Customer Reviews

Triumph & Agony

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was one of the most well rounded, and most impressive releases of the 80's Heavy Metal era in my opinion. "Triumph And Agony" is also the best release Warlock has ever put their name on....

Lead vocalist, and founding member Doro Peche is not only a total fox, she's got one hell of a voice as well. A pure Metal voice that is infectious, and beautiful at the same time. You'll fall in love with her if you're not careful. In 1987, I know I was....

"Triumph And Agony" was a graet purchace in 1987, and even today this release has stood the test of time as one of the best in Heavy Metal. Warlock totally rips on this release, and the songs are all very powerful and heartfelt. They had a unique sound, one that has not been duplictaed since IMO. I love this release, and from start to finish, it's a great ride. You wont know what hit you at first, and soon you'll understand why "Triumph And Agony' is so highly respected by Metal fans world wide.....

Do yourself a favor. Even if you've never heard Warlock, or anything Doro has done as solo artist, buy this immediately. It's a classic Metal masterpiece, and your collection wont be complete without it....

Highly Recommended. Five Stars.

It was in 1988 that I first heard Triumph and Agony, and Warlock, screaming pure rock; the type I hadn't heard of till that day. To be honest, I hadn't been curious about the band, and their style.I was then, influenced by much harder and heavier bands like Running Wild (of which I'm still a great fan)and Mercyful Fate.I wasd simply under an influence by many more thrash and black metal bands, therefore, I hadn't given a damn for slower and especially female singer featuring bands.How wrong had I been then!! Warlock was just the type I wanted to hear of, with incredibly agrressive riffs as in 'I rule the Ruins'.That was the first track I had heard in a tape which I had barrowed from a friend.This song struck me,and ý surely would be chasing after the entire album.Having bought it, I witnessed how heavy rock should be played,including both mysterious and sentimental lyrics throughout the album.Metal Tango,Kiss of Death,Touch of Evil,are timeless rockers, and Make Time for Love; this power bollad has the spirit of melancholy, and loneliness, it makes me want to fall in love each time I hear it,even today.Für Immer is also another power ballad, half German, half English totally different from the rest of the tracks in the album.Less solid, and talking of a mysterious love, which reveals the sentimental side of Doro.It fits her I confess, to scream for love as well as screaming for Burning the wiches! Metal Tango has the first and only tango rhythms adopted with electrical guitar, which drove me crazy back then.To sum up, the album is a complete success in German metal history,still stands proud against today's so called Underground and grunge..

Doro Pesch is one of the most underrated female rock singers of all time. Lita Ford always gets all the credit in the "metal chick singer" category but that's because not enough people have heard Doro's strong, powerful voice. This album rocks from start to finish. There are no skippers on this one. Doro can really wail, especially on "Touch of Evil" and "3 Minute Warning." The rhythmic bass crunch of "Metal Tango" and awesome, rockin' chorus of "I Rule the Ruins" are other standouts. If you like heavy, shredding guitar riffs with passionate vocals then add this album to your collection- it defines heavy metal.

Warlock is definetly an underrated band! there's so much good stuff on this cd when i heard it I thought this was too good for my ears to hear!! Doro Pesch is one of the best female vocalist ever and she's perfect for metal - specifically the music that she performs. Doro's aggressive yet melodic vocal approach is strong and she can out-aggress (haha?) male vocalists in metal as well. You might also wanna check out her solo band "Doro" but Warlock was definitely worth their existance while they lasted.

What's the 4-1-1?
Warlock started out in 1983 and released their first album Burning Witches a year later. The group was instantly compared to such heavy metal peers as Iron Maiden, Dio, Accept, and Judas Priest. In just four short years together, the group fronted by German vocalist Doro Pesch turned out four albums before calling it quits. Triumph and Agony was their final release together and it was probably their mot cohesive. The album starts off with the commanding rock anthem "All We Are". The groups doesn't hesitate to turn the energy and volume levels up to eleven as Doro belts out the resounding chorus with such power and melody.

Furious vocals and hard-charging rhythms propel "Three Minute Warning" into a heavy metal meltdown. "I Rule the Ruins" is a play on words that really implies that Doro rules the bedroom. Who am I to argue with her? She's backed-up by some great chugga-chugga riffs and wailing guitar solos. "Make Time for Love" is a somber ballad that centers in on Pesch's vocal abilities. The addition of piano helps add to the emotional level. "East Meets West" could pass for a war charge anthem. Only Doro could make "Metal Tango" sound so cool with her assuring and convincing delivery.

Warlock put the finally nail in their career with the ever-enduring ballad "Fur Immer". I have no clue what most of it means, but it sure is jarring and sad. That might have something to do with the warm strings and drum combination that makes up the music part of it. Doro Pesch went on to a successful solo career that continues to this day. I have no idea what happened to the rest of the group.

The Verdict
Warlock ended their partnership on a high note that left heavy metal fans with an instant classic.

Lets forget the fact that Doro is hot ... this album just plain blows the dust off your mullet. Assuming you still have one... but I digress. For those of you searching through all the crap that has turned our beloved Heavy Metal into the bad "Hair" cliche's (Whithout mentining any "Poison" names "winger"), you will be estatic to once again hear a classy talented band. Doro,the blond Siren who's vocals cut you to the bone, delivers shivers with cuts like "east meets west", and "all we are". Here's a revelation, the guitar work made from more than bad three chord blues riffs, whats that I hear, no pentatonic floundering, ahhh music.... A must hear five star HM album.

Whether due to a longer hiatus taken to write new material in between tours or the acquisition of Tommy Bolan on guitar, Triumph and Agony is a quantum leap above its predecessors in terms of production, musical diversity, atmosphere, and most significantly, songwriting. Though the preceding album True as Steel featured colorful songs and was a notable improvement after the lacklustre Hellbound, Warlock made the greatest qualitative progression on Triumph and Agony, which stands as its undisputed masterpiece. Never before or since has Doro sung such an exceptional catalogue of songs and to this day this album remains the crowning achievement of her career. From the opening a cappella anthemic chant of 'All We Are,' it is instantly audible that Warlock has progressed tremendously from earlier efforts in fashioning exciting and powerful musical intros.
Even on straightforward rockers like 'Three Second Warning' and 'I Rule the Ruins,' the choruses are melodic and instantly memorable, a significant advancement from the uniformity of aggressive yet pedestrian metal rockers which characterized the preponderence of Warlock's prior output. Another no-frills rocker, "East Meets West," makes adroit use of shrieking unison bends to complement the raging chorus and evince unfettered fury. However, the album's true brilliance lies in groundbreaking songs like 'Kiss of Death' and 'Metal Tango' which expand beyond the band's previous parochial musical range through contrasting tempo changes, sophisticated accoustic guitar arrangements, and by incorporating unlikely Spanish musical influences on the latter track. 'Kiss of Death' stands as one of Warlock's all time greatest works, with its quiet, ominous opening foreshadowing the simmering enmity implicit in Doro's lyrics. Like Metallica's 'One' and Ozzy's 'Diary of a Madman,' the haunting intro is employed not solely to exhibit musical versatility but more importantly, to underscore the portending horror underneath which explodes upon the seams with the sudden application of distortion pedals for the exhilerating verse bridge. As a consequence of this color, Doro's tale of a vampire creature with insatiable lust transcends the campy occultism of Warlock's previous albums. Whereas on earlier tracks demonic imagery was utilized as an obligatory lyrical backdrop for traditional, non-AOR metal, on 'Kiss of Death,' it truly seems Doro is enraged and we no longer doubt the sincerity of her screams not just for shock value but in evoking the rampage of her demonic persona as "the nightmare you will not survive." While the absence of such chromatic songs like this deprived Warlock's previous works from garnering serious attention or respectability, the appearance of 'Kiss of Death' on the fourth album is hardly belated; experience and progression were imperative for Warlock to attain the musical sophistication and exuberance present on this fantastic track.
Notwithstanding these high points, Triumph and Agony's true apogee is the ambitious 'Time for Love.' Like 'Kiss of Death,' it features another deceptively tranquil introduction masking the unbridled emotions, yet there are longer verses with audacious accoustic guitar and piano accompaniment (the latter courtesy of Doro) presaging the explosive chorus. Unless one includes the raucous finale of 'Love Song' from True as Steel, 'Time for Love' is Warlock's first mature power ballad. Significantly, Doro's first serious lyrical foray into romance is also her best, for instead of indulging in the trite themes of unrequited love which would dominate her subsequent solo albums, here she gives rock music's most rudimentary topic a provocative and creative twist while retaining the familiar gothic setting of Warlock's past albums: the tale of an irreproachable Viking (or in this case more likely a Valkyrie) who has encountered her first fear in love. Although apparently impervious in battle, Doro's character must succumb to this temptation otherwise she will be forever tormented by being "afraid of love." Insisting that she is a "lion that has never been tamed," she engages in a moving, contemplating self-analysis whereby she swallows her warrior pride and vows to "make time for love."
The album's only flaw which prevents it from receiving a five star rating is the otherwise conventional and unimaginative "Touch of Evil," which instantly recalls the uninspired filler material of preceding albums which Warlock had commendably largely largely transcended throughout Triumph and Agony. Nevertheless, this is only a minor blemish in a record which easily ranks in my opinion among the top five metal albums of 1987 and top twenty of the 80's.
Triumph and Agony fittingly concludes with the moving ballad "Fur Immer," a significant track which, although musically consistent with the haunting ambience of the album, in may ways symbolizes the end of Warlock and the commencement of Doro's solo career. By the release of Triumph and Agony, Warlock had essentially become a vehicle for Doro with her bandmates relegated in the background, a fact particularly illustrated in the video to Fur Immer (as well as the album's cover), where Doro is the only band member depicted. Likewise, Fur Immer heralded the mellower, ballad-oriented direction Doro would subsequently pursue in her solo albums (although without the same efficacity), particularly on "The Trees" from Force Majeure. Given Doro's no longer underplayed dominance, it was thus inevitable that Warlock disbanded not long after the release of Triumph and Agony. However, her inferior solo recordings would quickly indicate that it was hardly her sole contributions which made Triumph and Agony the artistic zenith of Doro's entire career. While her solo albums featured exceptional session musicians, whether due to Doro's determination to achieve more commercial appeal (like the desperately Top 40-aspirant track "Unholy Love" from her self- titled second solo album) or her inability to prevent constant lineup rotations, there was a unique chemistry in Triumph and Agony which she has never been able to recapture again.

This really is the epitome of what metal is all about. All We Are is a great sing along classic. I Rule the Ruins has the greatest guitar intro ever - it'll absolutely blow you away it is so cool. Every song is a major winner - no duds. Unfortunately Doro whether in Warlock or solo has never received the unbridled success she deserves, so you probably haven't heard these on the radio. Get it anyway, if you like metal (Kiss, AC/DC, Metallica, Judas Priest)

A true classic of the late 80s Metal scene is this Power Metal release, the last of four amazing albums from Germany's Warlock. The band was basically Accept with a sexy female vocalist. It was a good simple formula and Doro Pesch's vocals were unique and strangely soulful, while remaining committed to Metal. The heaviness was hardly compromised and this may be the most succesful Metal act with a Female vocalist ever.

The songs are all classics, but leading the pack is the album's opener and the band's most beloved track that being the insanely anthemic, "All We Are". The lyrics to this one don't really make alot of sense, but it's one of the most singable and fun Metal recordings ever. The track is firmly established among the list of great Hard Rock/Metal anthems.

"I Rule the Ruins' is probally my personal favorite Warlock song with a commanding Halford like dominance by Doro in a song about a destroyed relationship that could find itself repaired. The riff by lead guitarist, "T.Bolan" is a classic and this ranks as much a fistpumper as an emotional epic.

Other classics include Metallic speedsters like "Three Minute Warning"(complete with Doro making some cute noise on the mic in the beginning), the heavy "Kiss of Death", and the melodic, " East Meets West".
The album closes with the masterful balladry of "Fur Immer", which features one of Ms. Pesch's most passionate vocal performances, singing in both German and English.

This is a thoroughly delightful Metal album that all serious students of the genre should have in his/her collection. That especially rings true if you enjoy Accept and the vintage Metal sound of the 80s. I'd reccomend the other three Warlock albums as well, but this is the one to own. A classic all the way.
Doro still rules the ruins.

Cover Art:I love this cover. Totally awesome painting depicting a Warlock/Demon Guy feeling up Doro Pesch on the cover, who's looking typically sexy in tight black leather and showing alot of skin. I love where the Demon dude's hands ended up! Ha! Totally sets up the mood of this album perfectly.
Special Note: One of my fifty favorite albums of all time.

This is some of the BEST 80's heavy metal of that decade. Doro really belts out her sexy soul. The entire record is consistant with pure heavy metal bliss. 'All We Are' is surely an anthem that makes you shout along and pump your fist in the air, and an absolute requirement in her live shows.
Highly Recommended!