My esteemed colleauges, friends, enemies, or most importantly, music lovers, I have come to this place of discussion and destruction once again to ask of you another opinion. Who, in your opinion, is the best frontman in heavy music? This means that they noot only are good singers, but use their voices as the voice for the band, not themselves, are THE voice for the band, not ever to be rightfully replaced, and are influental both in writing and delivery. They can also be musicians, but if they are, it is not simplified for their singing, and vice versa.

Finally, AND MOST IMPORTANT...

You may only list one frontman, and also explain, in detail, not just how, "They are cool and super duper groovy!". So in conclusion, don't be a shit and post just a name, if not for courtesy, for the music we have all gathered here to pay respects to.

In my personal opinion, as of right now, the best frontman of all time is Phil Anselmo. He exemplifies what a frontman should be. He has, if not an incredible (that being my opinion), then at least a unique voice, a good songwriter, and I honestly couldn'y imagine Pantera without him. With the release of Cowboys From Hell, an incredible band, that includes the voice of said frontman, was born. Unlike many other bands however, I honestly couldn't imagine them with any other members outside of those four.

From the almost black metal like screech found in Superjoint Ritual, the southern fried singing voice displayed in Down, or the combination that provides the voice of Pantera. If Pantera was to have a different vocalist, in my opinion, it wouldn't be Pantera, it would be the coming New Found Power (although I'm sure that will be interesting, considering how both Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrel are incredible musicians). As a face for the band, that may be debate-able wether or not he IS Pantera, but could you really imagine a group photo of Pantera without the the solemn stare of Phil Anselmo? Or with any other of his bands? (No, Necrophagia doesn't count as one of his bands, as he was never frontman.)

So in closing my friends, Phil Anselmo is the best frontman in heavy music today, because of presence, voice, writing, delivery, and attitude. So in essence, Phil Anselmo is the best, because he, in his relatively short time in heavy music, he became the definition.

So, dear reader, thank you for your time, and hopefully your opinions.

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Mille Petrozza

Chuck Schuldiner for me \m/\m/\m/

Chuck pioneered the death metal movement & spoke for metal in general...a true experimenter...Chuck spread the name Death with the help of musicians from thrash, jazz, progressive...all forms of music...and inspite of personal problems (tumor & shit)...Chuck came out with The Sound Of Perseverance & Control Denied...

so the best frontman HAS to be Chuck for me \m/

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I too believe that Chuck was a very good frontman/spokesman for metal.

I've read plenty of his bios and stories about Death's history and he was
very serious about the promotion of metal in general. He always said

"Support Music, Not Rumors"

Well, based on his quote, I suppose he promoted music as a whole. He was
making this very clear in some of his song lyrics as well. Yeah he started off
early in his career writing gruesome lyrics. As the albums came around, he
began writing about life's problems and some of his songs were aimed at people
who don't know what's going on, hence the rumors.

I've heard (and seen) that he wasn't a strong entertainer when it came to playing live but that's because he took his own music very seriously. I read somewhere that
during one of his shows that people were moshing and becoming aggressive.
He did not appreciate it very much and thought that some audiences just come
out for violence and not necessarily to 'listen' to the music.

Am I forgetting anything?

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Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth

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DIO!!!

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John Gallagher (Dying Fetus)

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Chuck Schuldiner.....no doubt about it....Chuck was bloody brilliant , plus Death has to be one of the best bands ever

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I don't know if people are just being pissy, or if they just can't read. Oh well....

I'd say Matthew Barlow of Iced Earth.
He was to me the ultimate deliverer of Jon's lyrics, he made them feel so.... real..... touching..... serious.. or something... I don't know really, but he was to me the Face of Iced Earth, while Jon Schaffer was the Brain. The Body has been changed a lot over the years though... But I quite simply can't see what's going to happen to IE now that Matt is not there to bring out the life in the lyrics. I know he doesn't meet one of the criteria, namely the "influental both in writing and delivery" one. I do not know how much of the delivery was his choice, but AFAIK, he didn't write anything. He did however have the ability to really bring out the feelings in the lyrics as if he had written them, as if the lyrics were really his.

I would however like to say that I have not listened to too many bands, so there may be someone else who I'd say is more worthy of my envy, but I have not heard that person yet.

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Chuck.

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Phil.

but that morbid angel bloke is cool too.

He isnt a frontman. He says nothing live. Dying Fetus' frontman would be Vince now, it used to be Jason.

Anyway, fuck frontmen. I want to listen to music not drunken rantings that make jibberish sound like poetry.

Note: racism in posts will not be tolerated. Cunt. Thank you - PST

Phillip ofcourse!

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I think its got to be Ozzy because he was not only one of the main driving forces behind sabbath but has also led his self titled band on to quite a bit of fame. He is also a wel respected person in music and has made shit loads of money. So i'd sa its gotta be him

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MILLE PETROZZA IS GOD!!!!! ...and I once had a coversation with him!!

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Phil... why explain? u did all the explaining for me

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I can only agree. Chuck and Phil.

Peter Steel - Presence, writing and delivery
Rozz Williams - Best lyricist ever (though his version of the band isn't that "metal")

By the way, Matt Barlow did write some of IE's lyrics. I dunno, averaged out maybe like 1/3 or 1/4 of the lyrics were his on the four studio albums he was on.

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That's fucking awesome man, you meet him at a show??

What a Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) or Dave Mustaine (Megadeth). They both rock and are very put spoken.

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i think Chuck, he is more "Metal Frontman" than phil, phil is a litle more..., uhm.., "hardcore"(attitude)

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he did just about as much vocals as vince did when i saw them. i guess ur right about vince being the frontman though. i said that because for the most part he is the mastermind behind dying fetus' music, and he is the only origional member.

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i'd have to say Alexi Laiho, cos comehow he manages to shred out crunching riffs and seemingly endless solos with amazing technical excellence and all of this while singing as well. the dude is a god. Children of bodom would be kind of nowhere without him, especially as he writes all the songs as well, and they arent exactly simple. just listen to kissing the shadows and you'll see exactly what i mean. this guy is gonna go very VERY far!!! rock on \m/

I'm going to say Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth. If it was a different genre, then maybe the answer would be different but for metal, it's definitely him.

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i'd say Dan Swano

Corpsegrinder - Cannibal Corpse

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Vocals yes, but when I think frontman, I think talking to the audience type thing. And John doesnt do that, vince is the one who is doing he onstage banter.

phil of course

and pepper keenan for just being awesome singer and he can play a mean downtuned guitar, also has skill at slide guitar

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I totally agree that Phil Anselmo is a great frontman. He always like talks to the people between songs and all that, he's always real, you know. Also he has this energy on stage.

Ozzy Osbourne and Dio are good frontmen also. I don't like Ozzy or Dio but I saw them live and I enjoyed the show. Why? Because they know how to entertain people.

sherwood from skinless

his vocals, even though they're nothing special are solid and they work real well for the band. live hes an absolute nut. i saw them at sort of a lame venue where there was nothing for him to climb on but he still had the most energy (and not like shithead dillenger escape plan jumping around like hes got a spiked gaunlet lodged where the sun dont shine) of any frontman ive seen. the whole band had that energy. even the friggin drummer did

JOHN CONNELLY of NUCLEAR ASSAULT!!!!!!!!!!

THRASH TILL DEATH!!!!!!

CHECK OUT MY SITE!!!!!!!!!!!

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RIGHT!!!!!!!!111111111

Thick-browed moron.

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DIO
BUCKETHEAD, well sort of a frontman....
OZZY
GALDER

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Peter Tagtgren is my favorite.

SORRY FUCKER JOHN CONNELLY RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THRASH TILL MERCILESS DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHECK OUT THE DUDE'S SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DON'T QUOTE THE LAST FUCKIN POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL HAIL NUCLEAR ASSAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I have to agree with many on this forum, Chuck is a champion.

C'mon, he died from some weird head thing (tumor?) & he headbanged for a living. Just making that ridiculous connection is cool. The guy lived, breathed, & shat metal. Pity he's not making making good tunes & sacking drummers anymore though.

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I have to disagree with you there. Phil is good but he is not as good as he used to be. When I saw him at the Down concert a year ago he was stoned as a motherfucker and I could barely hear what he said. I am not against people smoking weed but don't let it affect your performance. But when Phil was in his twenties, he had energy that blew through the fucking roof. He was amazing then.

As for best frontman I don't really have one. I would LIKE to say James Hetfield but that is more of my personal opinion and I can't really back it up. Every frontman has done their thing has their own shit they do live that entertains us. I really don't think there is a best of all time.

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Wow, Chuck is the most mentioned one so far, and I do agree
(Uh...look at my avatar. )
As for Phil, I do like most of the vocal styles that he performs
like Blues, Thrash, Black Metal and so n' so on.

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