Interview: Metal vocalists are responsible for the best video game monster noises

We talk with the president of The Monster Factory, who is responsible for monster noises in your favorite games.

Joel aims at a Bloater in The Last of Us. / Naughty Dog

It’s easy to think that the grunts, barks, and growls that come from video game enemies would be the simple part. Everyone knows what a breathy grunt sounds like, but can you do it 12 different ways, each suiting a very specific context?. Extend that to the unnerving clicks, screeches, and guttural growls you hear from video game monsters, and it becomes something else entirely. 

That’s exactly why game developers sometimes need help from specialists like The Monster Factory.

Far Cry: Instincts. / Ubisoft

Monster Factory president Sebastian Croteau was a singer in a black metal band before he became a voiceover goblin. His friend, who worked at Ubisoft Montréal happened to hear him screech, and suggested he come and lend his throat to the enemies of Far Cry: Instincts. They must have liked what he did because they asked him straight back for Assassin’s Creed 2x

“There are people choking when you poison them,” he tells me in Gamescom LATAM’s chilly press room. “So they hired me to choke for two hours. That’s the best job ever.”

As it says on The Monster Factory website, many of their vocal stunt performers are “metal vocalists experienced in video game voice acting or with a background in acting”, making them unique in the voice acting space.

If you’re a video game fan you’ve probably already played several games featuring The Monster Factory’s talent, as you can hear their work on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as games from Capcom, WB Games, Bethesda, Larian Studios, Naughty Dog, EA, and many more. It’s the kind of client list that makes you believe that The Monster Factory’s team might be the unsung heroes of the video game voice acting world. And it’s all thanks to heavy metal.

Sebastian played The Hulk in Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy. / Square Enix

“We’re mostly metal singers, and this is why we have a particular kind of training for these sounds,” Croteau explains. “In creature voice acting being able to sustain a sound matters a little bit more than acting – why? Because the vocal effect is tied directly to the character. If you lose that voice effect, if you can no longer do it, you lose the character.”

Croteau demonstrates to us his choking skills, his best orc growl, and most impressively, a series of vocal clicks and screeches that evoke The Last of Us’ iconic Clickers. It’s the kind of dynamic range that feels like it shouldn’t be possible for a single person, without any digital effects or distortion, but that’s what The Monster Factory is all about – and it’s not the kind of skill you can pick up overnight.

Ellie fighting a monster in The Last of Us. / Naughty Dog

“The thing is, to get better and to make it sustainable, you have to train every week,” he says. “I’ve been training for 34 years. I’m 48, and I started to sing metal music at the age of 14. I drink a lot of water. I don’t do drugs.” Like any physically demanding job, your lifestyle will dictate your performance. So, ironically, no sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll.

“I do believe that being a metal vocalist is helpful because you have much more knowledge about the sensation and feeling of rough vocal effects than anyone else, more than any voice actor.”

So the next time you accuse metal vocalists of “just making noise”, you’d do well to check under your bed before you go to sleep.