DORO – Classic Diamonds [Digipak remastered reissue] (2018)

On 3rd of August, metal goddess DORO will release her long-awaited new studio album Forever Warriors – Forever United, and meanwhile some past works just have been reissued in a Digipak CD including bonus tracks.
“Classic Diamonds” presents new acoustic and symphonic arrangements for songs from Doro / Warlock repertoire, as well as some new compositions and a cover of Judas Priest staple “Breaking the Law”.
This reissue features a remastered version of the songs.

Doro Pesch had already experienced mixing her powerful hard rock vocals with a symphonic orchestra in 2001 in a concert in Düsseldorf and later in 2003 for a benefit concert in Bochum.
The results of the two shows and the reaction of the fans prompted the German singer to plan a more organic approach to the symphonic facets of her songs, scheduling an album and a tour with an orchestra.

The Classic Night Orchestra was recruited looking for young, open-minded, and multi-ethnic classical musicians, reaching the number of 30 elements.
With the help of the classically trained band member Oliver Palotai and producer Torsten Sickert, Doro arranged some old and new tracks for the orchestra and recorded them in Cologne.
The album took almost eight months to complete and is the most expensive recording produced by Doro.

The results are simply staggering from the outset, with the utilisation of a full orchestra set-up and acoustic instruments fully complementing the beautiful vocals whilst still maintaining the power of the older and heavier tracks.
Classics like “I Rule The Ruins”, “Metal Tango” and “All We Are” sound even more impressive and captivating than the original versions mainly thanks to the strings and brass so prevalent within the overall mix as well as some striking classical guitar parts.

“All We Are” in particular retains its extremely enjoyable anthem style with some excellent vocal efforts.
Furthermore, the cover of Judas Priest’s archetypal “Breaking The Law” benefits completely from this orchestral reworking, sounding just as desperate and intense as it did when it was first released in 1980. Ex Accept vocalist Udo Dirkschneider does a duet with Doro here.

As well as these powerful remakes of classic Metal songs, the album also consists of some more pop-oriented sounding tracks, such as “Für Immer”, “Let Love Rain On Me” and “Love Me In Black”.
Besides the eleven songs played with the orchestra, the album contains two tracks recorded live and acoustically in studio by Doro’s band.

“Classic Diamonds” is a very well rounded piece of work, perfectly produced and perhaps the best recording to date to appreciate other side of the vocal talents of Doro Pesch.
The original Warlock material certainly had more of a hard edge to it but these adaptations still manage to do them justice, with excellent musicianship shining through overall.
For anyone who hasn’t heard anything by Warlock or Doro, “Classic Diamonds” works perfectly as an accessible introductory piece.
Highly Recommended

01 – I Rule the Ruins
02 – Metal Tango
03 – Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
04 – All We Are
05 – Für Immer
06 – Let Love Rain on Me
07 – Burn It Up
08 – Tausend Mal Gelebt
09 – I’m in Love with You
10 – Always Live to Win (Bonus Track)
11 – Undying
12 – Love Me in Black
13 – She’s Like Thunder (Bonus Track)

Doro Pesch – vocals
Guitars – Klaus ‘Major’ Heuser
Drums – Wolf Simon
Percussion – Mario Arrangonda
The Classic Night Orchestra
additional musicians:
Udo Dirkschneider – lead vocals on track 3
Kai Hansen – guitars, bass, backing vocals on track 13
Johnny Dee – drums on tracks 10 and 14
Nick Douglas – bass on tracks 10 and 14
Claus Fischer– bass on track 4
Dirk Schoppen – bass, backing vocals
Joe Taylor – acoustic guitar on tracks 10 and 14
Oliver Best, Thomas Nathan – backing vocals
Oliver Palotai – piano, orchestral arrangements

BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/Classic-Diamonds-Doro/dp/B07B5WCX4V
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