Perun said:
Bruce sings in a completely different way from most other singers mentioned here. I'm not very good with technical terms, but Bruce sings from the stomach, while most others sing from the lungs or the throat. What I mean is that that is where they put the pressure... I wish I could explain it. Anyway, I prefer Bruce's way indefinitely. To me, the falsetto is a technique that sounds like horrible shrieking 99% of the time, and I am glad Bruce does it so very, very rarely. From the top of my head, I can only think of one instance in Run to the Hills. That is also why Bruce sounds more powerful than many other singers... there is more substance to his voice, it comes from deeper within.
Maybe I'm annoying some of his many fans here, but I have never understood to the slightest what people find appealing with Kiske. To me, when he sings clearly, he sounds like he has an infected throat, and all he ever does otherwise is shriek. He never goes lower than the top or middle of his lungs. I am not a good singer, but I have practiced several techniques as far as I could, and I found that what Bruce does is much more physically straining than what Kiske does. I can't hit either's high notes, but I felt that more skill is involved when doing it Bruce's way. With Kiske's way you just need to be loud, with Bruce's way you need physical stamina. The result is that Bruce sounds full and warm, while Kiske - in my opinion - has zero power in his voice. So I think Kiske is in no way comparable to Bruce.
I have discussed Kiske with Perun many times, but I don't mind continuing this a bit. And Kiske could use a little support in this topic.
Kiske is not just being loud. What Kiske does well is keeping a very straight voice, while most others tremble when they try these heights. I hate it when voices get too sheepy as soon as they go to their higher octaves.
So, the strength of Kiske is he can reach very high and he is very flexible as well, so he can sing fast, changing tone very easily. This enabled Helloween to broaden their scope of their songwriting. You might say that Kiske's voice alone is not the warmest, but his technique and sound enabled Helloween to turn into a warm metal band without boundaries. The music, the total picture became full, warm and complex.
To put is short: Kiske doesn't sound strained. He sounds effortless, and that is a mighty skill. He doesn't use falsetto, he doesn't scream as much (or at all) as others do in these regions: it his normal voice. The singer of Blind Guardian, now that is something I had to get used to. Because that vibro technique sounds more like an angry ram bloating for food. Speaking of strained.
Kiske is comparable with Bruce because I believe he is one of the few who is able to sing what Bruce can sing without making mistakes. By the way, when Bruce was going solo in 1990, there was a rumour about Kiske replacing him. Around that time, there was no one elsein his league. And when it comes to his style, I still think no one else can match him. All these singers you guys have discussed are strong, in what they do good. But they are less unique than Kiske (except for Halford and Bruce who possessed more varied skills than Kiske and have their own unique sound as well).
Perun, if I make a suggestion:
I thought this over, and I think there's a deeper problem that you have with Kiske's work in Helloween:
He is a male singer who sings very high, and very
often, while all the other singers who were mentioned in this thread sing only very high, once in a while. So, you may wonder if you like male singers who sing very high, (almost) constantly. No wonder that a constant high voice doesn't sound as warm as a lower voice.
But I stress again, we have to keep in mind that these singers shouldn't be judged a capella only. This is metal music. Full, loud and mostly warm music. Helloween's music
and Kiske, the
combination sounded warm, and rich.
I have no trouble with Kiske in Helloween (or Avantasia), because I see his voice as one of the higher layers blending perfectly with the melodic music he sings to. I love the music he performed with, and that might matter as well. In the Keepers era, Helloween was probably the most melodic fast metal band around, and their melodies were better than most others who tried to copy this. Since he fits so well to that type of music, I have no other choice but liking him very much.