Doro - Raise Your Fist

Heavy Metal
Nuclear Blast

2012

1. Raise Your Fist In The Air
2. Coldhearted Lover
3. Rock Till Death
4. It Still Hurts
5. Take No Prisoner
6. Grab The Bull (Last Man Standing)
7. Engel
8. Freiheit (Human Rights)
9. Little Headbanger (Nackenbrecher)
10. Revenge
11. Free My Heart
12. Victory
13. Hero

Doro is just a classic in the scene and will always have a place with me as the queen of metal. Not every release she's made has been a winner, but she gives it all to her fans and has made some killer material along the way. Not to mention she is the definition of one truly Metal woman and has an amazing and unique voice. I wasn't huge on her last album, Fear No Evil, but it did grow on me to an extent and I loved it's predecessor Warrior Soul. Basically, what I was hoping for was a return to form and a cleaner sound than the last album which seemed awkward and messy at times.

After listening to Raise Your Fist I think I can pretty much sum the album up as simple, but effective. Raise Your Fist is pretty well represented by it's title as this album is all about straight up fist pumping anthems. Short and sweet tracks that are really about rocking out and have a somewhat retro feel to them. This sort of material suits Doro pretty well as she has good energy and knows how to carry this type of material, especially in a live setting. Raise Your Fist just comes off very likable and gets the head moving. Tracks like Raise Your Fist In The Air and Rock Till Death are just all about pumping you up and indeed working the crowd live. Not a bad approach at all.

Also peppered in are some slow down ballad moments which are typical of Doro. Guest appearances are also fairly common to her albums and a nice one on this release is Lemmy once again partnering up with Doro for the ballad It Still Hurts. Surprisingly mellow performance by Lemmy. I've heard him do ballads before of course, but he doesn't come off as gravelly as usual on this. Engel is also a strong ballad and my favorite slower track on the album thanks to a particularly powerful performance by Doro.

Lastly, I have to give a mention to the track Hero which is a surprisingly upbeat tribute to Dio and not exactly a ballad as one might expect it to be. This could have easily been slow and sappy, but Doro takes this one down a different and maybe more suitable road. There are certainly slower parts to the song, but also some pretty energized ones. The metal spirit of this one just strikes me as something Dio would have appreciated and especially from a friend. It's a very complete song with good energy, moving lyrics, and a nice vibe. Gotta hand it to Doro on making this one come to life.

Raise Your Fist as a whole is just the sort of album I like out of Doro. It rocks out with the energy and passion she has for doing just that. This is an album that could be very appealing to people who like their metal to be grounded in the roots of hard rock. 80s female fronted metal/rock comes to mind with this album's formula of rockers and ballads as does stuff like Riot (particually the Forrester era). This isn't a groundbreaking album, but it is straight up rocking done right and that's good enough for me.

Highlights: Raise Your Fist In The Air, Rock Till Death, Hero

Rating - 3.5/5

Doro - Fear No Evil

Traditional Metal
AFM

2009

1. The 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

I've long been a fan of Doro, but have become more so in recent years with her release of Warrior Soul, which is in my opinion her best solo effort to date. I was also recently impressed when I saw her live for the first time and she put on a most excellent show. Needless to say I was anticipating new material after that.

Unfortunately, this is not the album I was expecting or wanting. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, but this album simply doesn't come together. The songwriting for the most part simply isn't there and some songs like Caught In A Battle with it's noisy sounding, distracting drumming just sounds slapped together and out of sync with itself. Caught In A Battle sounds like a really forced heavy track where none of the band is on the same page and is the worst offender here. Other misses include Running From The Devil with it's boring groove guitar and On The Run which has an upbeat pace that reminds me of the last album, but simply doesn't measure up in quality and memorability.

I will say that things aren't all bad here as one of the singles that lead the album, Celebrate, is an ass kicking anthem backed by a choir including Sabina Classen, Angela Gossow, Live Kristine, Floor Jansen, Veronica Freeman, and Girlschool. This song just sounds big and succeeds at that larger than life metal anthem approach. Walking With The Angels also succeeds with some guest talent courtesy of a duet with Tarja Turunen of former Nightwish fame. Just a great duet ballad featuring two talented singers. Night of the Warlock is also pretty decent, but the repetitive chorus gets a bit tiring by the end. Herzblut is another decent one, but again not quite a standout as I've heard these same sung in German ballads out of Doro before.

There are at least some decent songs here and only one real clunker, but really only 2 songs that get me particularly excited and both of them are at least partly based on outside talent. I don't dislike this album, but the bottom line has to be that it's just not that exciting and lacks enough highlights for a strong rating. I'd pretty much only recommend this one to fans and certainly not as a starting place for someone new to Doro.

Highlights: Celebrate, Walking With The Angels

Rating - 3.0/5

Doro - Warrior Soul

Traditional/Melodic Metal
AFM
2006

1. You re My Family
2. Haunted Heart
3. Strangers Yesterday
4. Thunderspell
5. Warrior Soul
6. Heaven I See
7. Creep Into My Brain
8. Above The Ashes
9. My Majesty
10. In Liebe Und Freundschaft
11. Ungebrochen
12. Shine On

How metal of a title and cover art is this? 'Warrior Soul' and Doro standing in next to nothing with a big ass sword. I love it... and more importantly I love this fucking album. I've gotta say, this is the first one to Really grab me by the balls this year from the first listen. Some of the music within is almost as metal as the cover art.

First of all, I've liked all of Doro's solo stuff. Different than her Warlock career certainly in that a large number of ballads appeared and the music took on a more modern approach as of late but she's always had a great voice and addictive songs. What we have here though is an interesting and unexpected step back.

On this album, the guitar sounds much less thick and modern than the last couple and way more traditional. The heaviness is amped up on some songs to a point that's not been seen in Doro's solo material and truely could be placed on an album like Warlock - Triumph & Agony. There's still a good deal of ballads but even those have more of a guitar oriented approach and well placed melodic solos. The solos really add to the feel of this being a healthy step back and some of the songwriting is very anthemic 80s. Then you have the heavy songs which just rip along in the best 80s traditional manner. I shit you not when I say I think the song Haunted Hearts may be the best thing she's ever done in Doro OR Warlock. Also worthy of extreme praise are the traditional rockers, Thunderspell and My Majesty.

Overall, this album has an alternating feel of awesome traditional and, for the most part, more Metal ballads. This whole album just has a great arena rock energy to it that I am totally digging. In a way this really revisits Warlock at their peak. A pretty perfect fusion of what she was in Warlock and what she has been in her solo career.

Highlights: Haunted Hearts, Thunderspell, My Majesty, You're My Family

Rating - 4.0/5