DORO – Celebrate – The Night of the Warlock

A Metal-Legend returns: Doro. She celebrates her first 25 years of Metal this year, and although the new album isn’t due until January, she lets us end the year not only with a big concert, but also with a 5-track-EP called Celebrate. It is necessary to state that essentially it is only three new songs on the EP, as the title track is included in three different versions.

Even so the three tracks are still worth having for Doro-Fans as they will not appear on the forthcoming album. Especially as the song “Celebrate” is a typical Doro-Hymn, which will surely have a place on every setlist for the years to come, and the full Metal lyrics like „Together as one, strong and true as steel“, and the memorable chorus, will be sung by thousands of voices. There is no room for criticism here, unless one already caught a rash when he listened to Warlock. Because a certain “back to the roots” feeling is undeniable, not only in this song, but even more so in “Night Of The Warlock” which does not only connect to old times via the song title. Maybe they sing the chorus a little too often, but if one liked Doro before, this one will go down well, not the least because of the typical “oh-ho-hoo”-part.

The same is true for new song number three, “Rescue Me”. Also typical, it is a ballad, the kind which Doro fans love, and some others hate. There is an incredible guitar solo in the back almost through the whole song which would deserve to be standing in the spotlight. But other than that, it is an almost perfect Metal ballad.

What remains are the two additional versions of “Celebrate“. With the exception of the vocals nothing changes from the original version. In one of the versions Biff Byford of Saxon sings a duet with the Metal-Queen, but apart from the beginning of the song the difference is rarely audible. In the second additional version Doro invited every Metal mistress she could get a hold of. Different sides of the spectrum like Sabina Classen (HOLY MOSES) and Liv Kristine (LEAVES’ EYES) or Angela Gossow (ARCH ENEMY) and Floor Janssen (AFTER FOREVER) make this sound like it was recorded in a bar, especially when the old ladies from Girlschool join in.

If this EP is any indication, Doro’s new album may become one of the Melodic Metal highlights of 2009. So until then: let’s celebrate and drink to the next 25 years of Doro!