Abstract: "Metal music vocals are typically characterized by their aggression, which contributes to the overall volume of the music. Nevertheless, with the fracturing of the genre and the formation #of subgenres, vocal expression has developed beyond aggression and loudness. The characteristics of gothic metal result in a gloomy and somber tone that intermingles with its visual theatrics and dark lyrical matter; however, it is the diversity that the subgenre brings to vocal practices which has come to be one of this subgenre’s most substantial contributions to metal.
This chapter unpacks gothic metal’s diverse vocal expressions throughout a timbral analysis grounded in the four vocal timbres identified by Isabella van Elferen—“hollow,” “bombastic,” “tormented,” and “distorted.” Expanding upon this framework for vocal analysis, I replace “bombastic” with “saturated,” and propose a fifth vocal timbre, “ethereal,” in order to address how gothic metal differs from other gothic music styles. A selection of gender-contrasting examples are present to equally recognize male and female vocals.
In using these voice types as a scaffolding for an investigation into diversity in gothic metal vocal expression, this chapter sets apart metal music at large and the gothic style more specifically. This type of interpretive work is essential in order to expand the field of metal music studies, particularly in the area of vocal analysis, which receives limited inquiry, due in part to a greater trend within the field that prioritizes metal’s cultural and social elements."
[SOURCE: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003354451/routledge-handbook-metal-music-composition-lori-burns-ciro-scotto]

Abstract: << This an outstanding collection of chapters that explore the intersections between progressive rock, metal and the literary imagination. Each contribution here is a must-read and the editors have done an incredible job framing the
Handbook.
Karl Spracklen, PhD, AcSS
Leeds Beckett University, Portland >>
"This Handbook illustrates the many ways that progressive rock and metal music forge striking engagements with literary texts and themes.
The authors and their objects of analytic inquiry offer global and diverse perspectives on these genres and their literary connections: from ancient times to the modern world, from children’s literature to epic poetry, from mythology to science fiction, and from esoteric fantasy to harsh political criticism.
The musical treatments of these literary materials span the continents from South and North America through Europe and Asia. The collection presents critical perspectives on the enduring and complex relationships between words and music as these are expressed in progressive rock and metal.
The book is aimed primarily at an academic market, valuable for second through final year students on undergraduate courses devoted to both popular music and to literary studies, and to postgraduate programs and researchers in a range of fields, including: popular music studies, musicology, creative music performance and composition, songwriting, literary studies, narrative studies, folklore studies, science fiction studies, cultural studies, liberal studies, and sociology, and for media and history courses that have an interest in the intersection of narratives, music and society."
Source for both: https://www.routledge.com