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Kiske is very unique. His clarity, his high range. His stability. Unique combination.
All the others you mention have that rasp and are not unique because of that.
I’m not shitting on Kiske’s ability, I just don’t like his voice. I certainly wouldn’t call it unique by any means just for being high and holding notes with clarity.

Also not sure why “rasp” makes someone’s voice “not unique”? There’s thousands of singers who live in Kiske’s range, literally no one sounds like Roy Khan or Tommy Karevik. They are incredibly unique.

Also not sure who you’re saying has rasp, cuz I wouldn’t describe Khan, Karevik, Ozzy, Bruce, or even Halford as being raspy at all.
 
Not the most rasp, but if you listen to his isolated voice you’ll hear a lot of grit in his voice (see for instance “Powerslave”). He also dialed that up for TM, NPFTD, and FOTD. AOB and TCW also have a nice dose of that. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean here.
 
Not the most rasp, but if you listen to his isolated voice you’ll hear a lot of grit in his voice (see for instance “Powerslave”). He also dialed that up for TM, NPFTD, and FOTD. AOB and TCW also have a nice dose of that. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean here.
Yeah, that’s true, I probably shouldn’t have thrown him in there. But (like Halford) I wouldn’t call his natural tone “raspy”. He can certainly control it and add more if he wants to.
 
There are many with the Lande, Allen, Khan techniques. They do not sound natural, it is a forced sounding technique, as if someone grabs their throats with a strong hand, squeezing out the sound. Hard work.
Kiske effortlessly changes/reaches awesome notes. Pure talent. He's the Mark Knopfler of heavy metal singing.
I agree that Allen and Lande learned their bag of tricks from Dio, but I don’t believe they sound forced. Russell Allen is one of the most pure talents I’ve ever seen. Despite his love of Dio you couldn’t convince me for a second that what we hear is not coming from his natural range.

I don’t disagree that Khan puts a lot of work into his tone, but I’ve still never heard a single person sound anything like him. If you can find one and prove he’s not unique, be my guest.

Also, no one changes notes through 4 octaves “effortlessly”. That’s hard work.
 
He indeed has a colour of his own. But stylewise (and talent and soundwise) I'd say he is not more unique than Kiske.
 
I think Kiske’s range is amazing and his high notes are great. I’m just not a big fan of his singing. Some songs work, like “I Want Out”, but usually it’s hit or miss for me.
 
Yeah, I don't hold any great love for Kiske. All respect for those who do love him, but sometimes I find he sounds - and I don't know how to quantify this - a little weird compared to the style of singing I prefer. Generally in the higher notes.
 
Halford is a singer I like more than Kiske but Halford screams his highest work. Kiske sings his high notes.
He is bright, and it sounds more effortless. Different, a more unique style for such range.

Halford still has a unique sounding voice though.
Just to clarify: Halford uses falsetto on his top notes, he’s not screaming. Falsetto singing is still singing. He also popularized this style in the metal genre, making him one of the most unique ever in the field.

He indeed has a colour of his own. But stylewise (and talent and soundwise) I'd say he is not more unique than Kiske.
It seems to me like you’re mixing the definitions of talent and range with uniqueness. Again, I’m not debating Kiske’s talent or range, just merely pointing out that he’s a high tenor belting out high notes in a metal band and that many, many other people sing with the same exact style. They might not have the same range or talent, but I still wouldn’t call what he does unique.
 
I think Kiske’s range is amazing and his high notes are great. I’m just not a big fan of his singing. Some songs work, like “I Want Out”, but usually it’s hit or miss for me.
Yeah, I don't hold any great love for Kiske. All respect for those who do love him, but sometimes I find he sounds - and I don't know how to quantify this - a little weird compared to the style of singing I prefer. Generally in the higher notes.

That is what I was driving at. It is taste, but still.... no matter how high, the man still keeps singing. Very bright and sounding natural. So I disagree with you on the 2nd half of your post, Knick.

And this:

Just to clarify: Halford uses falsetto on his top notes, he’s not screaming. Falsetto singing is still singing.
Halford sings high in falsetto but also has pure screaming moments. Even if that would also be falsetto, that is still a less effortless and more forced manner way of singing. Kiske "simply" sings. And that makes him unique. I guess some people can't stand the non-falsetto/non-screaming-type of singing aspect of his high range.
 
Halford sings high in falsetto but also has pure screaming moments. Even if that would also be falsetto, that is still a less effortless and more forced manner way of singing. Kiske "simply" sings. And that makes him unique. I guess some people can't stand the non-falsetto/non-screaming-type of singing aspect of his high range.
Beyond being in his 70s and maybe slipping into screamed belts at live shows nowadays, I’m curious when Halford is screaming?

I’m not overly familiar with Kiske beyond this game, so I found this:

To clarify, when we’re talking technique, Kiske is using mixed voice on all of these high notes. Mixed voice is a combination of chest voice and head voice (also called falsetto). You’re essentially using power from your chest to push notes out from your falsetto. Mix voice generally eliminates the break in the difference between those two ranges, which is why Kiske sounds so “clean” as you say. He’s probably singing a ton of his material in mix voice.

This is not effortless and requires tons of work. This is also, interestingly enough, the same technique that Halford uses for his upper register. The difference is that Halford is using the technique to amplify only his higher tones to make them piercing, while Kiske is using the technique to blend his entire tone together.

Bruce never uses mix voice, which is why he sometimes strains so hard (especially at his age). It’s probably what makes Bruce so unique.
 
It's not the technicality that makes him unique, but it enables him to have massive vibrato throughout the whole range. Because his throat is open.

Also lol at the people/singers like Phil Anselmo that claim Halford never used falsetto. Painkiller could be only sang by a chest voice of a snake.
 
It's not the technicality that makes him unique, but it enables him to have massive vibrato throughout the whole range. Because his throat is open.

Also lol at the people/singers like Phil Anselmo that claim Halford never used falsetto. Painkiller could be only sang by a chest voice of a snake.
Absolutely on both accounts!

Phil Anselmo shows his ignorance again. Every time I listen to Cemetery Gates I get sad for what Anselmo did to his voice.

Also, that ending of Cemetery Gates is employing falsetto. :bigsmile:
 
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