this message might be a conclusion of the whole topic
but i wanna add some more.
in extreme metal the voice becomes a"musical instrument",too,so lyrics is in the shadows of its mighty sound,but it keeps on taking some place in our hearts or mind,depending on the quality

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always in my Heart,can do Nothing with that

agree!
in fact the voice is not used for "singing"; means to clearly transmet  messages as lyrics normaly do, it's as if you listen to a "symphony" & then try to understand or even look for the author's explanation, for what kind of  messages he wanted to transmet.but the voice has to be of a good quality as you said. 

both are imprtant

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Keep on Thrashing

The first thing that attracts you in a metal song is the melody (or the vocal in some cases just as you said) then come the lyrics. It's difficult to luv a song for its lyrics when you don't like the melody i think. Let's say that lyrics are percepted by the head and melody percepted by the heart. 

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Shall the Demon inside me arise...

good lyrycs makes a good song perfect

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always in my Heart,can do Nothing with that

good Lyriks are also important i know that i play in a  Band
 
darkgreetz
The_Unholy

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Both!!!!
 
When the music touches my soul i want to know the meaning of the song!!!!
 
...And to sing it too, as I can...

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Metalomans of the world, BECOME TOGETHER!!!!!

as a christian the lyrics control whether it feels ok too listen to the type of music. i myself have a rule. that even if i  LOVED a band and their music, i check out their lyrics and i discover that they sing/growl about satan, i immediatly remove that music and stop listening to it. and some people think there arent any christian black metal bands for example. but thats wrong there are Tons of "unblack" bands.

for nonchristians i think they just listen to the music and dont care what the lyrics speak off

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Serenity now!

I prefer music over lyrics, but is better if the lyrics likes me, I'dont share the ideology of black metal, but still I enjoy the music, I think that I can not miss a good music because of the lyrics.
 
I'm new here in the forum, I'm from Uruguay, vocalist of a band called Dagorlad_(URU)
 
Greetings

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Music, but in some cases the lyrics are very important, that dependns on the listener.

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