ALBUM REVIEW: Warriors Of The Sea – Doro
There is only one Metal Queen. For over forty years, DORO has sat upon her throne as heavy music’s matriarch of mayhem, the woman who trailblazed with WARLOCK and then stepped out on her own to continue a glittering career. Warriors of the Sea, released on October 24th via her own label, Rare Diamonds Production, was borne out of two editions of DORO‘s own Metal Queen Metal Cruise earlier this year, and serves as a tie-over before she looks to release a full studio album in the near future; the cruise also inspired the album’s title track, which was written specially for the events and quickly became a fan favourite.
Said title track opens the album and is a classic metal stomper – it hits a couple of well-worn tropes, such as a chorus of woah’s to open the track, but by and large it has enough behind it to get fists pumping. DORO herself is in fine fettle; despite being in her early sixties, her gravelly, mezzo-soprano voice remains strong and she is still capable of delivering with heart and emotion. The result is an empowering and appropriately swashbuckling performance which, above all, proves that DORO isn’t running out of steam any time soon.
The rest of the album is made up of choice cuts that DORO has chosen which focus on the themes of ‘Warriors’ and ‘Cruise’, although it’s fair to say that some of the links to those are tenuous at best; a cover of AC/DC‘s Touch Too Much is a perfect example. One can definitely make the argument that the song is one that empowers women, given the protagonist is in awe of the love-making abilities of the unnamed femme fatale, however you’re jumping through a few hoops to get there. Tattooed Angels is a track similar in vein to DORO‘s 2009 Wacken Hymne (We Are the Metalheads) in that it was written for an event, namely the Wildstyle Tattoo Messe; originally released back in 2014, it’s got menace and certainly makes a stronger case to be linked thematically than Touch Too Much, but it’s certainly niche in its context. Horns Up High from the extended version of DORO‘s 2023 Conqueress record and Seelied (German for ‘sea song’) from 2017’s Für Immer complete the half; the former honours heroes and jaunts along much like a shanty, the latter a piano-led ballad sung in DORO‘s German mother tongue, tender and fragile.
The remaining five tracks are all live recordings from DORO‘s most recent tour, and they’re perfectly functional in and of themselves – the highlight is a thundering Fire in the Sky – but as is the case with a lot of these releases, if the rare cuts alongside one single wasn’t indicative that this was a release geared towards the fans and not potential new followers, the addition of live tracks is the clincher. There’s also the issue of the album cover, which is as lazy as they come – DORO‘s likeness has been lifted from the cover of her 2018 album Forever Warriors, Forever United and stuck over the top of a ship navigating choppy waters; it’s impossible to tell if the backdrop was rendered by AI, but given the overall execution, you wouldn’t dismiss it.
DORO is, and always will be a legend, and while Warriors of the Sea has no chance of dimming her light – and comes with the novelty of a vinyl version filled with Blue Curaçao – it’s very much a release to be filed under ‘For the Fans Only’. The new track, while good, isn’t enough to entice new supporters, and the rest is of little interest if you weren’t already an avid listener.
Rating: 6/10
Warriors Of The Sea is out now via Rare Diamonds Production.
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