Feminine Roar | Pres

Arch enemy, Ginger, Spiritbox. Just add the word “reaction” after the name of one of these groups into your favorite search engine to find dozens of videos showing fake surprise. Trainers Listen to any of the songs sung by incredible artists such as Alyssa White-Clues, Tatiana Shmayluk and Courtney LaBlante. Their vocals leave you speechless: they have perfectly mastered the techniques of saturated singing, better known in metal jargon as “roars” and “fry screams”. It’s gross as hell, but 10 years ago, almost no woman would have dared to roar into a microphone like this.

“To be a woman and sing with this technique was incredibly rare at the time, and it’s even rarer today,” writes Montrealer Alyssa White-Gloss, a pioneer who learned her skills in the group The Agonist before taking over from Angela Gozzo. With the archenemy. “The general public didn’t believe it was my voice and believed it was post-sync or some other technology that changed the sound of my voice. »

Tatiana Schmayluk says she learned partly by screaming into her pillow! While on tour in England with her colleagues from Ginger, the 35-year-old Ukrainian singer from the city of Donetsk openly asked us to focus only on her musical activities for the safety of her family. However, when we asked him if singing this way allowed him to express certain emotions, ​​we understood that his daily life is not filled with rainbows and unicorns.

Inspiration

Jessica Dupre of the Quebec group Fall of Stasis rightly admits that Alyssa White-Clues and Tatiana Shmayluk were among the singers who inspired her to scream metal. The 27-year-old musician told us, “We didn’t know these kinds of songs existed, so it inspired a generation. Women have emotions just like men, and expressing our anger in the same way allows us to express our emotions in the same way. It comes with tough and powerful messages, and you’re hitting them through the roof.” You want to scream, it’s liberating!”

“It’s normal to see men being aggressive and loud, and women shouldn’t act the same way, says Alyssa White-Cluss, who was on tour in Japan at the time of our interview. In a way, singing like that is an act of rebellion. Personally, it feels more feminine to me because it’s so dominant. »

mastery

Alyssa White-Clues and Tatiana Shmailuk are self-taught and self-taught breeder Alone, mastering the right techniques is essential if you want to sing for a long time – Tatiana even admitted to us that her voice is in a different tone than it was a dozen years ago.

With a bachelor’s degree in classical singing, Corinne Cardinal of the Montreal group Wolfreia is currently writing a thesis in musicology, focusing on saturated vocals in metal. Co-founder of The Monster Factory, a company that creates warped vocal universes for cinema and video games, the 36-year-old singer is one of the few to teach this kind of singing technique. Vocal folds aside from his actual vocal cords.

“I understood the techniques of full voice, and that helped me a lot,” says the current instructor of a dozen students, as many men as women.

It is easy to imagine the public reactionAmerica has talent When he saw the Grollers Choir, a Quebec choir consisting of Jessica Dupre and Corinne Cardinal, on tour, or Little Harbour, a 10-year-old from Britain, he made everyone believe by performing. Holy RollerFrom Canadian group Spiritbox.

“A few years ago the reception would have been different, although it was called ‘ghost music’. But the judges loved it and so did the crowd,” says Corinne Cardinale. It also allows women to move away from the clichés that are still often associated with women in metal, as the image of the leather pithoon or the very cute little gothic girl still sticks. »

Who women told the news Grows slowly However, there’s no doubt: “Of course, we shout, anger comes in metal, that’s for sure”, confirms the singer of Wolfreia, who will be on stage in Montreal in May with the Swedish players. of Hammerfall. “Women can be strong and angry, expressing the same messages as men, but in their own way. »

We certainly don’t disagree.

Four harsh voices

Courtney LaPlante

Spiritbox

The Victoria-based group was not only nominated in the Metal/Hard Rock category at the last Junos, but was also nominated for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Hats off to the Courtney LaPlante-led group, who switch from melody to ear-splitting screams without warning. All of this in an indefinable musical setting that veers easily between metalcore, nu-metal, electro, post-prog, djent, a wholly original and increasingly accessible cocktail.

Lauren Hart

Once upon a time man

Lauren Hart is the devastating force behind One’s Human, which she formed in 2014 with Montreal guitarist and producer Logan Mader, formerly of Machine Head. Released in 2022, the most recent album Scar weaver Critically acclaimed, a ferocious, musically complex and masterful work that further confirms the Californian singer’s immense vocal talent.

Eva Gorman

Rollo Tomasi

Rolo Tomassi is another band that defies any genre classification. Watch out for the unsuspecting, as the British team covers its game in every way. The contrasts achieved by the quintet were so disruptive that a new musical subgenre, art-metal, was created for the group. Eva Gorman is sometimes an angel with soaring piano melodies, sometimes a banshee who wants to devour our souls. Listening A place where legend becomes legendRollo Tomasi’s latest album, An Experience.

Vicki Bizarakis

Agonist

The American singer took over from Alyssa White-Glass in 2014, brilliantly ensuring the continuity of the Montreal group’s work – the group’s last two albums were nominated for Juno Awards. Combining elements of melodic death metal, metalcore, progressive metal and symphonic metal, the band relies on the vocal strength of Vicki Psarakis, who relies on her natural vocals and uses all overdrive vocal techniques.