To many people, the mention of metal or heavy music brings to mind venues full of guys with beards, long hair, and patch-covered vests. While the metal world is indisputably male-dominated, many women enjoy the music as well. In fact, some of the best–and most brutal–bands in extreme music boast female vocalists.
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Women may be a minority in heavy music, but it is impossible to overstate their contributions to the music. The female vocalists below aren’t impressive because they’re women in metal. They’re impressive because they bring both brutality and range to the bands who are fortunate enough to have them.
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1. Simone “Som” Pluijmers (Cerebral Bore, Your Chance to Die)
Simone “Som” Pluijmers joined the Scottish death metal band Cerebral Bore in 2010. Later that year, they self-released their sole album, Maniacal Miscreation, before signing with Earache Records. The next year, the label re-released the LP. The band also released a song titled “Horrendous Acts of Iniquity” in 2012.
Pluijmers left the band in November 2012, ahead of an American tour. She joined American melodic death metal band Your Chance to Die, sharing lead vocal duties with Missi Avila, in 2015. She appears on the band’s 2017 album, Ex-Nihilo. The next year, she retired from music.
Despite her short recording career, Pluijmers remains a legend among fans of extreme music. Her combination of deep guttural vocals, pig squeals, and fry screams was the perfect match for the all-out brutality of Cerebral Bore’s gore-soaked LP. At the same time, toned-down versions of those vocal techniques went hand-in-hand with Avila’s more traditional melodic death metal vocals in Your Chance to Die. There’s no word on what she’s doing now or if she’ll ever return to the extreme music world.
2. Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy, Asmodina, Mistress)
Angela Gossow may be the most revered and best-known female vocalist in extreme metal. She replaced Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy’s lead vocalist, Johan Liiva, in 2000. She first appeared on their 2001 studio album, Wages of Sin, and recorded a total of five LPs with the band before announcing her departure in 2014 ahead of the release of War Eternal.
Over the course of her career, Gossow has proven that she can do it all. Her vocals include a classic death metal growl and false cord screams. Additionally, she is a voice actress, lending her voice to Lavona Succuboso in Metalocalypse. Currently, Gossow manages Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars, Amaranthe, and Obscura.
Before joining Arch Enemy, Gossow fronted Asmodina and Mistress.
3. Alissa White-Gluz (The Agonist, Arch Enemy)
Alissa White-Gluz founded the Canadian metalcore band The Agonist in 2004. Serving as their lead vocalist, she released three albums with them. Then, a decade later, the Arch Enemy camp reached out to offer her Angela Gossow’s newly vacant slot. White-Gluz reportedly planned to work with both bands. However, the other members of The Agonist reportedly chose to kick her out of the band instead. White-Gluz first recorded with Arch Enemy on War Eternal and has recorded a total of four albums with them. The latest, Blood Dynasty, dropped earlier this year.
White-Gluz has shown incredible vocal range throughout her career. Her talents include growls and screams that are right at home in the death metal world and clean vocals that are nothing short of beautiful, as evidenced on “Demons in You” from former Nightwish vocalist Tarja’s The Shadow Self (2016) and her solo work.
Featured Image by Chiaki Nozu/WireImage
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