Bands that change vocalists are nothing new. Lead vocalists sometimes want to leave the band for personal reasons or they pass away. Regardless, if the band wants to keep going, they have to find a new lead vocalist. One of the most classic examples is when AC/DC had to get a new vocalist after Bon Scott’s death. Considering the number of classic songs they made with Brian Johnson, people see this as the best switch in music history.
Of course, not all of them are sunshines and rainbows. Nightwish is easily one of the more controversial examples of this. Back in 2005, they let go of Tarja Turunen, who was their singer since the beginning of the band. She was fired over an open letter, accusing her of disrespecting her position in the band along with her husband. After a year, they started finding a new lead singer. They went through multiple candidates, including Elize Ryd (who would later find Amaranthe), Mija Anderson, Emily Ovenden (who later found Pythia), and even Manuela Kraller (who will come up again later). The two they had to choose between were Canadian singer Cassie Stone and Swedish singer Anette Olzon. Had Anette not sent in another audition tape, Cassie Stone would’ve got the position. In the end, they chose Anette. One of the things the band was looking out for was making sure the new singer did not sound anything like Tarja. Tarja is known to have an operatic soprano voice while Anette’s voice fits in pop rock. They made songs that fit around her voice and it still sounded like Nightwish. When it came to older songs that were made with Tarja in mind, people have mixed feelings about them being sung by Anette, but at least she can still sing them, even if they didn’t sound the same. When Anette was let go in 2012, the band brought in Dutch singer Floor Jansen (previously of After Forever and ReVamp fame) to finish up their tour. Eventually, in 2013, she was declared an official member and has been in the role since, now being their longest-running lead vocalist. Floor’s voice is known to be versatile, capable of doing heavy metal to opera.
Ex-Nightwish vocalist, Tarja Turunen, in 2008
(Roberto / Flickr)
The other symphonic metal band to have the same level of lead vocalist changes is Xandria. Early on, guitarist Marco Heubaum was the vocalist before getting a few more vocalists. They eventually decided on Lisa Middelhauve as their lead vocalist who sang on the first four albums. She left in 2008 and was replaced by Kerstin Bischof, but left after a year and Middelhauve finished up their 2010 tour dates. The band eventually got Manuela Kraller as their vocalist but only for one album. She was replaced by Dutch vocalist (all of the previous vocalists are German) Dianne van Giersbergen. She sang on two albums but left in 2017, due to personal reasons such as tensions in the band. Both Manuela Kraller and Lisa Middelhauve have also stated that they left for similar reasons. The band got Aeva Maurelle to sing in live shows from 2017 to 2019 before getting Ambre Vourvahis in 2022, singing on their latest album along with a new line-up minus Marco Heubaum. Lisa is known to have a more gothic metal voice while both Manuela and Dianne are known to have operatic vocals. Ambre on the other hand is known to have more of a pop-rock voice but can also pull off harsh vocals. People like to compare each singer with different songs, which can be unfair because of how different their voices are.
Now we have Suicide Silence. Mitch Lucker was their vocalist from 2002 until his untimely death in November 2012. The following month, the band held a tribute concert inviting vocalists from other bands including Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria), Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel), Johnny Plague (Winds of Plague), Chad Gray (Mudvayne/Hellyeah), and Randy Blythe (Lamb of God). One of their guests, Herman “Eddie” Hermida, sang a song during the concert and eventually became their new lead singer in 2013. People sometimes like to joke that the tribute show was actually his audition for the next lead vocalist of Suicide Silence.
The Black Dahlia Murder is another band that had to change vocalists for the same reason. Trevor Strnad sang for the band from its inception until 2022, when died in May of that year. The future of the band was unknown until the fall when they announced they would continue on. Rhythm guitarist and founder Brian Eschbach stepped down as a guitarist and switched over to lead vocals as a way to respect Trevor’s spot, rather than finding an outsider. Filling Eschbach’s place as a second guitarist is Ryan Knight, who was in the band from 2009 up to 2016.
The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist, Trevor Strnad, in 2016
(Factor Metal / Flickr)
Unfortunately, not all bands want to find someone to fill in the shoes of a lead vocalist if they made up a huge portion of the band’s identity. Linkin Park is a notable example of this, as when Chester Bennington died from suicide back in 2017, the band ultimately decided to go on hiatus, rather than find someone to fill his shoes
One of the main reasons why people don’t like it when bands change vocalists is because they feel like most of the sound is going to change. There is some truth to this as some of the songwriting has to change around the new vocalist. However, if done right, they can still sound the same as before but with a different voice. You can’t really blame people for thinking the sound will change drastically because vocals are prominent in any genre that uses them. Because of how attached people are to certain vocalists, fans will often clash and fight over which vocalist is the best, even if they’re completely different.
Chester Bennington in 2011
(Schen Photography / Flickr)
Bands have a choice of whether to change vocalists or stop playing. There will always be a population of the fanbase who don’t like it when there is a vocal switch. Regardless, as long as the band is still making music, there will be a demographic that will embrace change.