The Quest for the Worst Singer in Metal, Part One: Sean Killian from Vio-Lence

The task of identifying the worst vocalists to make their mark on the great musical genre known as heavy metal is difficult for a number of reasons. First, metal is a genre that has a history that spans over four decades and thousands of bands, and so that means that there is a ton of ground to cover. This is made easier by the fact that most metal singers in the present era sound exactly alike due to the fact that they all have watched the same "how to scream" videos on YouTube, but the challenge remains. Who is the worst? I think that I have found one very good candidate for the worst vocalist in the history of metal, and that is Sean Killian from Vio-Lence. 

The job of frontman in a thrash metal band has traditionally been filled in more of a matter of convenience. It's as though all of these bands are faced with the same question of "well we've got the crew together, now which of us should sing?" Metallica are a famous example of this, as James Hetfield took up the mantle of frontman in the absence of a more qualified candidate (as they were revealed to have been searching for an alternate full-time vocalist up until the release of Master of Puppets). However, Metallica are example of this approach to filling the vocalist position to good ends, as the vocals on their first four albums work with the music perfectly. The results that Vio-Lence achieved with Sean Killian at the helm were decidedly less impressive. 

For those of you who might be unaware, Vio-Lence was the band that Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel played in before Robb started Machine Head in the early 1990s. They released three full-length albums and a number of EPs between 1988 and 1993, and are considered one of the many classic San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal bands along. The riffing, songwriting, and drumming on these albums are exemplary of the style, but the vocals are an entirely different story. 

Just listen to the terrible croaks (starting at 0:49) that come out of this guy's mouth. Somebody should get him some pepto bismol, because he sounds like he is constipated and trying his best to pass a bowel movement. The liner notes in the re-releases of these albums often praise Mr. Killian for his lyrics (but, laughably, not his singing), but I cannot take any of his words seriously. Any chance that I would have to appreciate some form of literary brutality is immediately sidelined by the silly vocalizations. It's like a parody of thrash metal vocals by someone that does not listen to thrash metal. 

Now, I imagine that there are those of you who are thinking to yourselves, "hey, wait a minute! I thought that his vocals really fit the tone of the album!"

No. You are bad, and wrong. Please leave the hall.
 
 
--Sean Z hosts Sublime State of Doom every Monday at 8 PM, only on CJLO.