The vocal range of James Hetfield

Known for his chesty belting style and his tendency to end every word on an "ah" vowel, James Hetfield's vocals as frontman of Metallica have made him quite famous across the world over the last 30 years. However, it's seldom recognized that he actually has a pretty decent vocal range as well, mainly because he doesn't make a habit of singing as high as many other metal singers. Nonetheless, over the course of his career, he's developed a very solid lower register, and definitely has a fantastic fourth octave range that he demonstrates regularly. What he lacks is a strong fifth octave, but he has certainly proven himself capable of going up there on occasion. It's also notable that he has experienced some very extreme vocal changes over the course of his career, as he had a MUCH higher voice when Metallica started out. Personally, I was a fan of his tone on the early Metallica albums, but I think his best vocal work is from the 1990s onward, after his voice settled and he gained a richer, more mature tone. Therefore, this video is mostly geared towards that era, though he definitely had his share of good notes in his early days as well.

1. 0:00 - First we have a nice demonstration of both ends of Hetfield's range from “Cure” - strong A4s and a B♭4 in the main vocal, and sustained E♭2s in the second vocal. We'll be hearing more from this song later in the video.
2. 0:29 - The climactic final chorus of Metallica's “Loverman” cover, with lots of VERY powerful sustained F♯4s. Great performance by the entire band here!
3. 1:16 - The classic chorus of “Nothing Else Matters”, featuring some of Hetfield's signature singing up to G4.
4. 1:43 - Some emotional singing up to G♯4 from “Bleeding Me”.
5. 2:18 - Great sustained A4s from Metallica's cover of "Sabbra Cadabra", tuned a major third lower than the original. Those who have seen my vocal range video for Ozzy Osbourne may recognize this passage from there!
6. 2:45 - Some impressive singing up to B♭4 from the “Stargazer” portion of Metallica's “Ronnie Rising Medley”. Though Hetfield omits some of the top notes from the original, he handles the songs in this medley quite well!
7. 3:09 - An epic sustained B4 from "The Unforgiven III"!
8. 3:27 - A powerful chesty C5 from “Some Kind of Monster”. This is one note that I've never heard Hetfield successfully hit live.
9. 3:50 - A clean C♯5 from a 2012 performance of “Hit the Lights”. Nowadays, Hetfield sings this note in just about every performance of the song.
10. 4:04 - A slide up to a clean sustained E♭5 from a 2013 performance of “No Remorse”! Easily one of his best fifth octave notes.
11. 4:18 - Now jumping back a few decades, we have a raw false cord scream from a 1988 performance of “Battery”. Pitch is F5.
12. 4:27 - Some howls up to A5 and B♭5 from a 1998 performance of “The Small Hours”. As far as I've heard, this is ultimately the top of Hetfield's consistently usable range.
13. 4:53 - Now for a big surprise – a piercing A6 whistle scream from a 1982 performance of “Hit the Lights”! It would appear this was a complete one-off, though, as I've never heard Hetfield hit controlled sixth octave notes anywhere else since.
14. 5:02 - Now we start off the lows section with some easy singing down to C♯3 from a 2012 performance of “The Judas Kiss”, played a half step lower than the studio version.
15. 5:22 - A nicely sustained C3 from “Sweet Amber”, followed by some G4s.
16. 5:44 - Some warm and relaxed singing down to B2 from “Mama Said”, with a couple of short G♯2s too.
17. 6:10 - Some dark singing around B♭2 from “The Unnamed Feeling”
18. 6:47 - Strong melody singing down to B2 and G♯2 from “The Unforgiven II”.
19. 7:22 - The opening verse of “Low Man's Lyric”, with lots of strong singing around G♯2, several short F♯2s and one F2. Easily one of Hetfield's best songs for low notes!
20. 8:07 - Some beefy low talk-singing from “Cure”, reaching numerous notes in the F♯2/F2 area, getting down to E♭2 at one point as well. Also features some higher singing up to F♯4.
21. 8:41 - Some very strong E2s from "All Nightmare Long".
22. 8:52 - The finale of “King Nothing”, featuring a belted G♯4, a solid E♭2, and a short B♭2 at the very end.
23. 9:19 - A clip from the Some Kind of Monster documentary where Hetfield casually sings a run from a falsetto C♯5 down to a solid C♯2. Great range demonstration!
24. 9:28 - Strong chanted C2s from "Some Kind of Monster". Nice display of three octaves in this song!
25. 9:46 - A haunting spoken passage from “Loverman”, bottoming at A1 – Hetfield's lowest note to date! Unfortunately, he has never recorded any real singing this low, but it sounds like he definitely could if he tried.
26. 10:15 - Now to close off, we have the ending chorus of “Hate Train”, featuring melody singing up to B4, some easy G4 singing, and another climactic sustained B4 at the very end!