I checked out your stuff - nice! That first track has great groove to it.

I'm really impressed with your "rasp" sound. Might I ask what tips you have for us to get into that soft pallate singing? I practice a ton and just can't get it to work yet. I try to focus on the sound hitting the roof of my mouth, but it hasn't quite worked yet.

Any ideas or comments?

If I could give one tip on getting into that type of singing, focusing on the soft palate especially, it would be to work the living daylights out of your breathing technique. And by that, I mean several things, not just diaphragmatic breathing.

Jaime mentioned that he's going to eventually release an exercise using gargling tone on scales or somesuch. I can't recall where, so I hope I'm right. But this is an age old secret for focusing breath at the soft palate.

What I think helped a lot was that I'd expand my ribcage so that my chest was pretty much huge, pant like a dog (Melissa Cross has an exercise like this on her Zen of Screaming DVD, she's A RIOT to watch.) so that the diaphragm and abdomen pulsate but the chest stays neutral. Then take the concept of an expanded chest and a moving tummy and breath in really, really deep, 'til you can't anymore, and hold the inhalation sensation (ie, KEEP BREATHING IN. You won't get more air in, but you'll teach your body to relax in this 'full' state.) as long as you can.

Then hiss it out, you know, but keep hissing and keep pushing air until your stomach is as tight as possibble, until your middle-back aches, until you can't stand it anymore, and gasp. All the while, MAKE SURE your neck muscles do not clench up and that your larynx stays pretty low.

And then, while I was still in school, I'd pretty much walk around all day gargling scales. Gargling focuses air at the soft palate. I'd reccommend working up an octave, going smoothly, starting in your chest and ending up in your head, maybe middle C to tenor high C?

But the most important thing to remember is that you have to find your voice for this type of singing. If you focus at the soft palate and breathe properly, you'll avoid a lot of strain and potential damage, but you've gotta get the mental block of being loud and somewhat angry when you're actually quite calm and happy out of the way.

I am normally kind of bland, uninteresting, quiet. But I can immediately turn on my crazy switch. I'm not afraid. That's what most good screamer-type fellows I've met have going for them. They simply are NOT afraid. Maynard James Keenan is one of my biggest influences (I don't sound like him, but motivation-wise) and he is the same. He's really quiet, to the point you can barely hear him speak, but that guy can belt out some really nice stuff when he's in 'performance' mode.

For this, try this; Get yourself in a room of close friends and just yell for a minute or so. Yell curses back and forth at eachother. Just be mean, loud, angry. But make sure it doesn't hurt. Make sure you use the power push, make sure you're breathing properly.

Another thing. Water. Drink a lot while you sing. You'll dry out.

AHHH I could go on and on.

And if you meant the really high screaming, well, tell me, that is a whole different ball-park.

I hope you heard me and not the other guitarist too, lol. The song "What It's Like To Drown" is me pretty much, the other guitarist takes a line and does backup. "Psycho" is just him.