You have to give her credit, because Doro Pesch, Metal's true reigning queen is certainly someone who keeps herself busy and is always releasing new music or videos for her fans and playing shows in whatever region she can get the schedule set up for. The latest weapon in the arsenal of the Queen comes by way of Fear No Evil which amounts to her eleventh album as a solo artist on top of all the releases she did with Warlock. Musically this recording features the same traditional Heavy Metal purity that Doro always manages to deliver and there are a number of incredible tracks that she can add to her repertoire. The downside might be for the listener who is expecting the singer to step outside of her comfort zone just a little bit this time around and adventure into new ground but since she does no such thing there is a chance that this kind of fan will find the release a disappointment. to add to her repertoire the listener who might be expecting the singer to step outside of the box a little bit will be disappointed that she does not. Our adventures begin with the sinister voice of some Hellish demon and this leads us into "Night Of The Warlock" which does in some sense call back to the singer's glory years. I didn't mind how "Running From The Devil" continued this albums trend of calling us back to Metal's classic sound because we had recently found artists releasing albums that brought us back to the time of their biggest successes and while Doro has really never veered off course its nice that even she opted to back a decade or two with this one. Of course this is just my view of how this sounds and you might feel differently when you hear it.
A rousing winner comes as the singer and a number of Metal vocalists of note help her "Celebrate" her 25 years in the business and from the looks of it we shall be seeing Doro do this for many years to come. You know you have made some powerful friends in the business if Biff Byford, Angela Gossow, Liv Kristine, Floor Jansen, Sabina Classan, Ji-Lin Cho, and Veronica Freeman make themselves available to bring your song to bigger and brighter life. I think this will be a fantastic live tune when and if she does it in concert. Doro has a ballad which she sings in German called "Herzblut" which I think is literally translated into "blood of the heart" but I can be missing the point here. Another highlight comes via "Walking With The Angels" as this finds her doing a great duet with former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen. It was very interesting to hear their two unique voices going back and forth together. The playing comes across as solid and this is based on many members of Doro's group being with her for a long time. As expected we found Nick Douglas and Johnny Dee on bass and drums, while guitars come care of Joe Taylor, keys from Kamelot's Oliver Palotai and more keys from Rhapsody Of Fire's Luca Princiotta – capable players all.
Doro succeeds in the booklet department for this one as well and gives us some dramatic and heroic artwork that protects the song lyrics and photos inside its numerous pages. Fortunately she does not just give us one solo photograph of herself and instead includes about twelve different ones that feature the band and her on the stage or in various poses. Thanks Doro for remembering how important this part of a CD is to some people. It also gives the fans something to hope to have signed if they come to the shows. Closing up I had to say that while the spirit of the Metal warrior runs deep in the material on the album don't expect a single concept or theme to be taking place as that is not what this one is all about. Doro does close the release with the very personal "25 Years" and this is a song in which the singer thanks her fans and believers for their devotion and promises that she will continue the fight. With a Metal Queen such as Doro Pesch on the throne, I think the kingdom is in excellent hands.
Track Listing:
1. Night Of The Warlock
2. Running From The Devil
3. Celebrate
4. Caught In A Battle
5. Herzblut
6. On The Run
7. Walking With The Angels
8. I Lay My Head Upon My Sword
9. It Kills Me
10. Long Lost For Love
11. 25 Years
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