Current opinion on James Labrie

He's good in the studio, just OK live. He's good with melody, just decent with loud metal. But I wouldn't accept DT without his voice.

he has his faults, but DT would'nt be DT without his vocals

I dont mind them, they dont usually bother me, and hell, sometimes his vocals send chills down my spine (Learning to Live, Octavarium, The Count of Tuscany, etc...)

Dude needs to grow his hair back out. Or at the least have a wig prepared for shows and public appearances. (Andrew WK has done this for years).

Edited by Harry Hood - May 01 2011 at 03:39

Epignosis wrote: Please don't misunderstand me (I wouldn't wish this misfortune on anyone), but I think his voice sounds better after his food poisoning incident- I honestly do.  I really don't like the singing on much of Images & Words.  He seems to have a warmer tone on later albums that isn't so shrill.

This.

Harry Hood wrote: Dude needs to grow his hair back out. Or at the least have a wig prepared for shows and public appearances. (Andrew WK has done this for years). That haircut is fine for his private life, but for a metal frontman it's just unforgiveable.

He becomes older and his hair falls. No one can stop that.

Mr ProgFreak wrote: ^ That's my main complaint with LaBrie - he's much better in the studio than live, not just as far as range is concerned, but also hitting notes (pitch) - he's usually a bit flat, which is something that will annoy some people, while others don't even notice.

Triceratopsoil wrote: WalterDigsTunes wrote: Remember them in the eighties? Guess what wasn't there. That's right: Labrie. Wally has a point.  Not only was WDaDU their best album, Dominici (sp?) was a far better vocalist.

I think James is fine, but it was Portnoy's amateurish growling that brought the band's sound down the most. Definitely one of the things I won't miss.

I do find LaBrie's high notes very annoying, but apart from that I guess he's done a very good job in the band. When he sings soft he can do it beautifully (I like his singing pretty much on the Dark Side cover album, I think his soft voice, though different from the original vocals, fits the music pretty well). When he tries so sing in a mean metal way, he's OK with me. And I actually liked his singing very much on Black Clouds... I guess it may even be my favourite album vocal-wise. I wouldn't mind too much if DT changed him, I might actually like to hear how they would sound with a different (and arguably better) singer (and see how old songs would sound). On the other hand, without Portnoy, we may hear a pretty different side of LaBrie's singing.