Angela Gossow, lead singer of the Swedish heavy metal band Arch Enemy, performs in London, England. (Jo Hale/Getty Images)

Three years ago, on a blistering hot July afternoon at the heavy metal extravaganza Ozzfest in Darien Lake, N.Y., I witnessed dozens of male fans suddenly run towards the stage shouting, “You gotta hear this woman!” Surprised by their enthusiasm, I pushed through the crowd — making sure to steer clear of the moshpit — to see Angela Gossow, lead singer of Sweden’s Arch Enemy, take the stage. What emerged from her lips was a sound akin to the voice of Darth Vader. It was thrilling.

"There have always been women going to metal shows as fans, but now we’re seeing women making a name for themselves as musicians." — Sam Dunn, filmmaker (Global Metal)

Gossow is part of a vanguard of female metal singers that includes Christina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Annette Alzon (Nightwish) and Otep Shamaya (OTEP). Sam Dunn, the filmmaker behind the documentaries Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey (2006) and the recently released Global Metal, says women’s involvement in heavy metal music has increased in the past five years. “There have always been women going to metal shows as fans, but now we’re seeing women making a name for themselves as musicians. Typically, women have been vocalists, but now we’re starting to see all-female metal bands.”

Arguably the first prominent female metal band was Britain’s Girlschool, which toured with Iron Maiden and Deep Purple in the 1980s; Doro Pesch of the German band Warlock rose to prominence in the same period. But it’s only been since the new millennium that women have become a real draw for mainstream metal fans. Last year, the Hottest Women in Metal tour wended its way across Canada and the U.S., headlined by Lacuna Coil; this year, Belgium is hosting the Metal Female Voices Fest. The venerable Sharon Osborne has been including up-and-coming female acts in Ozzfest for years now.

Toronto metal band Scarlet Sins. (Barry Wentzell/Scarlet Sins)

There’s certainly nothing watered down about female metal bands. Christina Crago, the guitarist for Cleveland’s Level-C, says, “I don’t want to say our sound is testosterone, but it’s very heavy. People expect us to be pussies, [but] everyone stops when [vocalist] Christine [Maynard] starts singing.” The lyrics to Level-C’s song Suck a Fist are rife with curses, a rarity for female singers of any genre. As Maynard herself explains, “I've been mad, hated a 9-to-5 job, had a bad relationship and had wild nights — the list goes on. So, I tell stories and real emotion. People can relate to my honesty.”

The music industry has never been overly welcoming to female artists, and heavy metal, with its macho edge, is particularly daunting. Musicologist Susan Fast, an associate professor of cultural studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., says some metal-loving women choose to play in cover bands instead. “Women in tribute bands have told me they’ve all been in original bands and they’re not accepted [by record labels] when they’re doing their own material. Because the record industry is so male-dominated, some of the women say executives are impressed when they can play the music of Iron Maiden, where there’s a level of virtuosity.”

To wit, the Iron Maidens, an L.A.-based tribute band, has had an immensely successful career playing the music of their idols. Drummer Linda McDonald says, “More girls are playing now and they’re not afraid to play. When we were growing up, it was taboo for girls to play metal.”

Cristina Bishop, guitarist for Toronto’s Scarlet Sins, says, “It took three years to form the band, because finding women who love the music — let alone play instruments — was difficult.” According to Fast, one of the reasons metal seems so intimidating to women is because in their youth, they are typically steered toward instruction in gentler instruments like piano or flute, whereas boys are encouraged to take up the guitar, the foundation of most metal. As a result, there have been few female role models.

The metal band Kittie, from London, Ont., has appeared twice at Ozzfest. (Kittie)

Kittie, a four-woman metal band from London, Ont. that has played with such heavyweight (male) bands like Slipknot and Pantera and appeared twice at Ozzfest, started rocking out as teenagers in the mid-’90s. “When we started, it was difficult,” says drummer Mercedes Lander, “but we blazed a lot of trails at that time for being an all-female band, not just female fronted.” Her sister, Morgan Lander, says the band was as notable for its median age as its gender. “We were 16 and 18 when we played Ozzfest. We would be playing in front of 10,000 people a day. It was overwhelming and scary, but it was really exciting.”

Sam Dunn believes the increased numbers of women involved in metal is changing the genre. “Female-fronted bands give metal the potential to open up in new directions. For instance, some bands are using the operatic, symphonic style, which has crossovers with the Goth scene. We see the crossover between metal, which has essentially been a boy’s club with a lot of grunting, mixing with a Goth scene, which has a more majestic, ethereal quality to it.”

As for the quality of the screaming, Dunn believes the women are on a par with the men. “Angela Gossow is recognized as one of the best extreme vocalists in metal. She’s taken what has always been a very male sound and is doing just as well. That’s almost more challenging in destabilizing the norm, because it sounds the same, but it’s a woman doing it. She’s beating the guys at their own game.”

While some people might find the noise and aggression unladylike, that’s exactly what appeals to female fans. Level-C’s Christine Crago says female fans are very supportive. “The women love to see other women up on the stage, owning it and having control of it. It’s very powerful to see that as a female.”

Global Metal is in theatres now.

Georgie Binks is a writer based in Toronto.