The Rise Of The Female Vocalist In Extreme Metal

Once considered to be pretty much a "boys only" realm, the role of  the death, black and grind metal vocalist has recently seen an influx of able-throated ladies who can more than hold their own with their male peers. Of course there is still the a minority of idiots who have a patronising and sexist attitude towards them, but let's face it, this is just down to insecurities and the unfortunate downside of the patriachal society in which we still live. Anyway, I'm getting too serious here. Back to the point.

Even though there were female vocalists in the metal scene long before her, I would say that it was Angela Gossow who really opened the floodgates and influenced a new generation of young female (extreme) metal fans to pick up a mic. Of course, in the late 90's/early 00's there were already a number of strong female (vocal) role models to be found in bands such as Tura Satana, Otep, Human Waste Project, Kittie, etc, but Fraulein Gossow was about to take things up a notch. In fact, this was the first time that I had heard a woman tearing up her vocal chords in such a way. I freely admit that when I picked up my copy of the new (at the time) Arch Enemy CD "Wages Of Sin" in 2001, I was aware that they had hired a new vocalist but when I saw a photo of the band in the album booklet, I just assumed that the woman pictured was a backing vocalist. A few minutes into the second track I still couldn't work out where the female vocals were (yes, shockingly ignorant, I know). Once the penny dropped though, I was surprised but I'm sorry to say, still a little sceptical. I needed to "see" this for myself before I fully accepted that this slightly built young woman was the growler I was hearing on the album - although these days, when compared with some of her peers, her vocals seem almost a little 'tame'. Well anyway, after seeing the band live in Birmingham the same year, I was both convinced and converted (and I was not the only one). No longer was the predominant role of a woman in a metal band that of bassist (just how many bands have or had a female bassist back in the day - I wonder why that is?). The new breed of extreme vocalist was here.

Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)


Now, I am not going to sit here and type out an exhaustive list of extreme metal bands (although I probably could, if challenged) with a female singer - what would be the fun in that?. Instead, the three songs below are just a small sample of what the extreme ladies of the modern era have to offer.


Landmine Marathon - Shadows Fed To Tyrants

Cerebral Bore - The Bald Cadaver

Walls Of Jericho - A Trigger Full Of Promises