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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:22 pm
by The Erlking
mordred wrote:Nah, in my experience it happens with every singer that ever sung with any band on an album or during a period which is considered the band's strongest.
I love Kimball's vocals, that's not the point, his work on the first 3 Omen LP's is immortal... but even back then, Omen pretty much all came down to the song writing of Kenny Powell. He wrote "Teeth of the Hydra" so Kimball could sing it, Kimball didn't sing it so Powell could write it. Everyone can be replaced if it has to be done, except the song writer.
Funny how you mentioned Teeth of the Hydra because I feel that it's where Kimball summons his best and most touching expression and becomes part of the very essence of the song. I've never heard anyone to sing exactly the same way. Like a rough, down-to-earth guy who's just about to start crying. And it's really not that I personally hate every vocalist change but some singers are more than just capable singers for me. Such vocalists become one with the music, projecting a part of themselves into it. However I don't mean to say Omen's permanently dead without Kimball but without him their classic songs are merely enjoyable shadows of the real thing. The possible new material on the other hand could turn out to be very "alive" if the band still got that same passion they used to have.
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:33 pm
by mordred
Yeah that's why I mentioned "Teeth of the Hydra", indeed Kimball's best performance and probably Omen's best song. A mindblowing performance in a mindblowing song that's for sure, but without Powell there would have been no song for Kimball to sing...
That aside, my rant was not about Omen per see, it was about how people constantly overemphazise the importance of singers, in my opinion.
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:26 pm
by ION BRITTON
mordred wrote:Only one thing is true: A singer is nothing without a song to sing.
There's another one as well: A great song without a capable and suitable singer is wasted potential.
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:58 pm
by Avenger
Well, who else sounds like Kimball?
It's not like they were replacing a run-of-the-mill vocalist that you can't tell apart from 50 other bands.
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:19 am
by great_knuthulhu
Avenger wrote:Well, who else sounds like Kimball?
It's not like they were replacing a run-of-the-mill vocalist that you can't tell apart from 50 other bands.
No one sounds like Kimball, and no one can do those songs the way he did them. However, I don't think Omen's singer has to be Kimball. The band does well with George Call and I appreciate it. Or in fact, I have loved it on both occasions I have seen them. It would have been better with Kimball, but that is not an option.