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Forty years of career in metal for Doro Pesch, and she's celebrating it partly by releasing this album that clocks in at just under 77 minutes on this 2CD version (the regular version is about 55 minutes). That's definitely on the long side, though even with the bonus tracks, the album doesn't feel all that long. Obligatory mention of a couple of guests: Doro does a duet with Rob Halford on the covers of "Living After Midnight" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and one with Broilers' Sammy Amara on "Bond Unending." I'm not familiar with the latter, and everyone reading this should know who the former is. The cover of "Living After Midnight" is pretty cool, and the same goes for "Total Eclipse of the Heart," though that doesn't rock quite as much (duh). The 2CD version ends with a cool cover of Metallica's "Four Horsemen."

Leaving the covers aside, the album is filled with mostly '80s-sounding hard rocking metal songs; they're metal enough, but accessible and likely to not turn off those into softer genres of music - basically no surprise in the Doro catalogue, though it must be said that after all this time she's still got the chops to deliver the goods. It's hard to keep yourself from singing along with her on most songs as she still has that knack for catchy and memorable, powerful vocal lines. I like how meaty the guitars sound, heavy and crunchy on the more rocking numbers. I think a ballad or two could have been cut from this, maybe just keeping the cover of "Total Eclipse..." even, as it's really the rocking stuff that shines on this album and I found the ballads sometimes break the mood. Your mileage may vary. Nitpicking aside, this is yet another strong entry in Doro's discography.

Additional Information

2CD version with 5 bonus tracks reviewed.