Excellent examples! How do they compare to the aforementioned Randy Jackson? I am not a huge Zebra fan, but in that one song in particular it is hope to believe that is a natural range.
You will never get me to say a bad word about Ronnie James! Holy Diver might be the best Metal Album ever. I remember playing that cassette - and Rainbow in the Dark particularly - until the tape actually broke and the writing on the case was not longer legible.
Just watched that Zebra video and I don’t think his range is really all that impressive. he gets pretty scratchy at the higher end of his range and I didn’t really hear him hit any particularly high notes…not in the same realm as early Halford (like the Ripper) or Geoff Tate do/did.
y’know, I have every Mercyful Fate and King Diamond album I could find. He does good on the albums, but the few times I’ve seen him live (and any of the live albums he’s put out) he isn’t that great. Live, he can hit the high notes but when he has to handle the mids his voice falls apart. and that’s not a slam; I’m guessing if you want to sing like he does, the rigors of touring with a metal band aren’t conducive to putting on a sterling performance every night.
Bruce Dickinson doesn’t have that great a vocal range. He (and Rob Halford) kicked off the “operatic” style of metal vocalists, but if you pressed me I’d have to say Halford had a greater range, but (just like King Diamond) the music they played meant touring took an inevitable toll on their voices.