It’s no secret that metal vocalists have some sort of demon trapped within the walls of their insides, and that’s what causes all that ruckus to come out when they open their mouths. Just kidding, but kind of not? The University of Utah was curious enough about what makes metal screams so screamy, so they invited Lorna Shore‘s frontman Will Ramos in an attempt to study what in the world could make such beastly screams human, and if it pains the person to relinquish their insides.
Specifically, the University of Utah vocal researcher Amanda Stark wanted to figure out how such shouts affect the throat and what structures of the throat were used in creating the sounds, and Ramos was the perfect subject.
“Will has what he calls a ‘false chord scream’ or a ‘pig squeal,’ Stark said to The Salt Lake Tribune. “He’s got names like ‘goblin,’ ‘pterodactyl,’ ‘tea kettle’ … and then on stage, he puts all of these different sounds together.”
How exactly did they study this? Well, in something that might make quite a few people squeamish, they shoved needles straight into Ramos’s throat and used cameras to see what’s happening in there. The whole process is sciencey and not my forte, so there’s a video for it below done by The Charismatic Voice.
What they found was that Ramos’s bellows and wails are more than just healthy and natural to his system, but they actually cause less strain on his vocal folds than speaking regularly does. Now how the hell is that possible? Fuck if I know. And even though they explain it, I still don’t fucking know.
Apparently, Will screams in such a way that uses the muscle and tissue above his vocal chords, which actually protects them from being damaged. To Stark, that means that this method is something that can be taught to other singers and screamers in a way that will keep them healthy and their careers long and shoutful.
Even better, there’s going to be more studies conducted on a more diverse subject pool, so we can get all the damn info we can get, according to Stark.
“This is just one artist that we’ve done this on so far. We have intentions and are actually going to be rolling out a lot more artists that we are trying to study and better understand these different screams. This will include looking at different men, women, and different sub genres within metal.”
