Music DVD Review: Doro - 20 Years a Warrior Soul

Would you believe that, prior to this DVD set, I had never heard Doro Pesch? If you are a regular reader of mine, that probably isn't all that hard to believe. I like to think that I listen to a lot of differen bands and styles, but the more I listen, the more I realize just how much is out there still to be discovered. Also, the items that I review contain more than a sprinkling of artists that are new to me, perhaps allowing a new perspective. I was very late getting into music, and my first exposure was to the glam/hair metal of the mid to late 80's, before transitioning to grunge in the 90's. My musical path led me to miss a lot of good bands and artists. You know what they say: "If I knew then what I know now..."

If you hadn't guessed it, I very much liked this expansive two DVD set. I missed the Warlock years, I missed a good chunk of her solo career, however, I have been aware of her for a long time. Sometimes all you need is the righ moment to dive into something new. This set includes nearly 6 hours of material to watch, split into three programs across the two disks. Disk one contains two 90 minute shows, Warrior Soul - On the Road and 20 Years Anniversary - The Movie. Disk two is one show, but it runs nearly 3 hours, it is the complete program of 20 Years Anniversary - The Concert. That last program is a full concert, featuring 34 songs. Man, that is one long show!

Warrior Soul - On the Road is a documentary blending live concert footage with behind the scenes footage and interviews. This was my first official introduction to the music of Doro Pesch, and I liked what I saw. When the first song started, "Earthshaker Rock," she burst onto the stage, flying blonde hair, incredible charisma, and a powerful voice. This program chronicles their European tour in support of her 2006 release, Warrior Soul. We follow her and her bandmates through Germany, Spain, Russia, and other locales and festivals. I was a little surprised to hear her speak in German, I had no idea she was German, I had to quickly put on the subtitles to understand as she spoke of how some of the venues mean so much, reminiscing back to her early days in Warlock. Other clips show the band horsing around, like her bass player creating the fictional Metal Mike who would respond to phone calls spreading the metal feeling. The performances were electric, she has this huge presence on the stage, and a fantastic voice to match.

20 Years Anniversary- The Movie is a cut 90 minute version of the concert that appears, in its entirety, on the second disk. During the movie, there is interview footage with Doro, and some of the guests, including former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bailey, Udo Dirkschneider of Accept, and Lemmy Kilmister of the legendary Motorhead. There are the congratulations to Doro for her long career, thank yous for what she has meant to them, plus talk about the show and aspects like realizing just how long the show was and how difficult it was to pull everything together. Doro talked about sharing the stage with the original members of Warlock again, and what it was like to perform with Lemmy and Mikkey Dee. Not terribly informative, I think the first show had more actual information, but this one had this upbeat feeling of joy that was quite infectious.

20 Years Anniversary - The Concert is the heart and soul of this set. While the docu-concert footage of the first disk was nice, but all of us headbangers live for the metal, and this three hour concert delivers that in spades. The show opens with the band obscured by a curtain, only silhouettes visible to the crowd, an explosion of sparks and the curtain is taken away revealing the band at the beginning of "Rule the Ruins." The concert is loud, tight, and filled with that old school metal sound that is lacking in most of the new metal acts that are rising through the ranks. I am not sure I would consider this classic stuff, but it is definitely towards the top. Doro Pesch is one of the few female metal singers in the business, much less one that has had a career that is north of twenty years. She is a queen of metal, giving the metal attitude and possessing a fantastic voice. This concert was a long time in the planning, spanning an extensive setlist covering old Warlock material, early Doro material, right up to the more recent songs. In addition to all of the original material, there are a number of cover tracks strewn throughout, including "Whiter Shade of Pale," White Wedding," "You've Got Another Thing Coming," and "Born to be Wild." Mixed in with that is a list of guest stars, including the original Warlock, Saxon, Blaze Bailey, Lemmy, Udo Dirkschneider, and Claus Lessner.

For the most part, the performance is spot on, although they play fast and loose at times, clearly having fun. I do have to mention that it was funny watching Blaze Bailey trying to sing while reading the lyrics off of sheets on stage for the song "Bad Blood." He was standing in a crouched stance, eyes aimed downward, right arm doing the metal frontman thing, it looked rather ridiculous, though he sounded quite good. Everything was building to the finale of "All We Are," featuring all of the guests coming onstage to sing along. It was a great moment, and a perfect capper to the long night of music.

Audio/Video. The set I had for this review was a promo set, so I am unsure how it compares to the commercial availability. The only thing I hope is that the video quality is better. The video on the set is horrendous, suffering from all manner of compression issues, it is blocky and is not at all pleasing. The first disk is non-anamorphic widescreen, and the second disk is full frame. Audio, on the other hand is quite good, not great, but good, and it is available in two flavors: PCM 2.0 stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1.

Extras. With all of this concert footage, you want extras? Well, there are none. I don't think it really needs any, although maybe a video or two would have been nice. But then, it would probably just prove to worsen the compression issues that plagued the set I received.

Bottomline. If you are a fan of Doro, this is a must have. If you are a fan of old school metal, this is for you. I had a blast with the content, if not the presentation. If you find it for the right price, it is a must have. Definitely give this a view and have some fun with it.

Recommended (based on content alone).