Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. This Friday sees the release of the 14th studio album from the legendary Doro, Conqueress – Forever Strong and Proud. Between her nearly 35 year solo career and Warlock, I had no shortage of classic albums to revisit as I await this upcoming release. That said, at the end of the day, my heart lies with the album that was my introduction to Doro, and likely yours too, Warlock’s Triumph and Agony. In this essay, we’ll explore what makes this album great, why it should’ve been bigger, and how it set the stage for Doro’s subsequent solo career.
Formed in 1983, Warlock arrived onto a flourishing German metal scene. Scorpions and Accept led the charge, achieving success stateside against all odds. Bands like Trance, Faithful Breath, and Gravestone were already scene heroes, playing a Teutonic spin on the NWOBHM sound. Meanwhile, newcomers Helloween, Running Wild, and Sodom (amongst others) served as a sign of things to come. Warlock fell somewhere in between. Although their first two albums, Burning the Witches (1984) and Hellbound (1985), drew heavily from the English metal tradition, they also boasted proto-power and speed elements that proved influential on future generations.
As many of these scenarios went, Warlock didn’t just catch the attention of headbangers throughout their native Germany and Europe, but also the suits at major record labels. In the case of Warlock, it was Mercury. Having turned Scorpions from niche euro metal cultists to the world’s biggest arena metal juggernaut now 45 years running (Who would’ve thought?), Mercury inevitably thought, “Why not do it again?” After all, similar to Scorpions, Warlock towed the line between heaviness and accessibility, especially on their third album, True as Steel (1986). Couple this with the sex appeal of frontwoman Doro Pesch, and Mercury knew they had a prize on their hand.
Now before we go on, let me just state for the record that Doro was and is FAR more than a sex symbol. Even if the label heads at Mercury saw this marketing potential (and they did), they also recognized her tremendous vocal abilities and unforgettable presence. The same way Van Halen was never the same after the departure/firing of David Lee Roth and Queen folded (to an extent) after the passing of Freddie Mercury, Warlock simply wasn’t Warlock without Doro. Mercury saw this and ran with it, for better or worse.
Come ’86, Warlock relocated from Germany to New York, and with a new lineup in tow. Joining Doro, founding drummer Michael Eurich (although it’s debated how much he played on this release), and newcomer guitarist Niko Arvanitis were two Americans, both named Tommy, Bolan on guitars (not to be confused with Tommy Bolin of Deep Purple) and Henrikssen on bass (who’d later go on to play for Alice Cooper). Together, this new and improved Warlock would convene at the Powerstation in New York to record what would ideally catapult them to the top of euro metal superstardom, Triumph and Agony.
The album opens with what would become Warlock’s biggest hit, “All We Are”. Simple, straightforward, and dominated by a larger than life singalong chorus, “All We Are” is peak arena metal done Teutonic style. The brainless hedonism of Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” and Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, this is not. This anthem packs muscle and balls, something both of these songs, amongst other examples of the era, lacks. While it did not crossover to Top 40 radio, “All We Are” did receive substantial airplay on MTV and rock radio, putting Warlock on the map in America.
Following this is the energetic headbanger “Three Minute Warning”. While it’s fast and frenetic, it’s also melodic and crisp, these latter qualities being exactly what the album set to achieve on all angles. Heavy, but not too heavy. Accessible, but not to the point of being labelled a wimp-out. Contrasting the fire of “Three Minute Warning” is yet another anthem, and my favorite cut on the album, “I Rule the Ruins”. Why this song wasn’t released as a single is beyond me. Its amalgamation of euro traditional metal verses with a glammy/AOR chorus is sheer genius on par with Whitesnake’s self titled released that same year.
This aforementioned glam metal/AOR atmosphere is further explored on “Kiss of Death”. The first ballad on the album, Doro sings this lyrically cryptic tale with all her might to an equally ominous soundtrack of lush metallized AOR. A perfectly written and performed song, “Kiss of Death” embodies this album’s spirit in one unforgettable display of, you guessed it, Triumph and Agony. In a gutsy sequencing move, this is followed by another ballad and side A closer, “Make Time for Love”. Bombastically arranged and melodramatically atmospheric, it almost comes off as a template for the epic adult contemporary that would become Michael Bolton’s bread and butter in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
As we flip over to side B, Warlock’s formula becomes cleverly apparent. Just as side A opened with a singalong in “All We Are”, side B does the same with “East Meets West”. A loud and anthemic blast of arena metal goodness, “East Meets West” dares the listener to not singalong with its boisterous chorus. From a lyrical perspective, this song hit especially close to home for Warlock. The Berlin Wall was still an unfortunate reality, dividing Germany for another couple years until 1989. It’s no wonder Doro speculated the event would be “one hell of a mess”.
Remember earlier when I mentioned the asterisk surrounding Eurich’s involvement on this album? One album he definitely didn’t play on was “Touch of Evil”. This aggressive blast of euro metal fury features the drumming talents of none other than veteran Cozy Powell, who was right on the verge of joining Black Sabbath. Powell bashes away while the rest of the band rages and Doro unleashes one of the fiercest vocal performances of her career. One can’t help but wonder why Accept didn’t approach her to front the band after the departure of Udo Dirkschneider. She would’ve fit the bill perfectly and this song is proof.
Warlock quickly reverts back to commercial mode for the aptly titled “Metal Tango”. In an age of songs titled “Metal on Metal”, “Heavy Metal Breakdown”, and even the absurd “Heavy Metal Shuffle”, Warlock took this phenomenon to new heights with “Metal Tango”. Thankfully, it’s far from a novelty, and actually a highly enjoyable melodic metal earworm with sizzling lead guitar work. “Cold, Cold World” provides us one last blast of ’80s style aggression in the form of Doro’s ripping vocals, before the band leaves us with a third and final ballad, “Für immer”. Sung fully in German and set to a proto-symphonic metal arrangement, this was no doubt a curveball from a band going for success in the US.
So why didn’t Warlock “make it” like their peers Scorpions, or even Whitesnake and Europe who were flying the flag for euro metal at the time? Unfortunately, it all came down to a legal dispute. Not happy with the band’s relocation to the States and shift in focus, Warlock’s original manager flew back to Germany and took the rights to the name with him. Mercury did their best to fight this. After all, the last thing they wanted was a new moniker considering the money they sunk into this investment. But alas, Warlock was laid to rest and Doro was born.
While Doro never achieved the same level of success here in the States as she has in virtually every other country in the world, those who follow her music here do so with an unbridled passion. This woman is an international heavy metal treasure who must be protected at all costs. I, for one, am a proud Doro fanboy, who can’t wait for the arrival of Conqueress. Until then, I’ll be spinning this German metal monolith on repeat, and you should too. Warlock may be gone, but their music lives “Für immer”.
Long live the Metal Queen! Hahaha