Metal's Warrior Queen Keeps Up the Fight

WHEN GRUNGE AND ALTERNATIVE METAL took prominence in the early '90s, they delivered a nearly lethal blow to hair metal bands and more traditional fantasy-oriented melodic metal bands of the 1970s and 1980s. Bands that had previously been worshiped for their senses of imagination and drama were suddenly reduced to Spinal Tap-esque novelty and ridicule as the immediacy and street-level realism of Nirvana and Alice in Chains took favor with teenagers across the country.

Old-school metal bands were forced to give in, give up, or fight. German-born female heavy metal vocalist Doro Pesch chose the latter option.

When Doro left her underrated band, Warlock, behind to go solo in the late 1980s she probably could not have predicted the great change that was to sweep the metal world just a few years later. By the mid-1990s, Doro had a solid cult following that was able to carry her though the grunge era and into the new millennium. To her fans delight, the aptly nick-named "Queen of Metal" stuck to her guns and delivered consistent, melodic albums filled with big riffs and her signature powerful vocals year after year.

Not only is Doro's latest studio album, "Warrior Soul", as appropriately titled as its predecessor, "Fight," but it is good enough to stand up to almost anything in her large discography. From the ripping opening track, "You're My Family," which seems to be a tribute to Doro's dedicated fan base, to the 8-minute epic closer, "Shine On," there is
not a single weak cut on the album.

» Jaxx Nightclub, 6355 Rolling Road, Springfield; Sunday, $17-$20; 703-569-5940.

Written by Express contributor Greg Re
Photo courtesy Doropesch.com