Favorite Christian metal vocalist(s)?

Pethead wrote:

seth wrote:It’s interesting to see Luke Easter listed 3 times so far, I never cared too much for his voice but it seems a lot of people disagree. His voice is definitely quite unique

Vanishing Lessons has my favorite vocals on any TQT album.

I always wished Ted would have "let" Luke sing like that a lot more often. Very powerful, yet melodic performance. 

Where Moth And Rust Destroy is another good album in that regard.

Agreed completely. I’ve long thought that. MVoaTR is an amazing album, but imagine if Luke used more of the VL style on it.

Another great example is the “Out of the same mouth” part of “Flowering Cadaver.”

Just tried listening to some stuff from Vanishing Lessons again since y’all were praising it so much, in case I missed something last time. My dislike for it was only solidified. But that’s the nice thing about Tourniquet, there’s so much variety in their catalog that there’s something for everyone

Also a vocalist who I forgot to mention at first but who deserves to be on this list is Eric Clayton from Saviour Machine

Dale Thompson

Rob Rock

Guy Ritter

Robin Kyle Basauri

Jimmy Brown II

Michael Sweet

Wendy Kaiser

Superjuice wrote:No love for Eli Prinson around here?  Apparently he's no longer with SW.

Eli was 2 singers ago.  He's been out of the band for years.

seth wrote:Vanishing Lessons and Crawl to China are actually my least favorite TQT albums (excluding Onward to Freedom, but we don’t talk about that). I did like Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm though, definitely my favorite of the Luke-era albums

Onward to Freedom is not a Tourniquet album. Period.

Referring to Onward as a Tqt album seems to be a reliable way to bring Luke out of lurking mode, lol.

Luke Easter wrote:

seth wrote:Vanishing Lessons and Crawl to China are actually my least favorite TQT albums (excluding Onward to Freedom, but we don’t talk about that). I did like Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm though, definitely my favorite of the Luke-era albums

Onward to Freedom is not a Tourniquet album. Period.

Thank you for the clarification, I was a bit confused on the status of that album, since it had the Tourniquet name on it but seemed to be more strictly Ted’s project

It seems we love many singers! And that's great to see. There's ALOT of talent in the Christian camp!

My 2 cents is that VL is my 2nd fav Tqt album (after POD). Different strokes...

Would Dug Pinnick, from King's X first 2 albums, fit into this list? There's nobody that sounds quite like him.

Guy Ritter 
Steve Rowe
Rob Rock
Michael Sweet
Jimmy Brown
Mark Salomon (Crucified only)
Mike Torone (the first Sacrament album)

I miss Steven Patrick of Holy Soldier and Victory. So much emotion!!!

I would add Eric Wagner from Trouble, but that’s debatable because a lot of his lyrics have some profanity. 

But the good stuff is really good!

Honorable mention to Christopher Scott. His vocals on the Southpaw album by Precious Death was great.

The best vocal I ever heard Luke Easter perform is on the song Mystery. The melody is super catchy and he sounds really smooth and clear (much less gruffy). Although the “gruff” style usually is needed for most metal songs, I think he could mix them up together. Get creative.

For lack of a better term… heavy Bon Jovi.

TZ75 wrote:Guy Ritter 
Steve Rowe
Rob Rock
Michael Sweet
Jimmy Brown
Mark Salomon (Crucified only)
Mike Torone (the first Sacrament album)

Why only Crucified? I like him on Outer Circle and he did ok on Stavesacre and Neon Horse, I just don‘t care for their style. He sucked on Native Son, the Christian Vanilla Ice, but we all have done some stupid things in our past lol. (I used to rap as well) 

oldschooldoom wrote:I miss Steven Patrick of Holy Soldier and Victory. So much emotion!!!

Good pick, Holy Soldier ballads blow all competition out the water in terms of sugary sweet cheesiness… in a good way!

TZ75 wrote:The best vocal I ever heard Luke Easter perform is on the song Mystery. The melody is super catchy and he sounds really smooth and clear (much less gruffy). Although the “gruff” style usually is needed for most metal songs, I think he could mix them up together. Get creative.

For lack of a better term… heavy Bon Jovi.

I really liked Luke on Crawl To China. He shines in the mid ranges and on that record he could do just that. I think the Bon Jovi comparison is not too far fetched and Luke should take it as a compliment, too.

Raegoul wrote:

TZ75 wrote:Guy Ritter 
Steve Rowe
Rob Rock
Michael Sweet
Jimmy Brown
Mark Salomon (Crucified only)
Mike Torone (the first Sacrament album)

Why only Crucified? I like him on Outer Circle and he did ok on Stavesacre and Neon Horse, I just don‘t care for their style. He sucked on Native Son, the Christian Vanilla Ice, but we all have done some stupid things in our past lol. (I used to rap as well) 

oldschooldoom wrote:I miss Steven Patrick of Holy Soldier and Victory. So much emotion!!!

Good pick, Holy Soldier ballads blow all competition out the water in terms of sugary sweet cheesiness… in a good way!

TZ75 wrote:The best vocal I ever heard Luke Easter perform is on the song Mystery. The melody is super catchy and he sounds really smooth and clear (much less gruffy). Although the “gruff” style usually is needed for most metal songs, I think he could mix them up together. Get creative.

For lack of a better term… heavy Bon Jovi.

I really liked Luke on Crawl To China. He shines in the mid ranges and on that record he could do just that. I think the Bon Jovi comparison is not too far fetched and Luke should take it as a compliment, too.

I used to like the first two Stavesacre albums, but I think Mark was best as a punk vocalist. Outer Circle was okay… I was more into The Crucified (just my opinion). 

Luke has openly said he is a Bon Jovi fan.

I'm going to start a band called Onward To Freedom. The debut release will be titled Tourniquet. 

So when anyone says "Onward To Freedom is not a Tourniquet album", I can retort with "yes, but Tourniquet is an Onward To Freedom album. So there."

Then I'll slide my shades on, look cool and say to myself "my work here is done".

MagnusPrime wrote:I'm going to start a band called Onward To Freedom. The debut release will be titled Tourniquet. 

So when anyone says "Onward To Freedom is not a Tourniquet album", I can retort with "yes, but Tourniquet is an Onward To Freedom album. So there."

Then I'll slide my shades on, look cool and say to myself "my work here is done".

You win the internet.

MagnusPrime wrote:I'm going to start a band called Onward To Freedom. The debut release will be titled Tourniquet. 

So when anyone says "Onward To Freedom is not a Tourniquet album", I can retort with "yes, but Tourniquet is an Onward To Freedom album. So there."

Then I'll slide my shades on, look cool and say to myself "my work here is done".

Reminds me of how Believer named one of their latest songs Imagine Dragons lol

TZ75 wrote:The best vocal I ever heard Luke Easter perform is on the song Mystery. The melody is super catchy and he sounds really smooth and clear (much less gruffy). Although the “gruff” style usually is needed for most metal songs, I think he could mix them up together. Get creative.

For lack of a better term… heavy Bon Jovi.

I listened to that song and I actually quite liked it, I agree that’s probably the best vocals I’ve heard from him. Very different from Tourniquet, but I would say his voice sounds best on music like that

Guy Ritter
followed by... and in no particular order...

Frank Clifton Herring (from Messenger)
Dale Thompson
Luke Easter (especially his solo stuff)
Ryan Roebuck (Motivik)
Andrew Gazaway (Darkhorse Hero / Joshua's Creed)
Graeme Leslie (Stairway)
Matt Smith (Theocracy)

seth wrote:

TZ75 wrote:The best vocal I ever heard Luke Easter perform is on the song Mystery. The melody is super catchy and he sounds really smooth and clear (much less gruffy). Although the “gruff” style usually is needed for most metal songs, I think he could mix them up together. Get creative.

For lack of a better term… heavy Bon Jovi.

I listened to that song and I actually quite liked it, I agree that’s probably the best vocals I’ve heard from him. Very different from Tourniquet, but I would say his voice sounds best on music like that

Indeed!

Clean and melodic vocals can work very well over heavy music. That’s what I love about Flotsam & Jetsam, Deliverance and Belladonna fronted Anthrax.

If you haven’t already, check out Rob Rock’s solo albums. Those are a perfect example!

I have listened to some Rob Rock solo stuff, although I prefer his work with Impellitteri. But yeah clean vocals over heavy music can definitely work, that’s what most power metal is after all

John Schlitt (more rock/hardrock than metal)
Eric Clayton (more gothic rock than metal)

Les Carlsen
Matt Smith

honorable mentions: Jamie Rowe, Guy Ritter