Doro - Fight

Year of Release: 2002
Label: SPV
Catalog Number: 74102
Format: CD
Total Time: 48:27:00

After leaving her career as the voice of German classic metal band Warlock in the late eighties, "Queen Of Metal" Doro Pesch has released a number of solo albums of her own. The latest of these, Fight, is a fairly ballsy, rough-and-raw creation where guts and passion are more important than polish. While there's nothing new or startling in this album, it's well-constructed and fairly entertaining.

The music on this album is, in general, classic-style metal, driven by Doro's gravelly female vocals. She has still not really left behind the Warlock approach to metal and her solo work remains similar. In keeping to that style, she also recalls to mind other bands of the time; she rather reminds me of the ever emulated Led Zeppelin, but with the gutsy attitude of a band like Accept and the feminine focus of a group like Heart. This isn't a remarkable or groundbreaking album as far as songwriting or lyricism is concerned. Doro is, however, a consummate and highly experienced performer and she does know how to make an album enjoyable; the songs balance each other well, and are fun if not surprising. Her compositions are energetic but never frenetic, with more guts than glam, fiery but not flamboyant.

The song styles used counter each other well. Most are plain hard and heavy - "Salvaje" and "Wild Heart" are two good examples, both very strong tracks. Balancing them are softer numbers like "Undying" and "Fight By Your Side," simple and bittersweet. My favourites from this album are the hopping jive-metal ones, something she does very well, and which are just fun to listen to. Flick to "Live To Win" and "Chained" for examples. The ending song, "Hoffnung," is chosen well as an album's ending. It's the sort of heartfelt soft-metal number one could imagine being used as the finale at a concert, with a sea of lighters held aloft and brother(sister?)hood for all. The only track I felt didn't work very well was "Descent." Musically it's pretty good, a sexy bump'n'grinder, striptease music almost. Guest vocals on this track are supplied by the deep basso Peter Steele (Type O Negative). Unfortunately the smooth hot chocolate of his voice doesn't mix so well with Doro's higher, rougher vocals; it was probably intended as a counterpoint, but they are just too different and it's a bit grating.

As this is just a continuation on what Doro has been doing for most of her musical career, long-time fans of her work will be pleased with this album. She remains, as she has ever been, the tough girl of metal, the image of female power in a genre where truly powerful women are not common. If you are after something astonishing, highly technical or fast, this will not satisfy you in any way. But it's definitely a fun album and worthy of note.

Similar to: Heart, Warlock, Led Zeppelin

[This review originally appeared September 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Fight (4:09) / Always Live To Win (3:01) / Descent (4:02) / Salvaje (2:47) / Undying (4:06) / Legends Never Die (5:21) / Rock Before You Bleed (4:22) / Sister Darkness (4:46) / Wild Heart (4:32) / Fight By Your Side (3:49) / Chained (4:15) / Hoffnung (4:37)

Musicians:
Doro Pesch - vocals
Joe Taylor - guitar
Nick Douglas - bass
Johnny Dee - drums
Oliver Palotai - guitar/keyboards
Guests:*

Pete Steele - vocals
Russ Ballard - guitar
Jurgen Engler - e-bow
Christopher Lietz - bass, guitar, keyboards
Chris Winter - keyboards
Andreas Bruh - guitar
Chris Cafferty - guitar

* aside from Steele, which is credited on the promo, this is from what I gather from other sources.

Discography:
Warlock - Burning The Witches (1984)
Warlock - Hellbound (1985)
Warlock - True As Steel (1986)
Warlock - Triumph And Agony (1987)
Force Majeure (1989)
Doro (1990)
True At Heart (1991)
Rare Diamonds (1991)
Angels Never Die (1993)
Doro - Live (1993)
Machine II Machine (1995)
M II M, Electric Club Mixes (1995)
A Whiter Shade Of Pale (1995)
Love Me In Black (1998)
The Ballads (1998)
Best Of (1998)
Warlock - Earthshaker Rock (1998)
Calling The Wild (2000)
Fight (2002)
Classic Diamonds (2004)
Warrior Soul (2006)
20 Years A Warrior Soul (box set w/DVD) (2006)

Für Immer (DVD) (2003)
Classic Diamonds - The DVD (DVD) (2004)

Genre: Traditional Metal

Origin DE

Added: December 12th 2004
Reviewer: Karyn Hamilton
Score:
Artist website: www.doropesch.com
Hits: 2511
Language: english