Which one is the best singer: Les Carlsen (Bloodgood) x Rey Parra (Sacred Warrior/Worldview)

They are both on the top 5 of my best singers ever, I just can't figure out who is the best.

I want to compare them as it seems like a fair and tight comparison as both of them have begun their careers almost at the same time and are still active after all those years. (Even though we have much more references from Les Carlsen live performance through many live cds and DVDs that Bloodgood has released).

To my ears, both have similar features while singing, both can reach impressive high notes and both sound live as good as they do in the studio.

Which one do you prefer and why?

Rey easily. Never liked Les voice, too screechy for me. Just my opinion of course.

That was a hard one! But in the end I had to go with Les Carlsen!

Both phenominal singers though!

Thats difficult I voted Les
Hes just the embodiment of Christian Glam metal (except Gipperman)

His range is amazing and he was always very entertaining live

I love Sacred Warrior but none of their releases can beat Out Of The Darkness for me

I went with Rey, only because I like him slightly better vocally.  But I really dig Les as well.
I think it is almost unfair to compare the two since they have different styles.  I don't think either one of them would sound good singing for the other vocalist's band (can you imagine Rey in Bloodgood...or Les in Sacred Warrior?).

wheres the option for both?

I think they sound universally the same

Staybrite wrote:I went with Rey, only because I like him slightly better vocally.  But I really dig Les as well.
I think it is almost unfair to compare the two since they have different styles.  I don't think either one of them would sound good singing for the other vocalist's band (can you imagine Rey in Bloodgood...or Les in Sacred Warrior?).

That's true

but Les fronting something more thrashy like Sacred would be a cool thing to hear

One of the things that led me to raise this question here is exactly how good they can sound in anything they can do.

Those who have heard the song The Chosen Few from Worldview album, have seen how they can work together in a great level. I simply can't point out who did the best work in this song.

I say Les, because he reminds me of Biff Byford from Saxon at times.

I have to go with Les.  I like his scratchy vocal style.  It works well with metal.  Rey's is cool too, but I have trouble understanding vocalists who sing with a similar style.  I have never had trouble understanding Les' vocals.

One thing I like about these two is that they both sound better now than they did 25 years ago. While I really like both, I had to vote Les, mostly because his voice is so easily recognizable.

YAY!!! Les is winning!!!

Rey...barely...

Man.. tough choice. I picked Rey because I like his voice a bit better.

This is another difficult one.  They are both VERY talented.

I have spoken with both of them (well...throughout the 90's, if that counts) and they were both genuinely friendly and down to Earth.  

I picked Les being as Bloodgood albums received a fair bit more plays than Sacred Warrior in my collection.

Les....I prefer his grittier vocal style more. But I enjoy Reys as well

Love both bands and singers....but for me....Rey all the way!

After Stryper Bloodgood was my favourite band as a kid. Love his voice.

That's tough, I like 'em both....but I'll go with Ray Perra.

Aaron C wrote:wheres the option for both?

I think they sound universally the same

I didn't put this option on purpose.

As I see in the coments, most of the people would go for this third option, if we had one.
I didn't imagine it would be so tight.

metaldude wrote:One thing I like about these two is that they both sound better now than they did 25 years ago. While I really like both, I had to vote Les, mostly because his voice is so easily recognizable.

I would say that their have grown a bit old. But it looks like they figured out a way to sing as better as they always did.

If I had to choose based on what they can sing at the moment, I would say the Rey Parra voice is slightely better. But it is really hard to choose based on their entire career.

Garrison4JC wrote:  

I picked Les being as Bloodgood albums received a fair bit more plays than Sacred Warrior in my collection.

Same here! I played the first 3 Bloodgood albums to DEATH!! Literally wore out my copies. I liked "Out of the Darkness", but I was a bit disappointed in it and didn't play that one quite so much.

For Sacred Warrior, I like all their albums and even got to see them in concert on their first, "Rebellion Tour" (opening for Rez). However, the only album I played to death was "Master's Command". So I heard Bloodgood probably a good three times more than I listened to Sacred Warrior.

Both great bands though and I'm glad they've both come back!!!

I heard someone once say Les Carlsen was the Bea Arthur of Christian Metal singing. I personally think he is a great and gifted singer. Being as old as he is and still able to hold a scream like he does far out shines no offence to any fans of Stryper but out shines Sweet from time to time on carrying a high long note. But I think it's kinda unfair to compare Les to Rey. Rey is just phenomenal as a singer and his voice has aged and carried on a lot better than most singers from the day trying to cut it as a singer today. I had to vote for Rey there's just no comparison between even though I love Bloodgood and always have sans that last melodic mess they put out in the early 90s. But if this were a Les vs Scott poll Bloodgood singer vs Whitecross singer then Carlson for me. In my opinion he sings better than Scott but not as good as Rey.

Les, but to be honest they both sung on The Chosen Few and that sounded awesome!  Maybe they should do that more often!

Love them both, but went with Rey because I think his voice is more versatile.