Customer Reviews

Classic Diamonds

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like it, but I am a Doro homer. I had the Let it Rain On Me EP first, and the Breaking the Law version is better on it than this one. I Rule the Ruins is the same, as is Let Love Rain on Me. All We Are was merely adequate, but she nailed Tausend Mal Gelebt. I would have rather heard her do Beyond The Trees over She's Like Thunder, and maybe could have used one less ballad and had one more rocker. Sound is very good, but my disc had 4 or 5 songs that start, go for a fraction of a second, then start again. A slight annoyance I will have to edit. I would also like to hear her cover "Gravedigger" by Dave Matthews band with the Classic Night Orchestra. Still 5 stars, and you may as well get the Love Rain On Me EP too.

For a while there in the 90's it appeared that classical co-operations were coming from all directions. But they were actually very few. The Scorpions were initially approached by Michael Kamen but the two parties couldn't agree on an artistic level, so Kamen went to Metallica. Scorpions did it their own way. Yngwie Malmsteen wrote an entire classical concerto for electric guitar leaning heavily on the aid of his keyboardist Mats Olausson. And Hungarian guitarist Tamas Szekeres stripped everything else away and did purely classical acoustic guitar on his Classical Attitudes album. And then of course there were the stack of bands utilising orchestras to bolster their rock/metal outings, and it's this second camp that has predominated as stacks of bands of Within Temptation ilk to death metal outfits have added it to their sound.

This album by German `metal queen' Doro falls into the former territory by the skin of it's teeth as the instrumentation is more purely classical via The Classic Night Orchestra though there is also the presence of an `electric' band bolstering proceedings. For something different this is definitely an interesting proposition and I find it gracing my stereo more than I'd anticipated when I picked it up quite cheap. Doro seems in fine voice, the more subdued vocal styling she uses here is perhaps more comfortable for her natural range these days. And it's a credit to all involved how well the orchestral elements hook in - mainly taking the place of the guitars in the original versions. Personal faves are probably the songs that were more `metal' in their original form as they present more of a study in variation - stuff like I Rule The Ruins, Metal Tango and All We Are and the cover of Judas Priests Breaking The Law is guaranteed to grab your ear. Conversely, Fur Immer gains an extra poignancy in this format.

A couple of these classical songs were included as extra tracks on the Let Love Rain On Me single, practically turning it into an EP. And this disc includes a couple of bonus tracks - one of which is She's Like Thunder which is dedicated to champion boxer Regina Halmich. There is also a video track if you load the thing up to your PC which has a video teaser and some wallpaper shots.

The booklet comes with full lyrics and comprehensive credits for all the musicians involved, which is a nice touch. All up my take is that this is a quality product that any Doro or Warlock fan really should get a hold of as it is not only a fun diversion but a good album.

This cd is excellent! After being in the business over 20 years Doro is still the most original metal artist! Her version of Breaking The Law is brilliant!!

When I popped this in, I wasn't sure of what to expect. I was a little disappointed with some of the songs that she chose to have on this CD after I heard them. I Rule The Ruins would be better if it was slowed down a bit more. Metal Tango files under the same as I Rule The Ruins. Breaking The Law is good, would be better without UDO singing on this version. All We Are should never have been placed on here. Fur Immer I like this one better. Let Love Rain On Me is also good. Burn It Up shouldn't have been on here. Tausend Mal Gelebt is good. I'm In Love With You is good. Always Live To Win here again she's trying to rock with the orchestra and that doesn't doesn't work. Undying isn't the same as the original, but I like this version. Love Me In Black, I don't think that any other than the original would give this song justice, but bravo for trying, I do like it, but the original is better. She's Like Thunder, this version just isn't for me. I gave it a low score for the reason that the orchestra didn't shine has hard as it could have. This reminds me of the other bands that released themselves with orchestras. This isn't anything original, just the arrangements have been changed a bit and thats it. I bought this cause I love Doro and I wanted to hear her with an orchestra. I'm still a fan, still will buy her CD's, just will wait till I find her with an orchestra in a used bin somewhere before I buy it.