Two things. First, I hate “top” lists. They are subjective, infuriating, inaccurate, and completely unessential. Second, my knowledge of music is very specific and rotates in a very small orbit. Which makes this post out of character for me. But it has to be done. I have to get it off my chest to the 10 people who read this blog. These are, for me, the best screams ever in recorded music. Feel free to add other contenders into the comments section! I am always looking for a good, blood boiling scream!
The Forms – The Seagull
As exhibited in this post on BrooklynVegan, the Forms and I go waaaaay back. As a matter of fact I think I am one of the first people to get his mitts on their debut masterpiece Icarus. The album is full of start-stop time signatures, soaring melodies, and some serious guitar noise. But within this disc lies one of the best screams you will ever hear. On the fantastic piano-oriented tune The Seagull, Alex Tween unleashes a vocal explosion that will blow the earbuds out of your ears. Listen to the whole song… shit, listen to the whole record, but pay dirt is struck at the 1:11 mark.
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Meshuggah – New Millennium Cyanide Christ
I cannot 100% remember if it was during this song or Bleed at their Irving Plaza show on their last tour when a guy next to me screamed “Aaaaggghhhh! I want to punch someone! I want to fucking punch someone!! I WANT TO KILL SOMEONE” and disappeared into the pit. Either way, this song packs one of the most relentless punches of any Meshuggah song. They chose a very funny approach to the music video for this song which somewhat deflates and charicaturizes the sheer brutality of the song, but I love it. This song is 100% balls, but for the death blow stay tuned for the 3:55 mark.
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The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
This is definitely the easiest, most common choice so it’s at the bottom of the list. The Who might be one of my most preferred straight up rock and roll bands of all time. For a four piece, they created such an ear drum destroying, earth shattering wall of volume. Roger Daltrey has got some SERIOUS pipes but the scream he let’s out towards the end of Won’t Get Fooled Again I think shocked a LOT of people for its unprecedented power. It still blows my mind that it was set to wax in 1971.
I believe I was the FIRST person to get Icarus. Yes!