It’s almost 30 years since Doro Pesch became one of heavy metal’s principal female figureheads with the release of Burning The Witches, the first album by the bad she fronted, Warlock.
In truth, the singer’s music has barely changed at all during that time. And although she remains a largely unsung hero away from mainland Europe, Raise Your Fist suggests that her passion for powerful and bombastic anthems is as strong as ever.
Doro fans will not approach this album (her twelfth) expecting, or even wanting, surprises, so the combination of muscular rabble-rousers like Rock Till Death and Little Headbanger (Nachenbrecher) and boldly melodramatic ballads like Free My Heart and It Still Hurts (with an oddly sentimental vocal turn from long-time friend Lemmy) ticks every denim-clad box.
The only real surprise here is that Doro’s voice appears to be improving with age. Attacking the shamelessly dumb title track and the almost thrash-tinged Revenge, she sounds hell-bent on grabbing our attention all over again.
