Denis "Snake" Bélanger (1,758 views)

[Zedd Squared]

Member Of: Voivod (1983-1994, 2002-present), Union Made (1994-?)
Voice Type: Baritone
Vocal Range: B1-G♯5

High Notes:

G♯5 ("Voivod")
G5 ("Blower", "Cockroaches", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Suck Your Bone")
F♯5 ("Blower", "Killing Technology", "The Helldriver", "Iron Gang", "Korgüll the Exterminator", "Voivod", "Warriors of Ice")
F5 ("Build Your Weapons", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Iron Gang", "Suck Your Bone", "Thrashing Rage", "Tornado")
E5 ("Batman", "Blower", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Warriors of Ice")
D5 ("Live for Violence", "Time Warp")
C♯5 ("Missing Sequences", "Nuclear War", "Voivod", "Warriors of Ice")
C5 ("Event Horizon", "Horror", "Iconspiracy", "Korgüll the Exterminator", "Moonbeam Rider", "Nuclear War", "Paranormalium", "Slow Burn", "Sonic Mycelium", "This Is Not an Exercise", "Thrashing Rage", "Tornado", "War and Pain", "Warriors of Ice", "Wrong-Way Street")
B4 ("Always Moving", "Black City", "Blower", "Build Your Weapons", "Cockroaches", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Forgotten in Space", "Korgüll the Exterminator", "Live for Violence", "Nuclear War", "Order of the Blackguards", "Overreaction", "Sonic Mycelium", "Spherical Perspective", "This Is Not an Exercise", "Thrashing Rage", "Time Warp", "Too Scared to Scream", "Tornado", "Voivod")
B♭4 ("Black City", "Build Your Weapons", "Cockroaches", "The End of Dormancy", "Forgotten in Space", "From the Cave", "Fuck Off and Die", "Horror", "Iron Gang", "Killing Technology", "Live for Violence", "Nuclear War", "Order of the Blackguards", "Overreaction", "Ravenous Medicine", "Suck Your Bone", "To the Death!", "Tornado", "X-Ray Mirror")
A4 ("Black City", "Blower", "Build Your Weapons", "Chaosmongers", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Corps Etranger", "Destroy After Reading", "Fuck Off and Die", "Getting Used to Darkness", "The Helldriver", "Iconspiracy", "Iron Gang", "Jack Luminous", "Korgüll the Exterminator", "Let's Do It", "Live for Violence", "Macrosolutions to Megaproblems", "Moonbeam Rider", "The Outcast", "Ravenous Medicine", "Rebel Robot", "Red My Mind", "Ripping Headaches", "Slaughter in a Grave", "Smash Up", "Spherical Perspective", "Sub-Effect", "Suck Your Bone", "This Is Not an Exercise", "Thrashing Rage", "To the Death!", "Voivod", "War and Pain", "Warriors of Ice", "We Are Not Alone", "Wrong-Way Street")
G♯4 ("Allah Il Allah", "Chaosmongers", "Cockroaches", "Empathy for the Enemy", "Event Horizon", "Experiment", "The Getaway", "The Helldriver", "Horror", "Iconspiracy", "Kaleidos", "Kluskap O'Kom", "Macrosolutions to Megaproblems", "Missing Sequences", "The Nile Song", "Nuclear War", "Order of the Blackguards", "Overreaction", "Post Society", "Ravenous Medicine", "Ripping Headaches", "A Room With a V.U.", "Save the World", "Silver Machine", "Slaughter in a Grave", "Sonic Mycelium", "Thrashing Rage", "Warchaic")
G4 ("Allah Il Allah", "Best Regards", "Chaosmongers", "Corps Etranger", "Dictatosaurus", "Destroy After Reading", "The End of Dormancy", "Experiment", "Fall", "Forever Mountain", "From the Cave", "Fuck Off and Die", "Gasmask Revival", "Getting Used to Darkness", "The Helldriver", "Horror", "Into My Hypercube", "Jack Luminous", "Le Pont Noir", "The Lost Machine", "Mechanical Mind", "Nothingface", "Obsolete Beings", "Paranormalium", "Planet Eaters", "Psychic Vacuum", "Quest for Nothing", "Save the World", "She's Dead", "Silver Machine", "Slaughter in a Grave", "Slow Burn", "Smash Up", "Sub-Effect", "Suck Your Bone", "Technocratic Manipulators", "Too Scared to Scream", "Treasure Chase", "Wrong-Way Street")
F♯4 ("Artefact", "Best Regards", "Blame Us", "Caveman", "Cockroaches", "Cosmic Drama", "Defiance", "Destroy After Reading", "Dictatosaurus", "Dreaming & Laughing", "Empathy for the Enemy", "The End of Dormancy", "Event Horizon", "Fall", "Fix My Heart", "God Phones", "Golem", "In Orbit", "Jack Luminous", "Kaleidos", "Killing Technology", "Kluskap O'Kom", "Let's Do It", "Macrosolutions to Megaproblems", "Mechanical Mind", "Mind Clock", "The Multiverse", "The Nile Song", "The Outcast", "Overreaction", "Panorama", "Polaroids", "Post Society", "Pre-Ignition", "Rebel Robot", "Red My Mind", "A Room With a V.U.", "Target Earth", "This is Not an Excuse", "X-Ray Mirror", "Warchaic", "Warriors of Ice", "We Are Connected")
F4 ("Blame Us", "Defiance", "Divine Sun", "Dognation", "Empathy for the Enemy", "Facing Up", "Fall", "Forever Mountain", "From the Cave", "Gasmask Revival", "The Getaway", "Global Warning", "Golem", "Inner Combustion", "Into My Hypercube", "Jack Luminous", "Kaleidos", "Kluskap O'Kom", "The Lost Machine", "Memory Failure", "Mind Clock", "Missing Sequences", "Morpheus", "Mr. Clean", "The Multiverse", "Nothingface", "Odds & Frauds", "Paranormalium", "Post Society", "Psychic Vacuum", "Quest for Nothing", "Resistance", "A Room With a V.U.", "Sleeves Off", "Slow Burn", "Spherical Perspective", "Strange and Ironic", "Sub-Effect", "Synchro Anarchy", "Target Earth", "This Is Not an Exercise", "Time Warp", "Treasure Chase", "The Unknown Knows", "Volcano", "Warchaic", "We Are Connected", "X-Ray Mirror", "The X-Stream")
E4 ("After All", "Always Moving", "Batman", "Best Regards", "Blame Us", "Brain Scan", "Caveman", "Clouds in My House", "The End of Dormancy", "Fix My Heart", "Freedoom", "Holographic Thinking", "Iconspiracy", "Invisible Planet", "Le Pont Noir", "Les Cigares Volants", "The Lost Machine", "Memory Failure", "Moonbeam Rider", "None of the Above", "Nuage Fractal", "Odds & Frauds", "Orb Confusion", "The Outcast", "Panorama", "Planet Eaters", "Psychic Vacuum", "Pyramidome", "Reactor", "Real Again?", "Red My Mind", "Resistance", "Sleeves Off", "Strange and Ironic", "Target Earth", "The Unknown Knows", "We Are Not Alone", "We Carry On", "The World Today", "The X-Stream")

Low Notes:

D3 ("Always Moving", "Best Regards", "Dictatosaurus", "Divine Sun", "Dognation", "Freedoom", "Gasmask Revival", "God Phones", "Holographic Thinking", "I Don't Wanna Wake Up", "Into My Hypercube", "Jack Luminous", "Morpheus", "None of the Above", "Obsolete Beings", "Pre-Ignition", "Rebel Robot", "Sonic Mycelium", "Time Warp", "Twin Dummy", "X-Ray Mirror", "We Are Not Alone")
C♯3 ("Iconspiracy", "Into My Hypercube", "Mind Clock", "Planet Eaters", "Target Earth", "Technocratic Manipulators")
C3 ("Angel Rat", "Brain Scan", "Cosmic Drama", "Freedoom", "Holographic Thinking", "Into My Hypercube", "Jack Luminous", "Live for Violence", "Missing Sequences", "Orb Confusion", "Reactor", "Sonic Mycelium", "Spherical Perspective", "X-Ray Mirror", "Warchaic", "The World Today")
B2 ("Astronomy Domine", "Blame Us", "Brain Scan", "Dreaming & Laughing", "Fix My Heart", "I Don't Wanna Wake Up", "In Orbit", "Into My Hypercube", "Kaleidos", "Le Pont Noir", "The Lost Machine", "Mechanical Mind", "Obsolete Beings", "Orb Confusion", "Pre-Ignition", "Tribal Convictions", "The X-Stream")
B♭2 ("Astronomy Domine", "Chaosmongers", "Quest for Nothing", "Sonic Mycelium", "Sub-Effect", "The X-Stream")
A2 ("Dictatosaurus", "Experiment", "The Getaway", "Holographic Thinking", "I Don't Wanna Wake Up", "The Lost Machine", "None of the Above", "Sonic Mycelium", "Tribal Convictions")
G2 ("Freedoom", "Golem", "Resistance", "Slow Burn")
F♯2 ("Artefact", "Brain Scan", "Caveman", "Cosmic Drama", "Fix My Heart", "Iconspiracy", "Nothingface", "Obsolete Beings", "Sonic Mycelium")
F2 ("Always Moving", "The Unknown Knows")
E2 ("Experiment", "Iconspiracy", "Le Pont Noir", "Sub-Effect", "We Are Not Alone")
E♭2 ("Obsolete Beings", "Tribal Convictions")
D2 ("Dognation", "Sonic Mycelium", "Volcano")
C♯2 ("Morpheus")
C2 ("Freedoom", "Paranormalium")
B1 ("Moonbeam Rider")

Denis "Snake" Bélanger is the vocalist for Canadian metal legends Voivod. His unique part time nasal, part time gritty, and part time WTF vocal style has helped define the band's continuously evolving and unique style since their inception in 1982. In the earliest phase of his career, he was mostly a thrash style shouter with the tendency to unleash piercing 5th octave screams from time to time. Beginning with the Dimension Hatröss album in 1988 his singing became more mid-range centric and melodic, allowing his now iconic phrasing style to properly develop. From this point on, he's not strayed too far from his definitive style though occasionally he'll drop a surprise like the sustained C5 in "Event Horizon" or a soft passage like in "Jack Luminous" around the 12 minute mark. Truly one of the most unmistakable voices in metal.
..........................................................................................
*Underlines mark notes found in backing vocals or otherwise obscured in the song mix.
*Italics mark non-sung notes.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}B♭5 ("Condemned to the Gallows" ^[1])
G5 ("Fuck Off and Die" ^[4])
F♯5 ("Build Your Weapons" ^[4])
E♭5 ("Build Your Weapons" ^[4], "A Room with a V.U." ^[4])
C5 ("Allah Il Allah" ^[2])
B4 ("Orb Confusion" ^[2])
A4 ("Caveman" ^[3], "Save the World" ^[1])

B2 ("She's Dead" ^[1])
B♭2 ("Post Society" ^[1])
A2 ("Dreaming & Laughing" ^[1])
G2 ("Angel Rat" ^[1])
E♭2 ("Iconspiracy" ^[4])
D2 ("Always Moving ^[4])
B♭1 ("The X-Stream" ^[4])
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that are likely produced via inhalation.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album Ranges}Voivod

War and Pain (1984): C3-E3-G5
Rrröööaaarrr (1986): G3-C5-F♯5
Killing Technology (1987): E3-G5
Dimension Hatröss (1988): E♭2-E5
Nothingface (1989): E2-C♯5
Angel Rat (1991): C2-G2-A4
The Outer Limits (1993): B1-E2-C5
Voivod (2003): A2-A4
Katorz (2006): D2-A4
Infini (2009): C♯2-B2-B♭4
Target Earth (2013): F♯2-G2-A4
Post Society (2016): E♭3-G♯4
The Wake (2018): D2-E♭2-F♯2-C5
Synchro Anarchy (2022): C2-A2-G4-C5

Union Made

Union Made (1999): F♯2-C5

[Zedd Squared]

I have updated this thread with the missing notes from The Wake and rechecked the first three albums for range extremities and green notes. I think most of the rest of the OP should be accurate, but I'll be keeping an ear out for bolds in my upcoming Voivod discog relisten.

I did come up with a decent number of notes I'd like feedback on during this update. Could y'all give me your takes on the notes below?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xahk_NlybGY&t=8s
Is the Bb5 here countable and if so, how would you recommend coding it? Because I could see it possibly being italic and/or blue/green.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmj3U88X2b8&t=253s
This scream sounds like it peaks at G#5 to me, but is it countable?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ToK9VLJcxU&t=145s
2:25-2:28: Is this backing vocal line getting to Eb2 or is darkened third octave?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEJRfsDLFI0&t=100s
1:40-1:50: Do the backing vocals here get to F2 (right around 1:50)? Also does 3:08-3:14 have a backing D2?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxovsZ2HYww&t=193s
Is the note here a countable C#3? Because if so, it's the lowest note on this album.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHW0qKrPV8Q&t=131s
"No idea-UH" - does this get to E2 or Eb2 and is it countable?

[Henny Macc]

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xahk_NlybGY&t=8s
Is the Bb5 here countable and if so, how would you recommend coding it? Because I could see it possibly being italic and/or blue/green.

Man it took me a couple listens to figure out what the B♭5 was supposed to be lol. I guessss I would consider it one of those "just barely" countable notes. Like it's honestly super underwhelming, but it sounds deliberate enough that I won't tell you not to count it. And yeah, if you do I would say italicize it for sure and probably color it green.

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmj3U88X2b8&t=253s
This scream sounds like it peaks at G#5 to me, but is it countable?

Sounds like it tops at G5 to me, and yeah I'd consider it countable. Sounds like one of David Lee Roth's screams lol

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ToK9VLJcxU&t=145s
2:25-2:28: Is this backing vocal line getting to Eb2 or is darkened third octave?

I'm gonna go with darkened third octave for that, but I wouldn't consider it a backing vocal myself. It's mixed quite loudly; possibly even louder than the main melody line in fact.

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEJRfsDLFI0&t=100s
1:40-1:50: Do the backing vocals here get to F2 (right around 1:50)? Also does 3:08-3:14 have a backing D2?

Had to do some handy dandy isolation on this one in order to assess it further. Here's the best isolation job I could do on the possible F2s - I thiiink I hear them back there? Unfortunately I wasn't able to isolate it so that the chorus-y bass part got removed, and that seems to be drowning out the lower vocal a bit. Those tracks seem to be mixed right around the same area, so if I removed the bass it just removed most of the vocals as well.

As for the possible backing D2, I'd say no. I only hear another vocal coming in on the last word of each line, and if it's anything low it would probably just be an octave lower than the lead on that word, which would be F2. I tried isolating that too for good measure, but didn't really get anything conclusive enough to be worth sharing.

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxovsZ2HYww&t=193s
Is the note here a countable C#3? Because if so, it's the lowest note on this album.

Yeah I guess so. It sounds a little mindless as a slide and not super pronounced on the bottom note, but it's more than just an exhale by the time it gets down there, so I suppose I could get on board with counting it.

Aug 26, 2021 19:23:44 GMT Zedd Squared said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHW0qKrPV8Q&t=131s
"No idea-UH" - does this get to E2 or Eb2 and is it countable?

I'm hearing E2 and countable, yeah.

[Zedd Squared]

Okay so between that response and the feedback I got on Discord I've met around the middle and updated the OP with new verdicts on all those notes. I also finished adding bolds to the OP so I've moved it to completed finally! Thanks for the feedback everyone. :joyful:

[Zedd Squared]

I've been on a notewatching hiatus for a bit but I finally updated this OP with the notes from Synchro Anarchy. Compared to the rather adventurous (by Snake standards) vocal performance on The Wake, this was a lot more reserved with just A2-G4 other than some solid spoken C2s and a harsh vocal C5. Still, I maintain that Snake is in something of a new vocal peak nowadays since he's really dialed in some great melodies and his tone has more power now than it did in a lot of earlier eras (except for The Outer Limits period ofc).

The album in general I'd say is very good, though much as I said for the vocals I do miss some of the more adventurous, almost orchestrated prog vibes of The Wake. It's a bit more stereotypical Voivod a la Nothingface or Target Earth, but it's a great go at that style and Mongrain continues to channel Piggy while adding some neat twists to the riffs that are uniquely his own. The bass tone is also gargantuan and possibly the best bass tone they've had while Rocky's been in the band, maybe even the best since Blacky's original run in some regards. Some highlights for me are Mind Clock, Holographic Thinking, and Memory Failure. I do wish the guitar solos were less sparse this time around though, since that was a big highlight on the last two Mongrain albums for me but there's still enough to keep me satiated on that front lol.