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DORO/BLITZKREIG
Camden Underworld, London 10 November 2006

Sadly I missed the opening band but I caught most of Bliztkreig, who were enthusiastically lapped up by the more extreme metal fans in the audience. The band were part of the NWoBHM, and now reformed and beefed up more than ever. They are at the very heavy end of NWoBHM / trad metal, about as heavy as you can get without actually getting extreme.

Their influence obvious in the track Blitzkreig, which was covered by Metallica (not the other way round, as someone was heard saying 'Oooh they're playing a Metallica song' earlier on the tour).

The band were tight, solid, heavy and thoroughly great all round, and finished with two Judas Priest numbers; 'Electric Eye' and 'Hell Bent For Leather'. Classic Heavy Metal.

When Doro took to the stage the cheers went up, the place packed to the rafters.

Quick Questions with Doro The material tonight was quite diverse. Not just old and new but ranging from melodic to very heavy. Was that intentional? I love the whole spectrum, the aggressive stuff, the old stuff. The guys in the front row were calling it out and I'm thinking 'They know it' It seems everyone knew everything. Yeah Yeah they knew a lot So you don't have a problem playing the old Warlock stuff? No, not at all, it's a pleasure, and you know we never wanted to split up, but we lost the name, it was owned by the manager and we got into other problems but it was never my intention. I'm making music as long as I can. So on Triumph and Agony, how did you get to work with (drummer) Cozy Powell? The drummer we had was OK, but I wanted someone really powerful, REALLY powerful, I said for a track I wanted to do it really aggressive. I said to my manager I had a drummer who was good but wanted someone really powerful and he said 'What about Cozy Powell?' so he called him up, because he was also managing Emerson Lake and Powell. Cozy said he would love to come so the next day he came from England to New York He did a couple more tracks... He told me he loved doing it... Yeah it was great. But it was when you couldn't put guests' names on the sleeve so we put him in the Thanks section. And my drummer who was in the band was like 'Oh Man it's great', Cozy was the best. You were previously on SPV, how did the deal with AFM come about? I was very happy on SPV, we had a great time, but Allen who owns AFM did some gigs for us, promoted some gigs, and said he would be very interested to have us on his label, we were talking, and I said OK let's do it. The deal was running out anyhow so we were looking around. And it's great having these people who believe in the band and the music, it's so good.

While the more extreme metal fans were less interested (apart from the obvious leer factor), the majority of the crowd fully appreciated the mix of melodic rock (verging on AOR for a couple of numbers) mixed with the much heavier end – a few were real out and out metal.

Doro moved around the (small) stage with vigour, her voice and body both still in great shape. What was clear was her passion for what she does, and it's delivered with energy and power.

Songs new and old (songs from the new Warrior Soul and plenty of Warlock classics too) were all welcomed equally, with the extreme 'Fight' (the title track of her previous album) a highlight. The setlist proved that Warrior Soul stands up to anything she's done before and then some.

A night of great metal music.

Review and interview by Joe Geesin