Picture by: Carl Begai

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angela Gossow has answered numerous questions from fans and aspiring death metal vocalists about vocal techniques and problems at her official MySpace page. Part of the Q&A; session can be found below:

Q: I am a fellow female death/black metal singer, who was recently diagnosed with vocal nodules. It's hard for me not to accept that this is the end of the road in regards to my voice...but I've read that you too have had them at one time. This afternoon I am going to see a speech therapist, and from what I have read, that may greatly increase my chances of regaining my singing/growling voice. I have been in a number of bands, and am currently working on my first solo effort, a collaboration of many a musician. My voice is something I need, I was born to do this, and I would appreciate any suggestions/advise you could give me to get back on track.

Angela: "Hey Laura, do not give up, nodules are curable!!! Is it nodes (hard bumps) or nodules (soft ones) you got on your vocal chords? Hard ones have to be removed surgically, the soft ones you can train off with the right exercises. Humming in the morning .. before talking .. is a good way to warm up the voice and get the chords swinging simultaneously. If your voice sounds rough, hum until it sounds more ..even...

Anyway, no screaming until they are gone. A speech therapist will show you lots of exercises that will basically help the vocal chords to function normally again whilst at the same time taking the strain from the spot where the nodules are (this is basically the place where your chords hit together first when you scream). When your nodules are gone, start with easy SINGING exercises and breathing exercises. For this you should go to a professional singing teacher!!! Breathing the right way will take a lot of force from the chords. When you scream - do you pump your chest full of air or is your belly expanding like a balloon? If the air is up in your chest its way too much pressure on your throat and your chords and one of the main reasons you got into trouble.

I am currently setting up a website that deals with vocal advice. I am also being trained being a singing/screaming teacher myself. Most normal singing teacher cringe when they hear what you are doing with your voice. They don..t understand this technique (you are basically singing with your false chords as well, you don..t do this for 'normal' singing at all). But please don..t let them discourage you. Just tell them all you want to learn is good breath support, warm up exercises and simple scales. Normal singing trains the voice in a different way then screaming and keeps the chords flexible and strong.

What range are you in? Hearing your samples I guess you have a rather high range, like soprano or mezzo-soprano. That means your vocal chords are thin. Women who have deep voices (alto or contralto) have it much easier with the screaming. Their vocal chords are thicker and simply take more abuse. So you have to train and strengthen your voice in order to do the screaming without harming your voice.

Make sure to let your voice heal totally before you start screaming again! You don..t want to permanently damage your voice and maybe lose it altogether. Do you smoke and drink? You never warm up before you scream? Do you drink lots of acid forming soda? Do you have allergies or taking drugs? If yes is the answer to any of these questions - my advice: quit it!!! Especially smoking (I had to quit too). Or sort it out, like allergies."

Q: I'm looking into ways of screaming w/out damaging my vocals. Can you give me any tips? By the way, after a long concert, do you feels like your vocal muscles tend to get tightened, do they hurt or have they ever caused any pain? )

Angela: "I listened to your bands sound files. You are currently singing melodic, no screaming right? Are you a soprano?

I talked with Floor Jansen from After Forever about mixing classic vocals and death growls. It is almost impossible, only works if you are an alto with extremely resistant vocal chords. If you start screaming, you will lose the high range for sure. After a long tour, my chords are shot. I can still scream and growl but my upper head voice is gone. This vocal style is about sacrificing your voice somehow.

My throat and jaw muscles get tight after the first couple of shows when I haven..t trained them enough in my time off. These exercises help: Stretching the upper pallet (sort of yawning to loosen things up) and depressing the tongue with a finger to massage tension out. Always stretch your neck muscles after a show (head banging makes them pretty sore).

My chords don..t hurt; I have no sore throat after a show, not even when we play 90 minutes. But my throat is very used to this 'singing' style. Arch Enemy play more than 200 shows a year.

Def get the DVD, its full of good tips and a great warm up. It won..t teach you how to scream though. For being save when you start, you got to have a vocal teacher who does this in front of you watching your every breath and move of abdomen, throat, larynx and shoulders.

If screaming hurts you, do NOT do it, otherwise you will wreck your wonderful singing voice."

To read the entire Q&A; session go to this location