Cristina Scabbia said Italian doesn't belong in Metal and she's not (that) wrong

Cristina Scabbia, Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil vocalist Cristina Scabbia said in an interview that the Italian language is not suitable for singing in the Metal genre. It's been more than a year, and I'm still not over it. I study Literature, but I've been working on specialising in Linguistics; nice little field that is definitely not hiring, but at least I get to learn something new about languages every day, so I have a sum of information to compare.

Amy Lee, Evanescence

First of all, I don't disagree, but I don't agree with her either. And most importantly, I don't think I'm
better than her at evaluating. Language perception is something everyone gets to experience as long as they don't shut themselves up in their room all day. She travelled quite a lot with the band, not to mention that she is the actual singer.

I feel like there is some truth to Italian not being suitable in metal. Putting aside special techniques that you might or might not master- I am thinking growl, scream, etc.- the generalisation is that, to convey a strong message, you want to sound as aggressive as possible. But every "well-read" metal fan knows this is not always the case. Let's talk female singers in Goth or near-Goth bands, so as not to stray too much from Cristina's actual experience (and to slim down the list). Clearly, not everyone can be Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemies.
Floor Jensen from Nightwish adds power to her singing, but she is also melodious and, in a way, delicate. Anna and Tara, Nightwish's past singers, had this antique, dark hue to them, but they were still profoundly feminine, just like Amie Lee from Evanescence. These queens of metal all have a different quality to their voices, yet according to Cristina, there must be something directly linked to the language.

VOWELS TO SOUND DARKER

Liv Kristine, Theater of Tragedy

First of all, English has a wide range of vowel sounds. Linguists might disagree, but it's around 12 for both American English and Received Pronunciation, excluding combinations. Italian has 7 vowels. That means, when selecting words for a song, English has more possibilities to convey darker, kind of closed sounds. The very American-sounding "master" in Metallica's Master of Puppets would only sound funny in Italian (maestro, read mah-eh-stro, capo, signore, read see-nyo-reh approximately). "Destruction" sounds somehow more adequate than "distruzione". It's mostly because of that final, clear-sounding vowel, which is not very present in English. But you see, that is only a generalisation: French does not have many clear-sounding final vowels as well, but nobody would say that it's the next most metal language ever. I also think about Sepultura. In Ratamahatta, they really want you to feel that "Biboca garagem favela/ fubanga maloca bocada", which, according to Genius, is a list of real objects that belonged to their daily life in the poor neighbourhood where they grew up. Not to mention, everyone knows how good of a Goth rock band She Past Away is, and Turkish lyrics help make them sound husky and guttural like a demon trapped in a cave. The first few words of Ruh, "Yarı melek, yarı canavar",  already have it all; that dark "a" is totally different from the very open, clear "AH!" in Italian. Unfortunately, Turkish Metal is not widely explored (I think maybe you can start to sense my final point, tell me if you had guessed it before the end of the paragraph). 

CONSONANTS TO SOUND SCARIER

Mana, Malice Mizer

There's something so satisfying about that growly "roots bloody roots". Non-native English speakers who got into English music probably all notice how cool some words sound. Words like "truth" or "death" are so obvious to a native, but the aspiration of the consonant and the amalgamation of different consonants are not as common elsewhere. Nothing Italian can't find with a bit of research, consider simply "stringi" ", stridulo", "trema", I understand words that are actually similar are pretty much ruined if seen through the filter of English. "Distruzione" is not "destruction" and "trono" is not " throne". Yet we can't act like we don't like it when that Ghost song goes "Siamo conclavi, siamo con Dio, siamo con il nostro dio scuro". Would convert anybody to the dark side. Yet I think there's a context there that either sends your mind to a Paolo Sorrentino movie or to the Volturi from Twilight.  Also,  "Tanz mit mihr" in Lacrimosa really gives off the same degree of satisfaction. I think many would say German is the next most metal language; it's just like English, but scarier. Jokes aside, it's a wonderful language that retains many vigorous sounds that are now lost to English, but once belonged to it (jokes not aside, it holds more rights to the metal throne!). Now think about Visual Kei for a moment. The Japanese are quite proud of their language, which shares most of its sounds with Italian, and they are also arranged pretty similarly. You have plenty of vowels, not many consonant "clusters", and a constant feeling of a crystal clear pronunciation. That's because Japanese and Italian sound repertoires are pretty much the same. Yet the Japanese keep their language; they are super dramatic, theatrical, but they always know what they are doing. I am picturing Malice Mizer for an example. All the vocalists had a very masculine-sounding voice, too. 

IS ENGLISH REALLY ENOUGH?

In Goth rock, we are seeing more and more Spanish, like Death By Nature (how to forget the deep voice saying "quiero tu sangre"). Death By Nature's Spanish didn't stop the song "Transparencia" from being appreciated. I'd like to see that in Metal, but somehow the scene stays anchored to English. Cool bands stay small because of their language. But is it really the language's fault?

In conclusion, I would say no language is perfect from an English point of view because they have dominated Metal ever since it became a thing, not to mention it was kind of born in their language. Italian sounds funny just like French, Indian or Turkish metal, and most of all, it's not easily intelligible. Unfortunately, even non-English speakers show this view, meaning they see their language through the eyes of the English. It's suspicious that German and Scandinavian languages share this degree of resemblance because they are English's sister languages. Quite frankly, it's funny how Metal become predominant, specifically in Germanic Languages. In the biggest Metal fan countries, especially in LATAM, English is still used predominantly, although I think it might change very soon. Back to Goth rock, I am thinking it might be related to it historically being a space for exotic sounds, even in the actual music, but that would still be from an English point of view. Curiously enough, two exceptions that come to my mind are also two of my favourite metal bands, Rotting Christ and Theater o Tragedy. As for the latter, I recently learned they are Norwegian. As Norwegian is one of my favourite languages, I wish they had more songs to satisfy my egoist desire. Instead, they have a song in Latin, which, funny enough, is Italian's parent language.

For the sake of brevity, I sacrificed one too many examples, yet I hope my idea reached you. That being said, I'd be physically positively shaken if you have a different idea and want to share it. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a really non-exhaustive list of Metal/Rock songs in Italian, so you can decide for yourself if we should keep it going or limit ourselves to singing on Gondolas for tourists. 

Luce- millefiori

Siberia- Diaframma

Istanbul- Liftiba

Senzafine- Lacuna Coil

Le voci della sera- Folkstone

Rumore nel vento- Sabotage

Non sei normale- Strana Officina

Oscurità- Dark Quarterer