So I thought about this based on a conversation I had with a friend today. Some singers begin their career quite bad at singing, but over time as their band continues to release music and the members continue to train you can at times see remarkable increase in vocal skill over a short period of time.
One example I can think of is Aoi from Ayabie. During Shedde he didn’t have much depth to his voice, but a few years into Ayabie he was singing incredible ballads like Meefishu no uta koi kana. Jui from Vidoll is another example if you compare his vocals to De-vine, and Ruki from Gazette improved drastically as well.
A non-vk example I can think of is M Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, if you compare his earliest work to his work in Sounding the Seventh Trumpet where his singing was very weak with not much depth to future releases where suddenly he’s able to perform those resonant raspy hard rock vocals.
I’ll give a few examples but I’d love for you guys to post your own and I’ll check it out.
Moved to the Japanese music section. The musicians section is for discussions between musicians. Please read the description of the category you’re posting next time.
SUI’s singing improved massively over the years IMO, though it’s over 20 years, so I guess it’s not a miracle. One of the reasons I can’t really get into Metis Gretel is that he just wasn’t as good back then IMO. Even some early Megaromania sounds rough for me. I still like them, but they are nothing compared to the eargasm that is his recent output.
Gara from Merry. He always been a good singer but he improved a lot. He can control his voice and the emotion he puts in much better. I noticed this with their recent special album celebration livestream. They played old songs.
Kamijo has imo had the most drastic evolution in his voice. The most notable shift happened in 2007, where he pretty much managed to turn his voice into a completely different sound withing just a few months. Compare early Lareine to later Lareine to Versailles’ The Revenant Choir to Lyrical Sympathy later that same year. And even after this stark 180 in 2007, his voice contiuned evolve into different directions at different times.
Would you say you can at least hear a difference in a singer between the start of their career vs. say, a decade or two in? Even if you don’t necessarily think it’s an improvement?
I know a lot of people will disagree but I actually prefer Kyo’s vocals now compared to the earlier stuff. Has way more solid range in every aspect basically.
I have the opposite impression. Kyo of Dir en grey started out sounding like just some guy (pre-DEG, he was already above average in DEG) and ended up with people contemplating if he’s the greatest metal vocalist ever (he is). Kamijo of Versailles and Ruki of The Gazette also made massive improvements.
