18:37 - EMols86 Carrion Misery, I was just about to say the same thing about lyrical themes defining a genre, because they do not. Maybe some themes are very common in certain styles, but it doesn't define the style...
18:34 - EMols86 Look at doom bands like Candlemass, Solstice, Isole, Krux, Solitude Aeternus, 40 Watt Sun and Cathedral. Not exactly the same styles, but all clean vocals without growls. I rest my case. :-)
18:33 - Apothecary Honestly I dunno why you got swarmed for that. Piece Of Time is probably the most thrash-y Atheist album, the whole proggy/technical side of the band started with Unquestionable Presence, really
18:33 - Carrion Misery Well, the music would still matter greatly in that case whether or not it's "blackened". I disagree that any lyrical content is genre specific though, but I see what you're saying.
18:30 - EMols86 Yes, more than just the vocals define a genre, of course. But I only said it's easy to recognize a genre by simply listening to the vocals. Obviously it doesn't work in all cases, as I just showed with Atheist which seemed thrash.
18:29 - Apothecary Sometimes vocals can be THE definer of a genre. If a band has black metal lyrical themes, but the vocals are clean, deep and powerful, they likely wouldn't be classified as black metal.
18:27 - Carrion Misery Yeah, I was just using power metal to make a point on vocals defining a genre. All elements of a band define their genre--no matter how much one favors a certain factor less than others.