ALBUM REVIEW: Forever Warriors, Forever United – Doro
If you were to cast your mind back a couple of decades and think of strong female performers within metal, it’s probably not too unlikely that many people’s first thought would be Doro Pesch. Now well into her third decade as a performer, the lovingly-dubbed Queen of Heavy Metal has returned with her 13th studio album (and her first in six years), making a foray into double-album territory for the first time with Forever Warriors, Forever United.
As the title suggests, Forever Warriors, Forever United is a double record basically split into two totally different halves. All For Metal opens things on the Forever Warriors side, and is arguably the best moment of the whole record, packing in a killer chorus and more ‘woah-oh-oh’s’ than the average European metal festival. Doro‘s vocals sound as strong here as ever; the frontwoman unleashing her trademark power to great effect as the track thunders along to a powerful climax.
Immediately following it is the thundering Bastardos, a delightfully quick metal anthem that delights in battering the listener with breakneck drumming and spiralling thrashy guitar riffery as DORO absolutely belts her heart out across an almost IRON MAIDEN-esque soundscape.
In a move that, on-paper, probably shouldn’t work half as well as it does, If I Can’t Have You – No One Will sees Doro teaming up to duet with AMON AMARTH viking-in-chief Johan Hegg on one of the record’s most storming moments. Hegg’s death growl style vocals provide a vastly different tone to that of Doro‘s soaring melodies, but it’s a welcome change of pace, and the pair play off of each other incredibly well as the song powers on.
Elsewhere on this half, there’s not actually too much of note, as tracks begin to sound a bit samey and repetitive in tone. The somewhat autobiographical Turn It Up is possibly the exception to the rule; with a ridiculously punchy chorus and strong lyricism, it’s easily the best of a middling bunch of merely okay songs. As the record nearly reaches its midpoint, things do pick up though, as Freunde Fürs Leben arrives, and sees Pesch singing in her native German for a stomping power-ballad that almost sounds akin to throwing a dumpster full of distortion pedals at peak-of-their-power WHITESNAKE, such is the level of sheer bombast on display.
Moving on to the Forever United portion of the release, this is where we find Doro at her most anthemic and ballad-prone. Proceedings here kick off with Résistance, a foot-stomping mid-tempo rager of a track that sees the singer propelling along at just a brisk enough pace to keep things interesting, trading lines back and forth against a growling backing vocal in a manner so ridiculously over-the-top that you can’t help but be swept up in the sheer brilliant silliness of it all.
A trio of ballads then follow; the best of which being the slow-building It Cuts So Deep, which gradually swells from a simple acoustic arrangement into a towering, full-blown sweeping epic of a piano-led power ballad, with soaring and emotionally-charged vocals. Clocking in at 5:17, it’s also the longest thing on all of Forever Warriors, Forever United but that time seems to fly by as you’re swept up in the dramatic nature of the track.
Possibly the pinnacle of this side though comes with the singer’s first tribute to the sadly-deceased rock legend Lemmy Kilmister of MOTÖRHEAD on the sweeping epic Living Life To The Fullest, a beautiful power-ballad that really displays Pesch’s knack for this type of song, and sits as maybe one of her strongest ballads in many years thanks to the deeply personal lyrical themes.
1000 Years follows, and might be the most understated moment of all 19 songs here, with an acoustic opening and relatively sparse arrangement throughout that really brings Pesch’s vocals to the forefront. Kicking up a gear ever so slightly around the mid-point, the song never really goes all-in on heaviness though, providing another welcome slow song that demonstrates the singer’s wonderful versatility.
Capping things off for the record is DORO‘s final Lemmy homage – a straight-up cover of MOTÖRHEAD track Lost In The Ozone. Packed with lumbering overdriven guitars and one hell of a melodic guitar solo, it’s an affecting version of an already-strong track, and one that feels like a fitting counterpart to the aforementioned Living Life To The Fullest, as Doro injects her own unique style into the track whilst still maintaining the core sound of the original.
Overall, Forever Warriors, Forever United is a fairly strong effort with a couple of particularly great moments from one of heavy music’s most long-standing voices, however it’s also one perhaps let down slightly by being overly-long and a touch too laden with moments that feel like filler, particularly in its first half. Hardcore DORO fans are sure to lap up the idea of the 19 songs and two hours of material on offer here regardless, but for everyone else, it’s likely to be slim pickings.
Rating: 7/10
Forever Warriors, Forever United is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
Like Doro on Facebook.