How To Sing Like Phil Anselmo (Explained)
Phil Anselmo is a low voiced singer; he has a naturally deep and thick voice and has managed to master how to use his vocal range very effectively.
He has aggressive vocal distortions that are kind of hard to replicate.
To sing like Phil Anselmo, you will need to learn to switch between your low, high chest and falsetto without sounding any different.
Additionally, you will need to learn to sing while screaming in falsetto.
Most importantly, learn how to make your sound distorted with your mouth closed; using your diaphragm instead of your voice to make this sound distortion will be most beneficial to you rather than using your throat, as using your throat will cause more harm and sound as it will hurt your voice.
What Are The Steps Needed To Sing Like Phil Anselmo

Some of the steps needed to sing like Phil Anselmo include:
- Try and do a high fry scream using your voice and not your throat, so you don’t end up hurting your throats.
- Hold your air back, and let’s just a little bit of air come through to get that gurgling sound; practice letting more air through while at the same time pushing up a little bit more air from your direct support; all these will help you in creating a false chord engagement above your primary chord, and this technique should not hurt at all.
- Get your base grit on your base pitch and throw in your head voice, add grits, distortion and also false chord engagement to the whole mixture.
- To bring out more grit, you will have to daily back on the amount of compression
- Learn to hit notes clearly with any amount of grits; Phil Anselmo is so good at that. It shows his ability to be very clean, high and mighty simultaneously.
What Voice Type Is Phil Anselmo
Bass-baritone, Anselmo has a combination of baritone and bass voice.
He has a four-octave vocal range and a lovely voice with a distinctive color.
He is a fantastic singer who can perform experiments with his voice and sing in various styles.
Additionally, He can reach very high and low notes with equal ease.
Can Phil Anselmo Sing?
Yes. Phil Anselmo knows how to sing. He has these sophisticated screaming techniques that work very well for him.
Phil Anselmo is known to go back and forth between singing and false chord screaming.
Anselm is most known for taking a more guttural approach to vocals later in his career.
He sings primarily loud and has no trouble switching from his chest to hit a higher note; he can also twang in pure configurations.
Anselmo is highly passionate and talented in adopting a macho demeanour that became characteristic of Pantera’s overall theme.
Rob Halford, heavy metal vocalist, who usually sang in full head voice early in his tenure with the band, was a source of inspiration for Phil Anselmo.
Anselmo is widely recognised as one of metal’s most leading frontman globally
Phil Anselmo can sing in different vocal styles. He is known for being the vocalist for the band Pantera; he has also worked with notable bands like Superjoint, Ritual, Down, etc.
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What Makes Phil Anselmo Voice So Unique
What made Phil Anselmo’s voice so unique was his ability to sing in many different ways and do it so effortlessly as well.
He can scream/howl/grunt in such a way as that create melody; he is marvellous at aggressive vocal distortion that makes him stand out from the crowd of death metal singers.
He primarily uses his head voice, which is very effective when singing metal songs.
His success in the music industry can be linked to his vocal abilities.
How Did Phil Anselmo Start Singing
Phil Anselmo is one who discovered his talent at a very young age.
While a teenager, he was a part of several bands like Razor White. He took to the love of metal while he was still very young; most of his passions include horror film, culture, New Orleans Saints Football and then boxing.
He dropped out of high school to focus more on his music career due to how good he was; Pantera, one of the most influential bands in the metal genre, hired him when he was 19 in 1987.
Phil Anselmo first demonstrated his abilities in the thrash metal genre, then found and evolved groove metal with the band.
The band went on to achieve great success. Pantera’s seventh album, ‘Far Beyond Driven,’ debuted at No. 1 in the United States in 1994.
Due to communication issues, particularly involving Anselmo in 2003, the band had to separate, and each went their way.
Anselmo had different small super-groups, which he termed his side projects, groups like Eibon, Arson anthem, Viking crown, Down, Superjoint ritual etc.
These side projects let Anselmo stay in the metal scenes to show his vocal talent continually, albeit these side projects collaboration did not last very long.
He concentrated on Superjoint Ritual, writing over 75% of the band’s songs.
In 2019, the band members drifted more apart, and Anselmo stated that he no longer wanted to play with them.
Anselmo has also appeared on tracks by Soilent Green, Tony Iommi, Vision of Disorder, Crowbar, Anthrax, and Jarboe, among others, credited as Phil Anselmo and Anton Crowley, respectively.
Anselmo also has his record label called Housecore records, which features artists from every metal aspect.
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What Is Phil Anselmo’s Vocal Range
Phil Anselmo’s vocal range is between E1 to Bb5 with four-octave. Although his voice is no longer what it used to be at the early stage.
Anselmo has gone through quite a fascinating vocal evolution. He makes good use of his relatively low register in talky passages but still shows a strong sense of melody.
He has distorted his high range since the vulgar display of power, albeit he still uses it. He started from a Halford-like wailer to the guttural screamer today; there’s something for everyone with Phil Anselmo.
Even some interviews with him have proven that fact, as he openly admitted that he could no longer perform some of the songs he did in the past.
Some of his signature high notes ranges from Bb5(shattered), A5(shattered, the will to survive), G#5(Cemetery gates, heresy), G5(Hard ride, Down below), F#5(cowboys from hell, hole in the sky).etc.
With his low notes from C#3(dying song, nothing in return), C3( message in blood, mourn), B2(3 suns and 1 star, dying song),
Bb2( By demons be driven, Time is mine), A2( overthrown, Dog tired)etc.
What Is The Highest Note Phil Anselmo Can Sing
Phil Anselmo reached a very high note in Pantera’s first Album titled power medal; it is no surprise that he achieved the same feats in the cemetery’s gate and cowboys from hell.
His highest note was gotten from the song shattered, and the vocal range for that song was Bb5.
What Are Some Classic Phil Anselmo Songs To Practice
Listed below are some classic Phil Anselmo songs you can use to practice sounding like him.
- The Art of Shredding:
The art of shredding is the final song from the heavy metal band Pantera’s 1990 album “Cowboys from hell”.
The lead singer Phil Anselmo’s range pitch on this song is from Bb4 to G6. The song reflects the band’s changing styles from the glam metal style of the 1980s.
The art of shredding was rated 23rd best Pantera’s song by the Metal Hammer and 10th best Pantera’s song by the Guitar World rank.
The link to the song The Art of Shredding is below:
- Cowboys From Hell:
Cowboys from Hell was released on the 24th of July 1990. It was Pantera’s fifth studio Album; cowboys from hell was regarded as one of the first groove metal albums ever released. It was also the band’s first time working with producer Terry Date. Atco Records released the Album.
The link to the song Cowboys from hell is below:
- Cemetery Gates:
The song Cemetery gates are also from the 1990 Album “Cowboys from hell”. The song is the second record with Phil Anselmo as the lead singer but Pantemo’s Fifth record.
The song cemetery gate is the fifth song from the Album.
The song sees Phil Anselmo showing his vocal ability with his characteristics high screaming notes trading off with Dimebag Darrel on the guitar; the song’s genre is heavy metal.
The song became one of the band’s most popular songs; it received many air plays by different rock stations and was the 35th greatest of all time by Guitar World magazines. The song also peaked at 99th on Australia Aria.
Cemetery gates were considered the best Pantera song by metal hammer, and it is one of the greatest songs in the history of metals.
The link to the song Cemetery Gates is down below:
Conclusion:
Phil Anselmo, with his unique voice, has set the pace for Metal Music; he took inspiration from vocalists such as Rob Halford earlier in his music career, and after joining Pantera and leaving, we can confidently say that Phil Anselmo has made his marks in the metal Music genre.