So, I've been thinking and discussing a lot about women in metal lately, very much because of the rise and hype of Gallhammer. And I've realised that, despite pushing many other boundaries, what we deal with here isn't really pushing any gender-boundaries. As within the rest of metal, women in avantgarde metal seem to be mostly clean vocalists (and, just as avantgarde metal in general, way sovereign - Synne Soprana in ITW, the former singer in Atrox, etc).

Am I completely wrong, have I missed a big bunch of creative geniuses devoid of phallus? Or am I right, is Agm also a boys club, just like the rest of the metallic world? If I am wrong, please give me examples of creative females within avantgarde metal.

(Note, for the sake of clarity: I regard myself, in some definitions of the word, a feminist. Focusing on gender is, quite often, counterproductive, at least in music since it often becomes a question of minorities, which I'm not very fond of.)

Björk! She´s definitely metal, just watch the Video to "Triumph of a heart"
Heavy drinking, partying and blood...

No really, I can´t think further than Anneke van Giersbergen right now (at least in AGM), and there you have it, clean vocals...

But besides AGM there are som Girlie-bands like Drain or Astarte. Not to mention female fronters in Arch enemy, Holy Moses, Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, former Sinister, and up until recently my dear friends of Sufferage.

Oh and Tori Amos did her cover of Slayer´s "Raining Blood"!

Seattle-based death/doom trio Grey are really heavy. Beats the living crap out of most; like a less groovy Electric Wizard kindof.

I hope Gallhammer open up for more women in extreme music.

If Dementia Absurda is considered extreme halfmetal music then there you ahve more woman in such thingz, cuz one member is female!

The five piece Japanese prog/avant metal Gonin-Ish features a woman. She sings in soprano and growls like hell as well.

OG?! Link.....a link...link maybe, please linx *being anxious*

Carla Kihlstedt does violin and vocals in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

http://amaterase.blogspot.com/2007/06/gonin-ish.html

Okay, she's not soprano but she has definitely a high voice.
The music is some mix of death metal, progressive metal and neo-classical metal.
Note that the growlings are pretty interesting. I bet some of you will hate it.

Great link, Revon. Sounds exactly what I am looking for these days. Though there is influence of older SIGH coming through, but that is not a bad thing, isn´t it?

what about Ihriel?

and leilindel [not sure how to write it] from uneXpect?

Yep, and whatever her name is in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Few and far between.

Ah! How could we forget her? Yet, I daresay that Ihsahn did the composing for Peccatum, and Star Of Ash (though great) is not Metal... Which reduces her Metal-contribution to her voice once again... Or am I wrong?

Of course not.

And yes, Leilindel is a fantastic girl, she got on screaming on concerts.

What tabout Madder Mortem? One of my faves since the debut album and surely no gothic-to-please-all-softy-cliches-metal like the many Theatres of Crematoric Tristesse... I wouldn't call Agnete's voice too "clean", but rather powerful and often fistinyourface-aggressive.