Russell Allen

Voice type: Low tenor
Vocal range: (G1-)A1-F5(-F♯5)
Best display of range: "King Of Terrors" (A1-C♯5)

Significant high notes:

• F5 ("Phantom Of The Opera", "The Forgotten Ones")
  
• E5 ("Seasons Of Insanity", "Through The Looking Glass", "Of Sins And Shadows" live in Europe, "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", "The Accolade", "A Fool's Paradise", "Candlelight Fantasia")
  
• E♭5 ("Inferno (Unleash The Fire)", "The Edge Of Forever", "The Eyes Of Medusa", "Dressed To Kill", "Wicked", "The Damnation Game", "The Witching Hour", "Just A Dream", "Evolution (The Grand Design)", "Sea Of Lies")
  
• D5 ("Set The World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies)", "Smoke And Mirrors", "Fallen", "The Walls Of Babylon", "The Haunting", "Seasons Of Insanity", "Awakenings", "Church Of The Machine")
  
• C♯5 ("Paradise Lost", "Egypt", "Pharaoh", "The Eyes Of Medusa", "Awakenings", "Orion - The Hunter")
  
• C5 ("The Relic", "The Eyes Of Medusa", "In The Dragon's Den", "Dressed To Kill", "The Edge Of Forever", "Saucy Jack", "Unjustified", "A Winter's Dream - Ascension")
  

Significant low notes:

• A1 ("King Of Terrors")
  
• B♭1 ("Unjustified")
  
• E2 ("Reign In Madness")
  
• F2 ("Children Of A Faceless God", "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", "Masquerade '98")
  
• F♯2 ("A Winter's Dream - Prelude", "Reign In Madness")
  
• G2 ("Wicked", "Smoke And Mirrors" live in Europe)
  
• G♯2 ("Lacrymosa/Death Of Balance", "Who Can You Trust", "Just A Dream")
  

I've always been behind high baritone.

Baritenor.

Can I get some other opinions on the D2s and C2 in "Serpent's Kiss"? I've been having my doubts about it for a while now, but Ray's never gotten around to checking it over with me. Anyway, the original verdict was that there was a backing vocal an octave lower on that section, and though I do hear backing vocals, I only hear it at an octave lower on the lines "spitting fire, say your little empty prayers"...and even that doesn't have me quite convinced. I dunno, something about it gives me the impression that it might just be an illusion, or it's not actually voice or something like that. It just doesn't seem normal for a backing vocal sung an octave lower...

Maxim wrote:Can I get some other opinions on the D2s and C2 in "Serpent's Kiss"? I've been having my doubts about it for a while now, but Ray's never gotten around to checking it over with me. Anyway, the original verdict was that there was a backing vocal an octave lower on that section, and though I do hear backing vocals, I only hear it at an octave lower on the lines "spitting fire, say your little empty prayers"...and even that doesn't have me quite convinced. I dunno, something about it gives me the impression that it might just be an illusion, or it's not actually voice or something like that. It just doesn't seem normal for a backing vocal sung an octave lower...

Well, since no one seems to be acknowledging this, I'll move on to addressing his voice type (though I am really starting to doubt that note's credibility):

Timitzii wrote:Timbre-wise he sounds like high baritone to me but he is really tricky...

Sherick wrote:I've always been behind high baritone.

I originally had him marked down as a high baritone simply because of his first octave notes, but that was back when we thought that if you could make it down to the first octave, you were automatically some sort of baritone. Obviously we've figured out that's far from being true by now, but the whole time that we thought so, I struggled with determining Allen's voice type because apart from those first octave notes, EVERYTHING about his singing seemed to point to him being a tenor. Almost all of his singing is done in the fourth and fifth octave, and unlike someone like Graham Bonnet, who just sounds like a baritone who hits fifth octave notes, he sounds like a natural up there. Seriously, his notes up to D5 and E♭5 can be so effortless, it's unbelievable. His timbre doesn't sound that much like a baritone's to me either...on the Live On The Edge Of Forever album, he actually reminds me a lot of Ronnie James Dio. On songs where he goes for a darker sound, like "Serpent's Kiss", I can see where you'd get the impression of him as a baritone, but for the most part, his natural voice sounds to me like that of a low tenor's...just one with a VERY solid extension on his low range.

Well, if you listen to Graham's singing on The Marbles album, he sounds pretty much like a tenor there. Like early Robert Plant even. It's certainly possible for a higher baritone to pull off a pretty good tenor impression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLLh1yfcuRo

I remember Allen striking me as a baritone last I listened to some of the Symphony X catalogue, but it's been a while.

I'm just gonna go ahead and not count "Serpent's Kiss" for a C2 or D2s anymore...and now I've got another clip that I'm questioning. The choir part of "Death Of Balance/Lacrymosa" very clearly has the lowest backing vocal going down to G♯2 at first, and I assumed that when the instruments came in, it would go down to F♯2 with them...however, listening back to the clip, I only hear F♯2s coming from the instruments, but no vocal track hitting them. Would you guys agree that the lowest it actually gets is G♯2?

Curiosity wrote:Well, if you listen to Graham's singing on The Marbles album, he sounds pretty much like a tenor there. Like early Robert Plant even. It's certainly possible for a higher baritone to pull off a pretty good tenor impression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLLh1yfcuRo

Yeah, I've heard some of that early Bonnet stuff, and I'd actually consider passing him off as a low tenor back in those days. But yeah, obviously baritones can pull off good tenor impressions...but you gotta draw a line somewhere. If a singer's doing said "impression" all the time, what is there to indicate that he would be anything but a tenor?

Curiosity wrote:I remember Allen striking me as a baritone last I listened to some of the Symphony X catalogue, but it's been a while.

I'm really surprised that he's getting this many votes as a baritone. I always thought that EVERYTHING about his singing was in-your-face tenor, with the exception of those low notes. That's what made it so hard when I was note-watching him: I assumed he had to be a baritone with first octave notes like those, but when I would listen to all the rest of his singing, it'd be impossible to not call it that of a tenor. The The Damnation Game album in particular really emphasized for me just how effortless his high singing capabilities could be. I really just can't see a baritone being THAT comfortable singing up to E♭5 in multiple songs on an album.

He sounds quite baritonish starting on Odyssey

This guy gives me trouble, classifying his voice wise. Are you sure the guy in king of terrors is him narrating? That is probably the only clip that I would certainly say, that it is a baritone voice. Even unjustified lacks that baritonal depth tonally, though it is low in terms of pitch. I sometimes hear a very slight nasality and it sounds like hes using his more head-oriented voice (meaning that he is singing in an area where his voice doesn't naturally belong) in songs like Gates of Babylon, at the end of set the world on fire etc. But listening them again after a while, I don't hear it as strongly as before. I always kinda thought that he hid his clean head voice under that rasp, screaming his highest notes rather than using a slighty nasal mix.

But summa summarum, I might be persuaded to think, that this guy is actually a low tenor, or the best tenor imitator ever.

Okay, facts and opnions that would point to a baritone range:
- Gritty/raspy tone most of the time(okay, he did sing much cleaner
- Highest notes very rarely clean
- Low 1st octave notes, king of terrors clip
- Sometimes a slightly nasal mix
- Sometimes very dense tone(like when he is singing in the 3rd and 2nd octave, and sometimes high, like he is pulling very much from the chest, for example Avantasia - Wicked symphony and Egypt has a really dark C3 featured in the vocal range video)

Pointing out to tenor range:
-Tessitura(though I remember from a few live clips , he didn't sound too natural singing Eb5 for example, but he is often very good live)
- Piss off easy C5s, tons of D5-Eb5 melody stuff in his songs
- He very rarely exhibits a truly baritonish heavyness to his voice(though it is not the lightes voice either)
-Rare low notes
-Speaking voice

There's tons of good evidence that he's a tenor. Maxim made a very good point it's just weird for me to think of him as a tenor.

He's probably the lowest tenor! haha

Macca...

Second lowest then!

Goblonaut wrote:Are you sure the guy in king of terrors is him narrating? That is probably the only clip that I would certainly say, that it is a baritone voice. Even unjustified lacks that baritonal depth tonally, though it is low in terms of pitch.

I hear "Unjustified" as the same voice as "King Of Terrors". Plus, he does the spoken passage from "King Of Terrors" live, though obviously at a higher pitch. More evidence of it being him is his speaking voice in this interview, where he speaks down to at least D2 several times. Looking on YouTube now, there appear to be a lot more interviews than the last time I checked a year ago, so maybe that's worth checking out to see how low he speaks in some of the others.

Goblonaut wrote:I sometimes hear a very slight nasality and it sounds like hes using his more head-oriented voice (meaning that he is singing in an area where his voice doesn't naturally belong) in songs like Gates of Babylon, at the end of set the world on fire etc.

Russell Allen singing "Gates Of Babylon"? I haven't heard this...

Goblonaut wrote:But summa summarum, I might be persuaded to think, that this guy is actually a low tenor, or the best tenor imitator ever.

Well yes, that's pretty much not bringing anything new to the table...we already know that much, but the question is which one is he?

Goblonaut wrote:- Gritty/raspy tone most of the time(okay, he did sing much cleaner
- Highest notes very rarely clean

Eh...I'd say he has his share of clean high notes myself. His gritty/raspy high notes are very noticeable, but he's definitely just doing as a stylistic thing.

Goblonaut wrote:- Sometimes very dense tone(like when he is singing in the 3rd and 2nd octave, and sometimes high, like he is pulling very much from the chest, for example Avantasia - Wicked symphony and Egypt has a really dark C3 featured in the vocal range video)

I'd be more convinced by this as a baritonish quality of his voice if it were more present in his fourth octave singing...

Goblonaut wrote:-Tessitura(though I remember from a few live clips , he didn't sound too natural singing Eb5 for example, but he is often very good live)

Everyone has their off moments...in general, I'd say he's on top of his high notes live.

Goblonaut wrote:-Speaking voice

I'll actually admit that this is one count on which I don't entirely agree with. See above interview for some low stuff heard in his speaking voice.

Gregsynthbootlegs wrote:

Ray wrote:

Gregsynthbootlegs wrote:He's probably the lowest tenor! haha

Macca...

Second lowest then!

Tom Araya, Jeff Buckley, Tim Owens, Dave Mustaine(?)...