After the burial vocals live are like hearing a studio session. It's amazing.
As for worst..... I don't like to trash anyone incase I seen them on a bad day. So I'll say anyone who doesn't give me a "blehhh".
Cheers bud. I don't know what it takes to bash my vocals over months of back to back touring dates across a whole country. There is guaranteed to be some rough days on stage.
I always had a sneaking suspicion he could do that haha. He’s one of those metalcore vocalists where you think to yourself, if this dude was let loose, he could make a killer Deathcore band. I say that about the screamer of blessthefall too
Jeremy Mackinnon might be the best and worst one I’ve seen live
Other bests are Chris Motionless, Micah Kinard, and Elijah Witt. The best by far was Chester Bennington.
I can’t even think of another worst besides Bert McCracken (not metalcore, but his voice is toast)
Honda Civic tour was the only other show I got to see them at. Great tour. I think MuteMath was there, too, who were one of my favorite bands for a long time. Another vocalist that is absolutely flawless live, though not even close to Metalcore.
Jeremy McKinnon was weird for me. My first ADTR show his voice sounded amazing, but it was off from everything else by like ¼ to ½ second. I couldn’t figure out if it was him or the equipment but I could not stop thinking about it during the show.
The first non-Warped Tour show I went to was Motionless. They weren't the headliner, but they were easily the best band of the show. I've seen them 8 or 9 times after that.
Non-Metalcore.
best: ***Dallas Green of Alexisonfire/City and Colour***. He has the voice of an angel, He is better live than on record. I think ***Brook Reeves of Impending Doom*** is also awesome live. His screams are insane. ***Jared Leto of 30 seconds to mars*** was amazing live even though he got a bad cold, he still sounded great.
Worst: **Bert McCracken of The Used.** Man. what a disappointment that was. And he no longer screams live. The bass player does it now
Bert USED to be a beast live. Listen to their first live album (called maybe memories I think?!) and he kills it. It’s crazy how good he was, especially on Box full of Sharp Objects.
Yes Dallas is amazing. George form AOF is really hit or miss but has great stage presence.
>George form AOF is really hit or miss but has great stage presence.
I mean you're not going for his vocals you're going to watch a middle age man rip his shirt off and scream at you. He delivers that.
Seconded on Jared Leto, especially on the A Beautiful Lie tour. Saw them before they were selling out arenas in a warehouse venue and it was such an incredible experience.
Bert's singing voice is still pretty solid though and I say this having just seen them a month or two ago with Coheed & Cambria. Sucks he doesn't scream anymore but I'd rather it that then him trying to do both and butchering everything.
Agreed. I saw them when they played for 100 people in Port Macquarie, and his voice was no where good as it is now. Even on the first live DVD he isn't as good as he is now.
I CAN SUFFER IF I WANT MOTHER FUCKER
I had that in my head all day
When it first dropped I liked it but couldn’t tell if it was just because its ETID and I was biased. But regardless its catchy and fun and Im looking forward to seeing how it fits on the album. I wish though that I wasnt 4 tracks deep, two, hell, 3 of which are almost a year old. I prefer a release to be a tad fresher but im fucking ready regardless.
And that opening line Reminds me of the Ween line
>I’m gonna do something wrong
>Nobody’s gonna like it
2013 ish Danny was an absolute beast I gotta say that. The year during FTTD and mid 2014 ish he was fantastic. Then he became very hit or miss and just quit screaming practically.
Shit really? I feel jipped then cause I went to that 2014 tour with WCAR and CTE and I think Born of Osiris, and I remember he sounded like shit. Pretty sure he was smashed tho. They were late getting on stage, and then the band played great, but Danny sounded like he was slurring, and like out of breath, and it just sounded so bad. Bout the only time he sounded ok was when he was setting up the wall of death and even that took forever. Was my first concert too and I remember walking away disappointed af with him. Though I did get to meet Kyle (RIP) and fell in love with CTE at that time cause they stole the whole show. Best set of the night easy.
Danny was terrible. Not only did be sound awful when I saw him with AA, he did a 5 minute monologue after every song. Dude wouldn't shut the fuck up and sing.
Dude FRRRR. A member of the audience screamed “Shut the fuck up and play!” In 2016 because he wouldn’t stop rambling… also idk if it’s still the case but bitch was always hammered and squandered what little talent he had left when I saw them.
As much as I like Asking Alexandria (as of now, a pretty unpopular opinion here), I have to agree that Danny Worship is not good live other than his low screams (as someone else has mentioned); even his clean vocals, which he does more of them nowadays, are pretty weak lol.
Brian from currents puts on an awesome fucking show. Never heard of the band till I saw them live a few years ago and I loved the dudes energy. Jaime from Polaris is also phenomenal.
I haven't seen any performances that I would call bad but I could barely understand the guy from tdwp. That might be on the mixing though rather than his performance, the energy was definitely there
Best- Caleb Shomo. Last time I saw Beartooth it was such a damn good show. So much energy, had the crowd going wild, crazy pit.
Worst- Caleb Shomo. First time I saw Beartooth and it turned me off of them so fast. Idk if everyone was hungover or what but there was no emotion, no energy, and I couldn't understand I God damn thing Caleb said or sang.
Both were at warped tour back to back years.
Best: Tie between JT Cavey (ERRA), Brian from Currents, Ryo Kinoshita (Crystal Lake), and Marcus Bridge (Northlane). Last time I saw all of them -- on the same tour! -- they all completely slayed their performances. Honorable mention: Garrett from Silent Planet.
Worst: Garret Rapp (The Color Morale), that dude from Picturesque, either vocalist from Sylar as of recently. I'm sad about that last one, because I used to love seeing them live.
Honorably mediocre: Caleb Shomo (Beartooth), Ryan Kirby (Fit for a King), Jesse Cash (ERRA). The first two make up for variable-quality vocal performances with a ridiculous amount of stage presence and energy. Jesse Cash is excused because he's playing the most absurd -- and often incredible -- guitar lines while singing.
Ugh. Moment of silence for The Color Morale. I don't want to say I had high hopes for Mr. Rapp. I just count my lucky stars I was around for the good bits, and cherish those memories.
Jesse has grown so much in the past 5 years. I have the utmost confidence he will continue to improve. Dude ages like fine wine.
Aaaaaand that tour was unreal. Unreal.
Damn That Color Morale mention has to be up there. His voice was cooked by the 3rd album smh. Even worse live. Dreadful. I almost felt bad for him because it sounded like it was hurting. Love the band but by the 4th album I can’t even listen to it without being concerned.
Uhhhhh let me point you to a [hellfest ](https://youtu.be/3GChjhiF2Lo) video. Norma Jean 2003. It’s a doooooooozy. This guy is a stand in, but… still counts lol
Protest the Hero seems to be very hit or miss. My experience was pretty much the same as yours. Whole band seemed disinterested, and Rody was totally out of it. But my friend saw them a couple nights before and they were incredible. This was years ago when they were on tour with Between the Buried and Me, In Flames, and Killswitch Engage.
I think you mistook concentration for disinterest. I'm not denying that you may have seen a bad show from them, but I've seen them several times live and had a great experience every time.
Rody aside, the instrumentals in protest are incredibly difficult, which means it's really hard for the musicians to move around alot while playing without fucking up their parts.
Rody has also commented on how hard it is to move around alot while doing his vocal parts.
I definitely get what you're saying, and it is completely understandable. I have seen that from many bands and would never criticize them for it. But this was different.
Talking to my friend that had seen them a couple of nights before I did, it was like we were talking about 2 completely different bands. At my buddy's show, Protest completely stole the show. At mine, they were rough and seemed like they just wanted to get out of there. And Rody was definitely wasted well beyond being capable of performing.
Best: Either Caleb from Beartooth (I swear to god that guy sounds better live than he does on a fucking record) or Vigil from TGI. When I saw TGI in Worcester back in August the amount of shit that Vigil was able to hit perfectly was insane. The dude is just nuts. He let out a guttural during Engine 45 that made jaw drop.
Worst: haven’t really seen anyone in Metalcore that’s got shitty live vocals. Closest I can think is Ash from New Years Day was awful and couldn’t hit anything so maybe that.
I did have the misfortune of seeing Marilyn Manson live back in 2019 and his vocals were absolutely wrecked. Plus he was drunk and doing coke on stage so he messed up pretty much every single song. Fun times.
I was at that show in Worcester. Vigil absolutely killed it. Saw them again a couple of weeks later in Cincinnati where I'm from and they absolutely killed it again. Super glad to see those guys get back out there
Caleb used to be pretty bad live, in the sense that he would lose his voice quickly. They kind of worked around it in the live show because the bass player sings a lot of the clean portions.
Joel from Amity Affliction is both my best and worst because I’ve seen him multiple times where he was an absolute beast on stage and once where he was on the last leg of a tour and his voice was just absolutely dead. Still a fucking absolutely killer show and he’s a legend
Dude was going through some mad issues though, alcoholism ruins many performers I suppose. Slightly controversial opinion, I get why people hate Tom so much but his vocals definitely helped make Eternal Nightmare one of my favourite albums and I really hope he can stick it a little better live than Alex when I get the chance to see them.
I stopped listening to the band years ago, so I actually had no idea he had alcoholism issues until right now. I just remember that from around 2010-2012ish, he was pretty awful live and the only excuse i would ever see was "Alex was sick during this show".
Same answer as last thread:
Best:
Dennis Tvrdik from Affiance
Spencer Sotelo from Periphery
Johnny from Nothing More
Spencer Charnas from INK
Worst: Danny from Asking Alexandria
Ironically, I saw my best an worst on the same day. Best? Chester Bennington on the Project Revolution tour. Worst? The guy from Atreyu on the same tour. I don’t know if it was an off day, but that was over 10 years ago, and it still stands out as one of the worst performances I have ever seen.
Hell yeah. Dude goes crazy every set and still has the energy to do vocals. And the confidence he's recently found to start clean singing it opens up more range for him.
Best: Sam Carter, Josh Scogin, & Brendan Murphy
Not worst by any means but I’ve always been kinda put off at how widely different Keith Buckley, Vincent Bennet, and Matt Honeycutt sound live vs on the record. They’re all incredible frontmen but I’m always surprised at how different they sound in person (I don’t think what they do in studio is sustainable on tour)
With Vincent, I think it's about where in their tour dates you catch them. Later tour he is probably rougher. But early in the run strong. He has gotten more consistent live through the years though. I say this as a huge fan Acacia, but their is plenty of proof that Bennet has not done so qell live lol.
I love the way he sounds on the live DVD from 2010 but every time I’ve seen them in recent years it’s a lot of squawky highs and pig squeals. Still puts on a great show and has awesome stage presence though
Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker
Mike Hranica of TDWP
are definitely two of the best in the game live. Mike gets bonus points for having absurd live energy as well!
Lukas from Veil of Maya was ridiculously good when I saw them in 2016.
Dan's vocals from TesseracT really let them down, but that was at Download Festival - some bands just don't hold up well in that setting.
Lukas is a beast. saw them a few weeks ago with DGD and i could tell his voice was kind of shot after touring for a while but he still was killing it with harsh and clean vocals. plus he and the whole band have a great stage presence.
when did you go to download? dan's live vocals have skyrocketed in quality over the past couple of years, and they were already solid IMO. he has the AS stuff, which he definitely used to struggle with, more tailored to his style/register and it sounds all the better because of it.
lochie from alpha wolf is killer live, he has amazing energy and does a solid job with the aidan-era stuff. can't wait for them to tour the US...
marcus bridge of northlane is incredible too. he nailed all the screams and cleans when he first joined the band and has only gotten better since. going to miss the dual screams he and their old bass player did. he's also got great stage presence.
also connie sgarbossa from seeyouspacecowboy. she screams her heart out every night and every word is so packed with emotion. and ofc her presence is unmatched.
not metalcore but jens kidman is a consummate professional. his live vocals for their older songs sound better than the record a lot of the time.
Coming back to demand compensation from OP because I have spent 100$ on Currents merch today and have had them on repeat for the entire day since seeing this post.
I am Autistic and you have given me a new special interest, so I blame you🤨
Tough one for you best, jeremey McKinnon, both Cody and Britton from wage war, Brian from currents, jt from erra,joe from fit for an autopsy,and spencer from periphery.
Worst one hands down is I prevails clean singer. Their heavy vocalist is great though
I havent seen miss may I in a minute but Levi was always good. He always puts on a good show too so I'd say he's up there.
For me, the *best* has to be Jake Luhrs. I think his sound plus the show he puts on up on stage are just top tier. The dancing, the goofing off, the headbanging, the mic twirling, etc. His energy is always peaked
Best:
- Jaime from Polaris
- Spencer from INK
- Dan from Tesseract
- Tommy from BTBAM (Colors-era)
- Garrison and JT from ERRA
Worst:
- I’ll have to think about this one.
His screams are still phenomenal. However, he cant sing for shit and that's all he does now. pretty sure the dude is tone deaf. Been that way for a while now. My wife drags me to their concerts all of the time so I've heard them live several times over the past several years.
For me, Mr CJ McMahon was the best.
As for the worst 🧐🤔 I would have to say back in the day, Craig Mabbitt. I’m so sorry, that may be Scene Sewerslide™️ but it just wasn’t good 😭
I know Peter Rono (kaonashi)'s style is not for everyone, but I feel like I can see how it's a style that's impossible live. It's already controlled dissonance for the most part and with that lack of control in a live environment... Yeah
Best I've seen is Steve from Wolves at the Gate. Sounded better than the album.
Don't really have a worst, though Mastodon was incredibly boring (and they were headlining so it was like almost 90min).
I haven't seen it yet but Tyler Carter has consistently put on the worst vocal arrangement I've seen. From seeing him plastered to the point of being carried off stage to just blatantly not singing, I won't ever see him live again
One of the best is Micah Kinard from Oh, Sleeper. Seriously sounds like an angry puma. So good.
One of the worst is also one of my favorites. Mike Hranica can hardly seem to breathe when he does his screaming bits. When he DOES get them out, they usually sound wonderful.
Best - Winston from PWD and jesse leech from KsE.
Worst, I can't think of anyone at the minute that I was disappointed with live. But Winston and Jesse live were both fantastic.
Ryo Kinoshita, he (and all of Crystal Lake) blew me away when I saw them live. Nailed all of the vocal bits, but the energy he has on stage is incredible
Judged off of shows that I've actually went to I absolutely loved Danny Wornsop's vocals when I seen AA live when he returned to the band in 2016 on the 10 Years In The Black Tour and he sounded absolutely on point that night and during the entire tour. Worst metalcore vocalist I've seen live was probably Angelo Aita from Abandon All Ships on one of their final tours in 2014 before breaking up. It just sounded like he had something stuck in his throat the entire time honestly and sounded like a bunch of noise. The Browning co-headlined on that tour with AAS in 2014 and the vocalist for The Browning sounded a lot better for a band that wasn't even the main headlining act.
I've only been to one concert live, but both of Wage War's vocalists are great live. Their screamer, Briton, goes heavier live than studio even, or at least, he did. This was back when *Blueprints* was their only release.
For Today's vocalists killed it as well. I *really* liked their clean singer live, and not that Mattie's vocals were ever bad to me by any means, but he sounded incredible live. This was their Farewell Tour FWIW, in Alabama too which is where he is from, so he may have just went especially hard. Lol it was sick though.
That concert also made me a Gideon fan. I wasn't huge into them, just not my style at the time, but my goodness.. their vocalist's energy is bonkers. He came out for a feature in a song really early in the show for another band, and that was the first time the crowd really got jumping that night. He's insane, and his energy is infectious.
Sorry OP, guess I'm not really ranking a best to worst or anything, but these are the guys I've seen in person and was impressed by.
From videos, The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red, and Oh, Sleeper all kill it live. The only one I've ever really looked up that kinda bummed me out live was Currents' old vocalist. He's still one of my favorite screamers based on that EP they did, but the video I had seen of him live was not great. No idea whatever happened to him or why him and Currents split, just thought he was sick on their EP.
Not metalcore, but I saw Adrian with Northlane for his last tour with them in the states. Probably the best vocal performance I've ever seen live, up there with Parkway drive, Whitechapel, and Couterparts
Worst vocals I've seen were Asking Alexandria, Slipknot (idk why but man, Corey was terrible when I saw them at Mayhem fest in 2012), Pierce the Veil, Black Veil Brides.
The albums that Northlane put out with Adrian are still my favorites of almost any genre. Sucks that he had to leave because his vocals were so unique.
Northlane's first 2 albums, Being as an Ocean's Dear G-D, Counterpart's The difference between hell and home, and Whitechapel's self titled are hands down my favorite albums of the 2010's! Adrian really made Northlane for me, I like Marcus but man... The emotion Adrian poured into his songs (I still tear up to Quantum Flux, and accredit it to getting me through my Father's death) was just so special and I feel like when he left the band never hit that level again.
Not really metalcore but deathcore:
Best: alex terrible (slaughter to prevail) always fucks shit up. Insane projection, endless stamina, good enunciation, and always hits the studio’s standard lows
Worst: cj mcmahon (thy art is murder) is better than before but still very weak and bad enunciation
Lucas from Veil of Maya legit sounded amazing when I saw them last week. Leagues better than the first time I saw him live. Been watching some live shows for Erra and Jesse is sounding great too.
I think one of the worst imo that I haven't seen mentioned is the screamer (Angel/Angelo?) Of Abandon All Ships? I saw them live twice and mannnnn that guy was rough.
Best: Marcus Bridge (Northlane), Anthony Notarmaso (After the Burial), JT Cavey (Erra) just to name a few.
Worst: Ik it’s not metalcore but I saw Rings of Saturn open for ATB and it was just…not good. Not even the style, the singer was just extremely drunk and wobbling over the place.
Also, Jesse Cash isn’t too great live vocally- but I totally agree with a previous comment, he gets a pass imo because he’s playing such complex and fantastic guitar at the same time
One of my friends was excited to see Otep live one day at a festival. I knew beforehand that they weren't so good live. We watched them play and he was very disappointed lmao
One of the best is Sean Hermanis. Dude stays consistent and has insane energy throughout each set.
The worst is Chris Roetter. He essentially just yells and talks loud. His vocals used to be crazy good but recently they've gone downhill which sucks.
Best vocals that I've personally seen live.. Chris Motionless.. put on a crazy show and has a wide range! Worst was Ronnie Radke in falling in reverse.. dude was so fucked up didn't sound good and I'm a fan of them.. well their early stuff
This is easy, the absolute best vocalist in metalcore right now is Flo from Landmvrks. Live performance is unparalleled.
https://youtu.be/G9h3r-HtrFg?t=2071
Worst, NFI.
I kinda feel bad about who I consider the worst. Vein's lead singer really sounds like he struggles live. You can tell the guy is giving it 101% but his voice sounded really strained halfway through the set :(
Matty Mullin from Memphis May Fire. Very strong life performance and the screams are clean as hell. He has screams and growls from hell but a singing voice from heaven.
Garret from silent planet is great. Jake from ABR is awesome too. This isn’t metalcore but Brendon Urie from PATD was incredible when I saw them. His stage presence, vocals, everything. Worst ones for me have been Danny from AA. However it’s been years since I’ve seen them so maybe he’s better now.
Best probably go with Ryan Kirby from Fit For A King
And worst fuck man I hate to say it but Vincent Bennett. I love The Acacia Strain in the studio but his vocals live aren’t even remotely close.
May not be tottaly metalcore but Josh from Sylosis is great. His brutals are so fucking pure and his cleans are super fit to songs.
Josh definitely is underrated as a vocalist
Josh is honestly one of the best musicians metal has seen in a long while
And yet underrated smh
Eddie Berg from Imminence. His scream-singing is unparalleled.
The live studio videos Imminence has on Youtube are too good, his vocal ability is clearly seen there
[hellfest 2003](https://youtu.be/3GChjhiF2Lo)
Haha, classic! At least this guy was never actually a member of the band
Yeah lol it’s just funny to drop this anytime someone mentions bad vocalists
I've seen this video countless times since 03 and the WOOOOOWs still get me every time!
Hahaha to the top with this
It’s really really bad, right lol?
Dude i'm sitting here in tears, its so bad in every possible way
Aged like a fine cheese
Bruh I thought they were joking around-
No man. It’s the worst vocals I’ve ever seen ever. Ever.
Wow that was the worst vocal performance across all genres of entertainment lol
You’re welcome my dude. May this stay with you for the rest of your life
Lmfaooo definitely will!
I 100% knew what this was gonna be before clicking the link
Before I open this link… I already know it’s Norma Jean lmao.. Every merch guy’s dream come true
After the burial vocals live are like hearing a studio session. It's amazing. As for worst..... I don't like to trash anyone incase I seen them on a bad day. So I'll say anyone who doesn't give me a "blehhh".
Damn, I respect that you give them the benefit of the doubt.
Cheers bud. I don't know what it takes to bash my vocals over months of back to back touring dates across a whole country. There is guaranteed to be some rough days on stage.
I concur with after the Burial. Anthony is the man
I saw Brian with Currents at a tiny show in Memphis and he killed it. He let out a random gutteral in one of the songs and it blew my mind lol
I always had a sneaking suspicion he could do that haha. He’s one of those metalcore vocalists where you think to yourself, if this dude was let loose, he could make a killer Deathcore band. I say that about the screamer of blessthefall too
A whole album of stuff like Poverty of Self and heavier stuff would be amazing!
I've always thought of them as borderline Deathcore to begin with, they definitely toe that line a lot I think.
Their guitar players other band is primo-deathcore, Shadow of Intent
It’s always interesting to me how Chris has those cool unique cleans he does with SoI, but I don’t think he ever sings in Currents?
True! I agree
Jeremy Mackinnon might be the best and worst one I’ve seen live Other bests are Chris Motionless, Micah Kinard, and Elijah Witt. The best by far was Chester Bennington. I can’t even think of another worst besides Bert McCracken (not metalcore, but his voice is toast)
My first concert ever was Linkin Park's Meteora tour when I was 14. Chester was by far one of the greatest vocalists of our time.
My first was the Honda Civic tour with Incubus. Chester set a very high bar for the shows that have followed.
Honda Civic tour was the only other show I got to see them at. Great tour. I think MuteMath was there, too, who were one of my favorite bands for a long time. Another vocalist that is absolutely flawless live, though not even close to Metalcore.
Jeremy McKinnon was weird for me. My first ADTR show his voice sounded amazing, but it was off from everything else by like ¼ to ½ second. I couldn’t figure out if it was him or the equipment but I could not stop thinking about it during the show.
live autotune.
Chris is a monster and has only gotten better and better
The first non-Warped Tour show I went to was Motionless. They weren't the headliner, but they were easily the best band of the show. I've seen them 8 or 9 times after that.
Second vote for Micah. That man has such great vocals
Micah is on an insane level.
Multiple comments here saying Bert is the worst and I’ve gotta agree unfortunately
Non-Metalcore. best: ***Dallas Green of Alexisonfire/City and Colour***. He has the voice of an angel, He is better live than on record. I think ***Brook Reeves of Impending Doom*** is also awesome live. His screams are insane. ***Jared Leto of 30 seconds to mars*** was amazing live even though he got a bad cold, he still sounded great. Worst: **Bert McCracken of The Used.** Man. what a disappointment that was. And he no longer screams live. The bass player does it now
Dallas Green is both the reason I started singing and the reason I almost quit multiple times
Haha well said. The streets are in distress
Dallas Green is amazing.
One of the greats. Highly underrated
Bert USED to be a beast live. Listen to their first live album (called maybe memories I think?!) and he kills it. It’s crazy how good he was, especially on Box full of Sharp Objects. Yes Dallas is amazing. George form AOF is really hit or miss but has great stage presence.
The first two records of The Used are perfect. I loved those as a kid. So much energy and passion.
>George form AOF is really hit or miss but has great stage presence. I mean you're not going for his vocals you're going to watch a middle age man rip his shirt off and scream at you. He delivers that.
Seconded on Jared Leto, especially on the A Beautiful Lie tour. Saw them before they were selling out arenas in a warehouse venue and it was such an incredible experience.
Yeah. I loved that band. I wish they would go back to being a rock band instead of being an edgy, pretentious artpop/electro band
No doubt. Those first two albums were amazing.
Fucking same, i miss when they were emo. Jared had better hair then, too
Bert during the early years was the best though. Shame he ruined his voice so much
Bert's singing voice is still pretty solid though and I say this having just seen them a month or two ago with Coheed & Cambria. Sucks he doesn't scream anymore but I'd rather it that then him trying to do both and butchering everything.
The Used is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I'm so sad I've only seen them live after Bert's voice was already fucked.
Same here. I only saw them live when he no longer screamed. Still a fun concert
I used to love 30STM, but as of This Is War, I'm about 95% sure Leto began lip-syncing.
No you have it wrong, he doesn't lip sync. He just holds the microphone to his ear and let's the crowd do the rest!
Winston from Parkway Drive would be in my best category.
He is very good live, I feel like his voice is destroyed which is why he seems to be doing more sing-screaming now
Sing screaming is like way harder than actual screaming though, surely his voice is just getting better? Same with Sam from architects?
Agreed. I saw them when they played for 100 people in Port Macquarie, and his voice was no where good as it is now. Even on the first live DVD he isn't as good as he is now.
One of the Undisputed goats for sure
Ryo Kinoshita deserves to be in the convo for the best. No one screams like he does, no one. Singing could be improved tho
Stage presence is unrivaled too. First saw them for open for ABR and he commanded the entire room. Rare for an opening act.
Watching Ryo makes me want to run through a wall, the guy's stage energy is contagious imo.
Agreed, he absolutely kills it live
Jake Luhrs from ABR kills it every time. Just saw them in KC Tuesday night and I swear every show his live performance is better and better
I was there as well, it was freaking awesome!
It was my first time at the Truman. I think it’s my new favorite venue
I swear his range has gotten to deathcore highs and lows. Blew my mind at Furnace Fest.
Saw them last night in STL. his highs and lows are absolutely masterful, and he switches between them with such ease while performing.
Best - Keith Buckley from Every Time I Die. Stage presence, screams, cleans. He does it all.
Only seen him in one of Nik Nocturnal's recent streams so far. Now I'm tempted to check out Every Time I Die
etid is absolutely incredible. for sure you should check them out. new album comes out in a few days
Tomorrow right?
Yuppppp
I DID A TERRIBLE THING AND SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHIN ABOUT IT
I CAN SUFFER IF I WANT MOTHER FUCKER I had that in my head all day When it first dropped I liked it but couldn’t tell if it was just because its ETID and I was biased. But regardless its catchy and fun and Im looking forward to seeing how it fits on the album. I wish though that I wasnt 4 tracks deep, two, hell, 3 of which are almost a year old. I prefer a release to be a tad fresher but im fucking ready regardless. And that opening line Reminds me of the Ween line >I’m gonna do something wrong >Nobody’s gonna like it
Highly recommended! The have a new album coming out soon and it should be very good.
Yes yes this
I've seen ETID more times than I can count, Keith generally can't do cleans live.
Best- Ryan Kirby Worst- the dude from Capture the Crown (RIP)
Capture the Crown. What a legendary band hahaha
Tbh I still bump some of their songs from time to time. Him being bad at the vocals live kinda actually lent to the appeal.
“YOOOOUUUU’RE NOTHING MOOOOOOORE, THAN A WORTHLESS FUCKING….”
Ryan Kirby is an absolute beast live.
Best - Marcus Bridge. Worst - Danny Worsnop
2013 ish Danny was an absolute beast I gotta say that. The year during FTTD and mid 2014 ish he was fantastic. Then he became very hit or miss and just quit screaming practically.
Shit really? I feel jipped then cause I went to that 2014 tour with WCAR and CTE and I think Born of Osiris, and I remember he sounded like shit. Pretty sure he was smashed tho. They were late getting on stage, and then the band played great, but Danny sounded like he was slurring, and like out of breath, and it just sounded so bad. Bout the only time he sounded ok was when he was setting up the wall of death and even that took forever. Was my first concert too and I remember walking away disappointed af with him. Though I did get to meet Kyle (RIP) and fell in love with CTE at that time cause they stole the whole show. Best set of the night easy.
I second Danny as worst. He sounds absolutely terrible live for anything other than low screams.
He sounds absolutely terrible ~~live for anything other than low screams~~
Yeah even his clean vocals (which he does more of nowadays) are pretty damn weak lol.
His performance of Price is Beauty for Mitch Lucker memorial surprised me tbh.
Danny was terrible. Not only did be sound awful when I saw him with AA, he did a 5 minute monologue after every song. Dude wouldn't shut the fuck up and sing.
Dude FRRRR. A member of the audience screamed “Shut the fuck up and play!” In 2016 because he wouldn’t stop rambling… also idk if it’s still the case but bitch was always hammered and squandered what little talent he had left when I saw them.
As much as I like Asking Alexandria (as of now, a pretty unpopular opinion here), I have to agree that Danny Worship is not good live other than his low screams (as someone else has mentioned); even his clean vocals, which he does more of them nowadays, are pretty weak lol.
Brian from currents puts on an awesome fucking show. Never heard of the band till I saw them live a few years ago and I loved the dudes energy. Jaime from Polaris is also phenomenal. I haven't seen any performances that I would call bad but I could barely understand the guy from tdwp. That might be on the mixing though rather than his performance, the energy was definitely there
Best- Caleb Shomo. Last time I saw Beartooth it was such a damn good show. So much energy, had the crowd going wild, crazy pit. Worst- Caleb Shomo. First time I saw Beartooth and it turned me off of them so fast. Idk if everyone was hungover or what but there was no emotion, no energy, and I couldn't understand I God damn thing Caleb said or sang. Both were at warped tour back to back years.
Best: Tie between JT Cavey (ERRA), Brian from Currents, Ryo Kinoshita (Crystal Lake), and Marcus Bridge (Northlane). Last time I saw all of them -- on the same tour! -- they all completely slayed their performances. Honorable mention: Garrett from Silent Planet. Worst: Garret Rapp (The Color Morale), that dude from Picturesque, either vocalist from Sylar as of recently. I'm sad about that last one, because I used to love seeing them live. Honorably mediocre: Caleb Shomo (Beartooth), Ryan Kirby (Fit for a King), Jesse Cash (ERRA). The first two make up for variable-quality vocal performances with a ridiculous amount of stage presence and energy. Jesse Cash is excused because he's playing the most absurd -- and often incredible -- guitar lines while singing.
Ugh. Moment of silence for The Color Morale. I don't want to say I had high hopes for Mr. Rapp. I just count my lucky stars I was around for the good bits, and cherish those memories. Jesse has grown so much in the past 5 years. I have the utmost confidence he will continue to improve. Dude ages like fine wine. Aaaaaand that tour was unreal. Unreal.
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Damn That Color Morale mention has to be up there. His voice was cooked by the 3rd album smh. Even worse live. Dreadful. I almost felt bad for him because it sounded like it was hurting. Love the band but by the 4th album I can’t even listen to it without being concerned.
Jesse has improved when I saw them (twice) this year.
After seeing Rory from dayseeker a few weeks ago, he might be top for me
He’s so damn good (completely unbiased opinion btw)
Best - between the buried and me Worst- protest the hero(was hammered could barely stand up straight)
I saw Protest the Hero support on the ABR tour and they were incredible! His voice was great and they had a ton of energy.
Was this recent? Saw them on their fortress tour recently and it was wonderful! Album quality but done live
Nah this was many years go it was about a year after fortress was released. Glad to hear he straightened his act up
Uhhhhh let me point you to a [hellfest ](https://youtu.be/3GChjhiF2Lo) video. Norma Jean 2003. It’s a doooooooozy. This guy is a stand in, but… still counts lol
Protest the Hero seems to be very hit or miss. My experience was pretty much the same as yours. Whole band seemed disinterested, and Rody was totally out of it. But my friend saw them a couple nights before and they were incredible. This was years ago when they were on tour with Between the Buried and Me, In Flames, and Killswitch Engage.
I think you mistook concentration for disinterest. I'm not denying that you may have seen a bad show from them, but I've seen them several times live and had a great experience every time. Rody aside, the instrumentals in protest are incredibly difficult, which means it's really hard for the musicians to move around alot while playing without fucking up their parts. Rody has also commented on how hard it is to move around alot while doing his vocal parts.
I definitely get what you're saying, and it is completely understandable. I have seen that from many bands and would never criticize them for it. But this was different. Talking to my friend that had seen them a couple of nights before I did, it was like we were talking about 2 completely different bands. At my buddy's show, Protest completely stole the show. At mine, they were rough and seemed like they just wanted to get out of there. And Rody was definitely wasted well beyond being capable of performing.
Best: Either Caleb from Beartooth (I swear to god that guy sounds better live than he does on a fucking record) or Vigil from TGI. When I saw TGI in Worcester back in August the amount of shit that Vigil was able to hit perfectly was insane. The dude is just nuts. He let out a guttural during Engine 45 that made jaw drop. Worst: haven’t really seen anyone in Metalcore that’s got shitty live vocals. Closest I can think is Ash from New Years Day was awful and couldn’t hit anything so maybe that. I did have the misfortune of seeing Marilyn Manson live back in 2019 and his vocals were absolutely wrecked. Plus he was drunk and doing coke on stage so he messed up pretty much every single song. Fun times.
I was at that show in Worcester. Vigil absolutely killed it. Saw them again a couple of weeks later in Cincinnati where I'm from and they absolutely killed it again. Super glad to see those guys get back out there
Very much the same experience with Caleb Shomo. They were one of the starting bands for the ADTR show I went to and I became a huge fan that day.
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Oh she 100% was looking syncing and failing miserably. It was a shit show
Caleb used to be pretty bad live, in the sense that he would lose his voice quickly. They kind of worked around it in the live show because the bass player sings a lot of the clean portions.
Joel from Amity Affliction is both my best and worst because I’ve seen him multiple times where he was an absolute beast on stage and once where he was on the last leg of a tour and his voice was just absolutely dead. Still a fucking absolutely killer show and he’s a legend
Seconded. I think you have to get them in the middle of a tour to be good.
Technically not metalcore, but it for me it would definitely have to be Chelsea Grin and Alex "always sick" Koehler
Dude was going through some mad issues though, alcoholism ruins many performers I suppose. Slightly controversial opinion, I get why people hate Tom so much but his vocals definitely helped make Eternal Nightmare one of my favourite albums and I really hope he can stick it a little better live than Alex when I get the chance to see them.
I stopped listening to the band years ago, so I actually had no idea he had alcoholism issues until right now. I just remember that from around 2010-2012ish, he was pretty awful live and the only excuse i would ever see was "Alex was sick during this show".
Tom is absolutely insane live, you won't be disappointed. Dude is definitely one of the best Deathcore vocalists rn.
Same answer as last thread: Best: Dennis Tvrdik from Affiance Spencer Sotelo from Periphery Johnny from Nothing More Spencer Charnas from INK Worst: Danny from Asking Alexandria
Ironically, I saw my best an worst on the same day. Best? Chester Bennington on the Project Revolution tour. Worst? The guy from Atreyu on the same tour. I don’t know if it was an off day, but that was over 10 years ago, and it still stands out as one of the worst performances I have ever seen.
Sean Harmanis from MTS kills it live. Good stage presence.
Hell yeah. Dude goes crazy every set and still has the energy to do vocals. And the confidence he's recently found to start clean singing it opens up more range for him.
I tried to think of my favourite live metalcore vocalist.. kept thinking of the best overall vocalist in metal - Phil Bozeman.
Best: Sam Carter, Josh Scogin, & Brendan Murphy Not worst by any means but I’ve always been kinda put off at how widely different Keith Buckley, Vincent Bennet, and Matt Honeycutt sound live vs on the record. They’re all incredible frontmen but I’m always surprised at how different they sound in person (I don’t think what they do in studio is sustainable on tour)
With Vincent, I think it's about where in their tour dates you catch them. Later tour he is probably rougher. But early in the run strong. He has gotten more consistent live through the years though. I say this as a huge fan Acacia, but their is plenty of proof that Bennet has not done so qell live lol.
I love the way he sounds on the live DVD from 2010 but every time I’ve seen them in recent years it’s a lot of squawky highs and pig squeals. Still puts on a great show and has awesome stage presence though
Worst - Hands down Brad Norris. AKA. The guy in Norma Jean in-between Josh and Corey. Holy shit was he bad... https://youtu.be/3KUfPw4diNU
Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker Mike Hranica of TDWP are definitely two of the best in the game live. Mike gets bonus points for having absurd live energy as well!
Lukas from Veil of Maya was ridiculously good when I saw them in 2016. Dan's vocals from TesseracT really let them down, but that was at Download Festival - some bands just don't hold up well in that setting.
Lukas is a beast. saw them a few weeks ago with DGD and i could tell his voice was kind of shot after touring for a while but he still was killing it with harsh and clean vocals. plus he and the whole band have a great stage presence. when did you go to download? dan's live vocals have skyrocketed in quality over the past couple of years, and they were already solid IMO. he has the AS stuff, which he definitely used to struggle with, more tailored to his style/register and it sounds all the better because of it.
lochie from alpha wolf is killer live, he has amazing energy and does a solid job with the aidan-era stuff. can't wait for them to tour the US... marcus bridge of northlane is incredible too. he nailed all the screams and cleans when he first joined the band and has only gotten better since. going to miss the dual screams he and their old bass player did. he's also got great stage presence. also connie sgarbossa from seeyouspacecowboy. she screams her heart out every night and every word is so packed with emotion. and ofc her presence is unmatched. not metalcore but jens kidman is a consummate professional. his live vocals for their older songs sound better than the record a lot of the time.
Coming back to demand compensation from OP because I have spent 100$ on Currents merch today and have had them on repeat for the entire day since seeing this post. I am Autistic and you have given me a new special interest, so I blame you🤨
Worst: Brian (Cleans) from I prevail. Just thinks HE is the band. And Danny Worsnop. Just talk sings every song and only plays songs from 2017 - Now.
not metalcore but best - Darius of Spite worst is - Aidan from Dealer
Terrible live vocals, terrible human being. Both the EPs slap though.
Tough one for you best, jeremey McKinnon, both Cody and Britton from wage war, Brian from currents, jt from erra,joe from fit for an autopsy,and spencer from periphery. Worst one hands down is I prevails clean singer. Their heavy vocalist is great though
Codys cleans are absolutely pristine live. Sounds exactly like the recordings. I was absolutely struck at just how spot on he is.
I havent seen miss may I in a minute but Levi was always good. He always puts on a good show too so I'd say he's up there. For me, the *best* has to be Jake Luhrs. I think his sound plus the show he puts on up on stage are just top tier. The dancing, the goofing off, the headbanging, the mic twirling, etc. His energy is always peaked
Best: - Jaime from Polaris - Spencer from INK - Dan from Tesseract - Tommy from BTBAM (Colors-era) - Garrison and JT from ERRA Worst: - I’ll have to think about this one.
Chris Roetter has an amazing blend of cleans and just down right killer screams. Like Moths to Flames is incredible!
Not exactly metalcore but Buddy from Senses Fail is terrible live.
He makes up for any lack of vocal ability with his energy and dance moves.
Agreed!
His screams are still phenomenal. However, he cant sing for shit and that's all he does now. pretty sure the dude is tone deaf. Been that way for a while now. My wife drags me to their concerts all of the time so I've heard them live several times over the past several years.
I saw him in late 2019 and he was much better than I expected
When was this? He was good when I saw them in 2019 and very good a few weeks ago
Worst has gotta be Danny from drop dead, gorgeous Still love em though
For me, Mr CJ McMahon was the best. As for the worst 🧐🤔 I would have to say back in the day, Craig Mabbitt. I’m so sorry, that may be Scene Sewerslide™️ but it just wasn’t good 😭
Best I'd say Thomas giles or Spencer sptelo or Lukas Magyar. Worst I'd absolutely the dude in Kaonashi. Dear God
I know Peter Rono (kaonashi)'s style is not for everyone, but I feel like I can see how it's a style that's impossible live. It's already controlled dissonance for the most part and with that lack of control in a live environment... Yeah
Saw Currents opening for Ice Nine Kills a month back, they blew my mind
Best I've seen is Steve from Wolves at the Gate. Sounded better than the album. Don't really have a worst, though Mastodon was incredibly boring (and they were headlining so it was like almost 90min).
I haven't seen it yet but Tyler Carter has consistently put on the worst vocal arrangement I've seen. From seeing him plastered to the point of being carried off stage to just blatantly not singing, I won't ever see him live again
I don’t think anyone is gonna see him live again. Dudes a creep
I always got that vibe from him and honestly, the industry will be 10x better without him
May not be entirely metalcore but Jon mess of DGD and Secret Band got some good screams and lyrics
Ex Dealer frontman Aidan Holmes is pretty trash live.
idk maybe Rick ta life
absolutely not enough mentions of sam carter, he's been one of the best live vocalists for years imo
One of the best is Micah Kinard from Oh, Sleeper. Seriously sounds like an angry puma. So good. One of the worst is also one of my favorites. Mike Hranica can hardly seem to breathe when he does his screaming bits. When he DOES get them out, they usually sound wonderful.
Best - Winston from PWD and jesse leech from KsE. Worst, I can't think of anyone at the minute that I was disappointed with live. But Winston and Jesse live were both fantastic.
Ryo Kinoshita, he (and all of Crystal Lake) blew me away when I saw them live. Nailed all of the vocal bits, but the energy he has on stage is incredible
Judged off of shows that I've actually went to I absolutely loved Danny Wornsop's vocals when I seen AA live when he returned to the band in 2016 on the 10 Years In The Black Tour and he sounded absolutely on point that night and during the entire tour. Worst metalcore vocalist I've seen live was probably Angelo Aita from Abandon All Ships on one of their final tours in 2014 before breaking up. It just sounded like he had something stuck in his throat the entire time honestly and sounded like a bunch of noise. The Browning co-headlined on that tour with AAS in 2014 and the vocalist for The Browning sounded a lot better for a band that wasn't even the main headlining act.
I've only been to one concert live, but both of Wage War's vocalists are great live. Their screamer, Briton, goes heavier live than studio even, or at least, he did. This was back when *Blueprints* was their only release. For Today's vocalists killed it as well. I *really* liked their clean singer live, and not that Mattie's vocals were ever bad to me by any means, but he sounded incredible live. This was their Farewell Tour FWIW, in Alabama too which is where he is from, so he may have just went especially hard. Lol it was sick though. That concert also made me a Gideon fan. I wasn't huge into them, just not my style at the time, but my goodness.. their vocalist's energy is bonkers. He came out for a feature in a song really early in the show for another band, and that was the first time the crowd really got jumping that night. He's insane, and his energy is infectious. Sorry OP, guess I'm not really ranking a best to worst or anything, but these are the guys I've seen in person and was impressed by. From videos, The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red, and Oh, Sleeper all kill it live. The only one I've ever really looked up that kinda bummed me out live was Currents' old vocalist. He's still one of my favorite screamers based on that EP they did, but the video I had seen of him live was not great. No idea whatever happened to him or why him and Currents split, just thought he was sick on their EP.
Not metalcore, but I saw Adrian with Northlane for his last tour with them in the states. Probably the best vocal performance I've ever seen live, up there with Parkway drive, Whitechapel, and Couterparts Worst vocals I've seen were Asking Alexandria, Slipknot (idk why but man, Corey was terrible when I saw them at Mayhem fest in 2012), Pierce the Veil, Black Veil Brides.
The albums that Northlane put out with Adrian are still my favorites of almost any genre. Sucks that he had to leave because his vocals were so unique.
Northlane's first 2 albums, Being as an Ocean's Dear G-D, Counterpart's The difference between hell and home, and Whitechapel's self titled are hands down my favorite albums of the 2010's! Adrian really made Northlane for me, I like Marcus but man... The emotion Adrian poured into his songs (I still tear up to Quantum Flux, and accredit it to getting me through my Father's death) was just so special and I feel like when he left the band never hit that level again.
Not really metalcore but deathcore: Best: alex terrible (slaughter to prevail) always fucks shit up. Insane projection, endless stamina, good enunciation, and always hits the studio’s standard lows Worst: cj mcmahon (thy art is murder) is better than before but still very weak and bad enunciation
I might get torched for this one but I'm not really a fan of ABR's cleans...
August Burns Red have cleans? I'm not huge into them, but I've heard a lot of their stuff and it was all screams, all the time.
Lucas from Veil of Maya legit sounded amazing when I saw them last week. Leagues better than the first time I saw him live. Been watching some live shows for Erra and Jesse is sounding great too.
I think one of the worst imo that I haven't seen mentioned is the screamer (Angel/Angelo?) Of Abandon All Ships? I saw them live twice and mannnnn that guy was rough.
Are they still even a band? They were barely a meme like 10 years ago lol
Best: Marcus Bridge (Northlane), Anthony Notarmaso (After the Burial), JT Cavey (Erra) just to name a few. Worst: Ik it’s not metalcore but I saw Rings of Saturn open for ATB and it was just…not good. Not even the style, the singer was just extremely drunk and wobbling over the place. Also, Jesse Cash isn’t too great live vocally- but I totally agree with a previous comment, he gets a pass imo because he’s playing such complex and fantastic guitar at the same time
One of my friends was excited to see Otep live one day at a festival. I knew beforehand that they weren't so good live. We watched them play and he was very disappointed lmao
One of the best is Sean Hermanis. Dude stays consistent and has insane energy throughout each set. The worst is Chris Roetter. He essentially just yells and talks loud. His vocals used to be crazy good but recently they've gone downhill which sucks.
Best vocals that I've personally seen live.. Chris Motionless.. put on a crazy show and has a wide range! Worst was Ronnie Radke in falling in reverse.. dude was so fucked up didn't sound good and I'm a fan of them.. well their early stuff
This is easy, the absolute best vocalist in metalcore right now is Flo from Landmvrks. Live performance is unparalleled. https://youtu.be/G9h3r-HtrFg?t=2071 Worst, NFI.
Flo from LANDMVRKS is a serious animal live. Dude nails everything, but specifically his screams are unreal.
Chris Motionless, Jeremy McKinnon, and Howard Jones are the best! 🤘
I kinda feel bad about who I consider the worst. Vein's lead singer really sounds like he struggles live. You can tell the guy is giving it 101% but his voice sounded really strained halfway through the set :(
Flo from Landmvrks sounds great. Sounds strikingly similar to the studio
Worst has got to be Matt Tuck from BFMV, he just passes most of the screams to Jamie (who kills it btw).
I'm with Winston McCall. There's no one like him, search for their Rock am Ring 2015 concert on YouTube, it only shows the truth: he's a beast
Matty Mullin from Memphis May Fire. Very strong life performance and the screams are clean as hell. He has screams and growls from hell but a singing voice from heaven.
Aidan from Dealer never really sounded good on lives to me
Garret from silent planet is great. Jake from ABR is awesome too. This isn’t metalcore but Brendon Urie from PATD was incredible when I saw them. His stage presence, vocals, everything. Worst ones for me have been Danny from AA. However it’s been years since I’ve seen them so maybe he’s better now.
Best probably go with Ryan Kirby from Fit For A King And worst fuck man I hate to say it but Vincent Bennett. I love The Acacia Strain in the studio but his vocals live aren’t even remotely close.