WARLOCK – I Rule The Ruins [Remastered 4CD Box Set]
“I Rule The Ruins” is the first collection of all 4 albums that WARLOCK made for Vertigo / Universal Records, all remastered, with bonus and packed into a Deluxe Box-set.
Featuring metal goddess Doro Pesch, Germans Warlock certainly deserve a place in your ’80s collection.
All Warlock albums are good and with a distinctive sound to them.
Debut ‘Burning the Witches’ is raw, hard ‘n’ heavy with all the ingredients that made early Eighties so cliche but lovely at the same time.
In early 1985, the band secured a contract with major label Vertigo and recorded their second album ‘Hellbound’, produced by Henry Staroste. Warlock started to receive attention from the media and appeared in TV shows in the UK and Germany, also touring all over Europe.
For this record, the group was elected ‘Best New Band’ of 1985 in the Readers’ Poll of the legendary Kerrang! magazine.
‘Hellbound’ shows a more mature, clean and melocic Euro metal approach. This reissue features 5 bonus tracks including the excellent ‘Special Single-Mix’ of ‘All Night’.
With a new guitarist, Warlock recorded the album ‘True As Steel’ in, produced again by Henry Staroste and mixed in the US by maestro Michael Wagener. The ‘Wagener touch’ made Warlock sound more commercial, and their songs got a fair amount of radio airplay in the US, with videos appeared on MTV.
‘True As Steel’ is a killer album, combining the best of the Euro metal attack with the slic, polished American style. The best Warlock album for many.
On 16 August 1986, Doro Pesch was the first woman to front a band at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England, where Warlock played on the same stage of Motörhead, Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions. 1986 and 1987 were spent on a tour which included dates with W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, etc.
After the tour for ‘True as Steel’, Pesch spent time in the US with new manager Alex Grob to promote the band and arrange tours and recordings in America. At the same time, the band added two American musicians Tommy Bolan (formerly of Armed Forces) and Tommy Henriksen to record in the US their fourth and last studio album, “Triumph And Agony”, becoming Warlock’s best-selling album, with videos on heavy rotation at MTV.
“Triumph and Agony” (including the great Cozy Powell on drums on many tracks) is their more commercial, Americanized hard rock album with a glossy production, catchy songs with hooky choruses.
With a really good remastered sound, “I Rule The Ruins” box-set is a great vehicle to re-discover – or approach for the first time – this solid metal / hard rock band from the ’80s.
Boxed in an excellent package including a complete booklet with notes by Classic Rock’s Malcolm Dome and sold at very nice price, “I Rule The Ruins” is a highly recommended release to bring complete Warlock into your collection.
CD1: Burning The Witches
01. Sign Of Satan (03:18)
02. After The Bomb (03:56)
03. Dark Fade (04:13)
04. Homicide Rocker (03:17)
05. Without You (05:36)
06. Metal Racer (03:47)
07. Burning The Witches (04:25)
08. Hateful Guy (03:47)
09. Holding Me (04:14)
CD2: Hellbound
01. Hellbound (03:43)
02. All Night (04:05)
03. Earthshaker Rock (03:28)
04. Wrathchild (03:33)
05. Down And Out (04:08)
06. Out Of Control (04:51)
07. Time To Die (04:30)
08. Shout It Out (04:21)
09. Catch My Heart (04:57)
Bonus tracks:
10. Hellraiser (04:49)
11. You Hurt My Soul (… On ‘n’ On) (05:35)
12. Turn It On (03:41)
13. Evil (02:59)
14. All Night (Special Single-Mix) (03:33)
CD3: True As Steel
01. Mr. Gold (04:10)
02. Fight For Rock (03:09)
03. Love In The Danger Zone (04:14)
04. Speed Of Sound (03:40)
05. Midnite In China (04:31)
06. Vorwärts, All Right! (04:07)
07. True As Steel (03:29)
08. Lady In A Rock ‘N’ Roll Hell (03:46)
09. Love Song (03:58)
10. Igloo On The Moon (Reckless) (03:02)
11. T.O.L. (02:19)
CD4: Triumph And Agony
01. All We Are (03:21)
02. Three Minute Warning (02:30)
03. I Rule The Ruins (04:02)
04. Kiss Of Death (04:07)
05. Make Time For Love (04:45)
06. East Meets West (03:33)
07. Touch Of Evil (04:19)
08. Metal Tango (04:23)
09. Cold, Cold World (04:00)
10. Für Immer (04:16)
Doro Pesch – vocals
Frank Rittel, Tommy Henriksen – bass
Michael Eurich, Cozy Powell – drums
Rudy Graf, Peter Szigeti, Niko Arvanitis, Tommy Bolan – guitars
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