Doro: World Gone Wild (Box Set)

Shortly after German heavy metal band Warlock split at the end of the 1980s, singer Doro Pesch launched a solo career that carried forward the Warlock sound and is still going strong to this day. Her early albums, including the classic 1989 debut Force Majeure, have never been properly reissued…until now.

Released late last year on the Caroline label, World Gone Wild is a box set featuring Doro’s first five studio albums and first live release. All six albums have been remastered for the first time ever, and most include bonus tracks. Here’s the breakdown:

Disc 1: 1989’s Force Majeure. Doro’s solo debut is the one that was closest to the classic Warlock sound, and features songs like “World Gone Wild,” “I Am What I Am” and a moving cover of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Bonus tracks on this disc are a live version of “Fur Immer” and “I Rule the Ruins,” both from the Hard Times EP.

Disc 2: 1990’s Doro. Similar in style to Force Majeure, the Gene Simmons-produced Doro features classics “Unholy Love” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” There are no bonus tracks on this disc, but the remastering makes that easy to forgive.

Disc 3: 1991’s True At Heart. This is where Doro’s sound started to soften a bit. It’s more a melodic rock album than a metal one, with love songs like “Heartshaped Tattoo” and “I Know You By Heart” dominating. Again, no bonus tracks here.

Disc 4: 1993’s Angels Never Die. This is another melodic rocker, with producer Jack Ponti’s (Baton Rouge, Surgin’) touch more than evident. It may not have the steel Force Majeure had, but Doro does melodic hard rock really well, so it’s hard to deny how good songs like “Bad Blood” and “Heaven With You” are. Bonus tracks on this disc are a live version of “Rare Diamond” and the b-side “Children of the Night” from the Bad Blood single.

Disc 5: 1993’s Doro Live. Doro’s first-ever live album shows just how incredible a performer she is. It captures her in her prime, belting out favorites from her solo career as well as the expected Warlock classics. This disc has the bonus track “In Freiheit Stirbt Mein Herz.”

Disc 6: 1995’s Machine II Machine. This album didn’t get much love at the time, and to be honest it doesn’t hold up all that well now. It’s poppier, techno-ish, less-focused overall, and doesn’t have much in the way of standout tracks. Still, it’s part of the Doro story and is worth hearing. The bonus tracks here are “You Got Me Singing” and “Dirty Diamonds,” both from the In Freiheit Stirbt Mein Herz EP.

The remastering on these discs is nicely done. Like the recent Dio reissue box set, they’ve cleaned up these old albums without simply jacking up the volume.

The packaging is this set’s weak point. Each disc comes in a thin cardboard sleeve with the album art on it. The outer clamshell box is nice and sturdy, but if you want to properly display and actually listen to these discs more than once, you’ll probably want to rack them in slimline jewel cases outside the box. They do get major props for including a nice booklet with the original album credits and a long essay by Classic Rock scribe Malcolm Dome. Sure, a deluxe box with each album in its own jewel case would have been great, but then World Gone Wild would cost twice the approximately $30 retail price.

If you’ve never given Doro’s solo albums a try, or only have her newer AFM and Nuclear Blast releases, World Gone Wild is the perfect way to catch up on her early years in one great sounding, reasonably priced set. Even if you already have these albums, the remastered audio and bonus tracks make this a very tempting upgrade.

Label: Caroline

Where to get it: http://amzn.to/2cX72Ur

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