Songs that have great instrumentals but meh vocals

Honestly not too many songs that I listen to come to mind. I guess I'm not a fan of the singer in Dream Theater, I just find his voice whiny and annoying and compared to how talented every other member of the band is he leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily they have quite a few instrumental songs and those are my favourite

 

This. When I tell people some groups I like, they always recommend Dream Theater (and Dark Tranqulity, but that's beside the point). Every single time, and I'm like "but the singer!" and just ignore the suggestion further.

Actually, on that note, I find Dark Tranqulity's singer is/are pretty lame too. Like it's not just a metal growl, but a lame attempt at a spooky Halloween voice. Even the non-growl seems forced like he's pretending to be Dracula or something. This goes for most of the We Are The Void album, at least.

Despite the fact that I like metal and appreciate the potentials of growl singing, I dislike pretty much every American metal singer, growl or not. Only two exceptions I can think of are James Hetfield (Metallica) and Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage). Every other American metal's singer sounds whiny (Dream Theater, for example) or just exaggeratedly out of control (Bullet For My Valentine). Scandinavian singers especially tend to be good, and I even know Australian and Chinese metal (Chinese Metal!) that has vocals that sound better to my American ears. The instrumental music is great, sure, but something either with the training or (more likely) the attitude of every American metal singer just makes their performances so bleh.

 

Groups like The Front Bottoms and mewithoutYou come to mind, but honestly, their voices grow on you if you listen to them enough. They have very nice acoustic sounds, but the vocals are so rough and wobbly, it's difficult to get into them. But, I honestly have to say, I really enjoyed Talon of the Hawk (The Front Bottoms) and Ten Stories (mewithoutYou) despite their outlandish voices. I personally think that music is more of what you have to say, rather than how you say it, anyway.

 

Ahren Stringer from "The Amity Affliction"
I like Australian bands/artists sure, but his voice is "too poppy" for a metalcore band. : (
Make it less angsty and more dreamlike/fantasy based.
They make landmark songs btw too! <3

 

Pretty much 90% of old-ish (80s or 90s) rock bands. I mean, the backing for most of them was ridiculously good, but the common rough voice always bothered me.