Ex-Morbid Angel Frontman David Vincent’s Advice to Up-and-Coming Vocalists: “Think About What It Is That You Are”

Former Morbid Angel frontman David Vincent knows a thing or two about creating unique sounds. Not only did Vincent front Morbid Angel during their legendary run of Altars of Madness through Domination, he played bass on Terrorizer’s seminal World Downfall. Chatting with Chaoszine, he was asked what the best advice he can give to a vocalist on the come up and trying to find their voice (h/t Blabbermouth).

“Have your influences, like what you like. Hopefully try to have a diverse range of things that you like. Don’t be narrow-minded. But more importantly, look in the mirror and make the person that you see in the mirror your best friend. Think about what it is that you are, not, ‘Oh, I want to sound like’ somebody. Sound like you. What do you sound like? I’ve already heard somebody else. I wanna hear you. What do you sound like? If you just sound like somebody else that’s done something 20 or 30 years ago and it’s better than what you’re doing, maybe rethink that. And that’s not a diss — that’s an encouragement to be unique. The more unique you are, the more personality that you have, that’s what’s worked for me, and I encourage everybody to do that.”

On one hand, it’s not exactly new advice. On the other hand, Vincent has got a point. There’s a lot of extreme music out there, in every niche, but especially death metal. Obviously the other stuff matters—riffs, good songwriting, production, live performance—but a vocalist can be the make-or-break element of a band. There are already six trillion old-school death metal clones with the exact same tone and vocals. Of course, this is the same David Vincent who contributed to Illud Divinum Insanus and Hordes of Zombies, so your mileage may vary.