Warlock With Doro Pesch: Live From London, CD

Few bands who have rocked the stage at the Camden Palace have had as engaging or charismatic lead singers as Doro Pesch with Warlock. The queen of heavy metal storms through an amazing set of classic Warlock tracks including Metal Racer, Hellbound and Time To Die. Recorded as part of the “Live From London” series, this Warlock performance is a pure shot of metal mayhem.

In the early 1980s, the German underground heavy metal scene was awash with a number of young bands intent on breaking into the music mainstream. Two of these bands, Snakebite and Beast, combined their talents to form Warlock fronted by the striking vocalist Doro Pesch. The band comprised of Pesch, Rudy Graf and Peter Szigeti on guitar, Micha Eurich on drums and bassist Frank Rittel (replacing Thomas Studier), and thanks to new manager Peter Zimmermann, they began to forge a growing reputation.

Their hard work looked to have paid off when the band signed a contract with Mausoleum Records and released their self-produced debut album “Burning The Witches” in 1984. But despite a warm reception from both fans and critics, the record company failed to distribute the album effectively, and combined with poor financing of the support tour, the release didn’t reach its full potential. Disillusioned with Mausoleum,Warlock switched labels in 1985 to Phonogram and set about releasing their follow-up album, “Hellbound”, which brought them to the attention of the European media. They travelled to London where, on 24th September, they recorded this live performance at the Camden Palace to rave reviews from the British press. 1986 was a definitive year in Warlock’s history. Not only did it see Rudy Graf replaced on guitar by Niko Arvanitis but the album “True As Steel” proved the international breakthrough the band needed and culminated in Doro Pesch becoming the first woman to front a band at the legendary Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington. Recorded in America, “Triumph And Agony” was Warlock’s fourth and best-selling album and featured a new lineup following the departures of Szigeti and Rittel. Despite extensive tours of America and Europe, the album proved the high-water mark for the band, and by 1988 Pesch was the only original member of the band remaining. A court case brought by former manager Peter Zimmermann at the same time, was the final nail in Warlock’s coffin, as he sued and won the rights for the band’s name and merchandising. It was an unfortunate end to a band very much on the rise, but Pesch and the former members continued to work on solo projects or as part of new acts. Pesch eventually regained the rights to the “Warlock” name in 2011.

TRACK LISTING

1 Out Of Control

2 Earthshaker Rock

3 Metal Racer

4 Wrathchild

5 Hellbound

6 Holding Me

7 Shout It Out

8 Evil

9 Without You

10 Hateful Guy

11 All Night

12 Burning The Witches

13 Time To Die