M.Shadows - Vocal Style

Vocal Style

Shadows' vocal style has evolved significantly over the years. On the band's first full-length record, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, he featured harsh, metalcore-style growls with limited instances of clean vocals. The release of Waking the Fallen in 2003 demonstrated his progression towards melodic vocal lines, but still retained a strong screaming influence. However, the most significant change came with the release of the band's major label debut, City of Evil, in 2005, which featured minimal background screaming, stronger vocal melodies, and increased emphasis on harmonies and melodic hooks. This change resulted in newly established vocal contributions from each band member during live performances, and remained prevalent on every record the band has released since 2005, with the exception of songs like "God Hates Us" on Nightmare, and 2011 single "Not Ready To Die", which both returned to the signature screaming style of earlier releases heard from 1999-2003.

Rumors were spread that Shadows had lost his ability to scream due to throat surgery needed after Warped Tour 2003. However, this was proven false. Producer Andrew Murdock put down these rumors by saying: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet…Matt handed me the CD, and he said to me, 'This record's screaming. The record we want to make…is going to be half-screaming and half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore…the record after that is going to be all singing.'" Aside from screaming during moments on songs such as "Beast and the Harlot", "Betrayed", "Critical Acclaim", and "Demons", M. Shadows returned to his half singing, half screaming metalcore vocal approach on track 7 of Nightmare during "God Hates Us",projecting a deeper growl not heard in previous albums.