I Love Rhapsody of Fire and Luca Turilli with a passion, their orchestration is unmatched, just their vocals grate on me a bit sometimes. Of course my friend Adam can't stand the viking death grunts of moonsorrow, so it's a tossup... I've gotten used to them. For operatic progressive metal vocals similar to Rhapsody, I like Kahn from Kamelot and Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian. Let me dig up some examples of them in action...Hansi Live performing Valhalla live: YouTube - Blind Guardian - ValhallaLord of the Rings set to movie footage: YouTube - Blind Guardian - Lord of the ringsThe Haunting by Kamelot: YouTube - The Haunting ( Somewhere In Time ) - Kamelot & Simone SimonsForever, live: YouTube - KAMELOT - ForeverCenter of the Universe, live: YouTube - Kamelot - Center of the Universe (live)In my opinion, these two have some of the most extraordinary voices in the business. Too bad my home country is more obsessed with lackluster American Idol kareoke stars than promoting any really impressive bands.
*Shudders* You goinks LIKE Rhapsody of Fire? I... please, it makes me shoot red wine out my nose laughing.
Excuse me? Me? I listen to Tchaikovsky and Leonard Cohen, Tori Amos and David Bowie and you're inferring I like "modern pop"? Excuse me, Mr. I-own-a-shakira-cd