While I do like NW a lot, and definitely sad I never saw them live with the old lineup, I also think T's voice was a little too over the top sometimes. I have a few friends that also think this way, and it puts them off from NW's albums, even though they like the music itself. Simone from Epica is about as close as I can get into the opera like vocals before it's too much. But hey, everyone likes different stuff and that's cool.
One friend of mine has a CD of this Russian band. I forget the name, but really heavy, and full on opera female singer. I can deal with about 2-minutes of it.
I haven't heard of Colleen before but will check her out. Anyone know if she does local performances? I'm also in San Diego.