The change in James' vocals from Images to Awake is pretty noticeable. On one end, you have soaring, epic, layered vocals that remind one of some combination between Queen and Journey. On the other, James is raspy and harsh, and recorded in such a way that makes it sound like he hasn't been layered at all.
Both styles are very good, and suit their respective albums very well.
But why did James change his style? Was the ultra-produced style on Images too far from James' natural voice and too layered to pull-off live? Was the band just trying to stay relevant as the era of metal was ending and grunge was entering the mainstream? Was the 80's vibe James on Images something that became unnecessary for the band to do, especially since James seemed to prefer singing another way better?
Couple obvious (or not so obvious) notes. Despite the appearance that James' vocals changed on Awake, he definitely sang that way live on the Images tour (see LiT, L@M, Dreambill, etc) and appears to have used his raspy voice with Winter Rose live, (going strictly by the few live recordings of Winter Rose that are available).