Oathbreaker
Can’t believe nobody mentioned Nuclear Death. One of the sickest most primitively brutal Death Metal bands. In the same league with Autopsy, in my book. Mental artwork too.
Japan has a lot of awesome female metal bands like Nemophila.
Stabbing!
Jinger band with Tatiana Shmayluk as vocalist is crazy good.
Great pick. Pisces is the song that got me into them.
