DORO - WARRIORS OF THE SEA - ALBUM REVIEW

I've spent most of two decades keeping diesels running on container ships and

keeping temperamental propeller systems running in Force 9 gales, but now I'm

landlocked running office administration in a logistics company, and it's slowly

draining the life out of me. My office has a view over a car park. A car park. The only

waves I get to look at are those people trade in for me down the corridor. The closest 

I get to fluid tests is refilling the coffee pot, and the most exciting alarm that I ever

receive is someone's cell phone ringing in meetings. So when I was told Doro was

releasing an album literally filled with Blue Curaçao that you can actually drink, one

that was directly themed around sea-faring metal cruises, something in my salt-

crusted heart just clicked. This wasn't music – this was a distress call from the

universe telling me I needed to return where I belonged.

"Warriors Of The Sea" could be the most ship-shape album I've heard since I last

experienced a roll of deck under my feet some eighteen months prior.

Let's start with the brazenness of the Liquid Filled Vinyl idea. In more than forty years

of recording, Doro has never done anything like this before, and honestly, I can

understand why – the engineering tolerances are likely to be a nightmare. As

someone who has spent hours upon hours ensuring good fluid dynamics in closed

systems under different pressure regimes, I have to admire the technical

achievement here. They flirted with filling it with Rhine water (which would have been

highly themed but maybe corrosive to vinyl compounds), but wisely opted for Blue

Curaçao instead. Increased viscosity, better color, better flavor, and probably better

chemical compatibility with the materials. That's good sound engineering there.

Released on Doro's own label, Rare Diamonds Production, via Edel, and in three

forms: the solely limited Liquid Filled Vinyl (which I obviously had to buy), CD

Digipak, and Picture Disc Vinyl. I have the liquid one sitting on my desk at the

moment like a trophy, a reminder that some still build things that are wonderfully,

wonderfully impractical and the better for it.

The history behind this album couldn't be more perfect. Two completely sold-out

"Metal Queen Metal Cruises" in late May and early June 2025, both very successful,

generated interest in more. There's a third cruise scheduled for June 6, 2026, and

I'm already figuring my finances to see if I can make it. The idea of combining metal

music and sea travel resonates something primal in me – the great big ocean and

the untamed raw power of heavy metal. It's like at last someone saw that some

people require both the mechanical growl of guitar sounds and diesel growl of ship

engines to be alive. The theme song was written especially for the cruise, and its

liquid inspiration in its finest form – and I'm not talking about the alcohol drifting

around in that wonderfully insane vinyl cut.

This anthem has the rhythmic push of twin screws pushing ahead at full speed, that

constant forward push you need when you're six hours on at midnight watch, console 

lights flashing off your coffee cup, and you're fighting to stay awake while monitoring

a thousand discrete systems. Doro's vocals come down with the precision of a finely

tuned engine governor – no overshoot, no lag, pure raw controlled power delivery.

The lady's played this tune for over forty years now, and she still owns her range as

a veteran captain owns their bridge. When she belts out the chorus, it's got that very

same gut-level oomph you get in your chest when the main engines first light up after 

a cold start. This song immediately turned into a summer festival anthem all around

the world, and I can simply see why. It's a fist-waving, glass-waving, anchor-waving

anthem all at once. Side A delivers the studio deep cuts with an energy that recalls

starting a morning watch with all clicking like a well-oiled machine.

“Touch Too Much”, a retooled AC/DC cover that feels like someone polished it with

engine oil and attitude. Her version’s less barroom, more battleship — a metallic

flirtation that turns into a full broadside.

"Tattooed Angels," however, is something different – in this one, Doro gets to show

off her chops. This one has a slightly different feel, more melodic, more ambient. It

makes me think of those occasional quiet moments at sea – perhaps a serene

sunset vigil when all's going just right and you can actually get out for a second and

breathe. The salty air, the infinite horizon, the satisfaction that you're living exactly

the way you're supposed to.". The production here is immaculate; you can

distinguish every element distinctly, such as a well-organized engine room where all

parts are available and in good condition.

"Horns Up High" brings us back to full speed. This is metal festival in all its glory,

the kind of tune for crowds of humans flinging their horns into the air. The rhythm

section here is a highly polished fuel injection system – strong, accurate, and

completely relentless. As one who appreciates good mechanical timing, I can

appreciate the drumming anchoring this backdrop. It's as steady as a gyrocompass

and twice as important.

Seelied  is an interesting piece, slightly more adventurous in its composition. It's

one of the less common pieces on Doro's catalog, and it leads nicely into the live

material. The rhythm has a quality about it that's almost hypnotic, like the relentless

thud of a ship's engine that you only notice you're used to once it's stopped. The

lyrics contain that warlike spirit that runs throughout the entire album – suitable for

those of us who feel our work is a form of warfare, against nature or against our own

tendency to roll over and take the path of least resistance. Side B is where things get 

real.

"Children of the Dawn" begins the live 2024/25 tour recordings with ambient

background noise that's similar to the sound of wind howling through rigging, and

before you know it, you're not home anymore – you're there, shoulder-to-shoulder in

some dank metal club with scores of other metal warriors, surrounded by the shared

energy of those who comprehend that music this potent isn't heard alone. The live

sound is excellent; you can feel the raw immediacy without it sounding confused or

poorly recorded. Doro's vocals possess that extra power that comes from energizing

from the crowd, and the band itself is tight. This is an oiled machine, a crew that

knows the other members' rhythms by osmosis. That's what you get when you've

been doing the circuit as long as Doro has – you acquire that almost telepathic

connection that you also see in old ships' hands that have fought hard seas together. 

"Fire in the Sky" crashes like a rogue wave – swift, forceful, inexorable.

The energy is incredible here, the kind of raw adrenaline surge you get when an

alarm goes off and you're dashing through companionways, your training in the

Ascendum, your body just in the know before your head really gets a grip on what's

going down. The guitar solo on this song is just incredible, riding above the bedrock

like a ship breaking a gigantic wave. This makes me think of a night shift a few years

back when we rode out the rear of a tropical storm. There was this impossible

mixture of black clouds and lightning in the air, and there was something almost

supernatural about keeping those engines purring smoothly in the face of it as nature 

threw everything she had our way. This is the feeling that this track captures – pent-

up power amidst turmoil.

"Revenge" is dense. Flat-out dense. This one's loaded with the gravitas of a freight

hold full of cargo and the dynamo to haul it along. The beats on this one sound like

sledgehammer strikes on steel plate, and Doro's vocals exhibit that righteous anger

every engineer recognizes – the fury you experience when a system crashes not

because of wear or age, but because someone somewhere cut corners or ignored

proper protocols. This song is about standing up, about not getting beat, about

standing up every time you get knocked down. I felt it when we worked my last

contract prior to being marooned on land. Equipment breakdown, manning

shortages, unrealistic schedules, and an administration that didn't care (or know)

what it took to keep a ship running safely. We fought through it, we did our job, and

we brought the ship home. This song is for everyone who's ever had to be stronger

than they ever thought they could be. "Above the Ashes" features phoenix mythology 

– out of the ashes, rebirth and stronger.

The live energy in this is just amazing, and you can hear the audience singing along, 

being part of the performance. It's that great moment when that boundary between

performer and audience disappears, when everybody is involved in the event. I've

felt something similar in the esprit de corps of a good ship's crew – that sense of

belonging to something bigger than yourself, of all individual effort being combined to

create one, cohesive unit. These harmonies in this guitar playing are sublime,

soaring and powerful, and the bridge section makes hairs stand on the back of my

neck every time I hear it. This is craftsmanship. This is art. This is what you achieve

when technical skill is combined with genuine passion. The closer, "Raise Your Fist

in the Air," is the showstopper, the anthem that sends everybody home with a racing

heart and their spirits raised.

This is raw, unvarnished metal victory, a rebellious anthem of defiance and solidarity

and refusal to bend or break. The sing-along crowd is massive here – you can hear

thousands of voices in perfect harmony with Doro, and it swells into this massive

tidal wave of sound that's both powerful and strangely affecting. When Doro shouts

at everyone to raise their fists in the air, I dare you not to do just that, even if you're

alone in your living room. It's primitive, it's tribal, it's a declaration that we're still

around, still fighting, still hoping in the power of music to bring us together and

motivate us. The song peaks at this tremendous crescendo, the band sounding at

full power, the audience absolutely wild, and then suddenly it's over – but not quite,

because the energy stays with you, buzzing in your system like the residual vibration 

that's left in your bones after spending hours in an engine room.

What's so great about "Warriors Of The Sea" isn't the music per se – although the

music is great – it's the concept, the atmosphere Doro's creating with these Metal

Cruises, the understanding that metal isn't really a genre, it's a lifestyle, a mindset, a

way of being in the world.

The entire "Warriors and Cruise" theme planning is pure genius. Doro's onto

something here. We are all warriors in our own unique way, whether we are battling

spreadsheets or storm-tossed seas, whether we are battling our own devils or

institutional problems, whether we are battling to keep ancient technology running or

battling to keep our own souls from corroding in the poisons of modern life. This

album is for anyone who's ever felt like they were born in the wrong place, doing the

wrong work, living the wrong life – and who refuses to accept that as their final fate.

The mixing of live recordings and studio oddities is excellent pacing for the album.

Side A gives you room to gasp over the technical skill, the studio gloss, the

measured construction of these songs. Side B makes you remember why this music

has to be lived, preferably with others, preferably at volumes that make your chest

thump like a sounding board.

The studio tracks have that kind of clarity and separation you want with each

instrument in its own area in the mix without congestion and muddiness. The live

tracks have wonderful fidelity with that rough, up-close sense that live recordings

achieve. Whatever mixing and mic placement they used, it worked. The pressure of

the vinyl is also spot on. I was initially concerned that the liquid-filled build would ruin

the sound quality, but I'm happy to report that this thing sounds downright fantastic.

The grooves are gritty, the tracking is solid, and the whole experience is exactly what 

vinyl is all about – warm, rich, and immersive in a way that digital media periodically

can't reach. I've been trying to figure out why this album resonates with me so

intensely, and I think it's this: it's everything I'm not finding in my life at the moment.

Adventure. Purpose. The sense of belonging to a team working toward a common

goal. The knowledge that what you are doing matters, that your skills and experience

are being used for something meaningful. Every day I spend sitting here at this desk, 

I feel parts of me fade away. The instincts that served me well on the saltwater are

dulling. The calluses on my hands are softening. The sun-scarred lines creased into

my face are fading. I'm becoming office-suave, and it frightens me. But hearing

"Warriors Of The Sea," I recall what I am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDNmPiESr7s-Q&v=NmPiESr7s-Q

I recall the rush of solving an issue in a crisis. I recall the pride of watch standing

while others slept, knowing the ship and its people were counting on systems I had

maintained in prime working condition. I remember being on deck early in the

morning, watching the dolphins speed by us, more awake and alert than I've ever

been in an office. This album reminds us that it is never too late. The ships are still

out there. The sea is still calling. And maybe, just maybe, there is still a berth

somewhere with my name on it. "Warriors Of The Sea" is more than simply a good

metal album – although it is unequivocally that.

It's a testament to camaraderie, to enthusiasm, to not letting your flames get doused

by situations. It's evidence that Doro, after over forty years in the industry, still has

the ability to move and bring people together through music. The liquid-filled vinyl is

a masterpiece of impractical brilliance that perfectly captures the spirit of metal and

seafaring culture – risk-taking, daring, and completely memorable. Both studio gems

and electrifying live shows have been well-crafted. The overall production is

outstanding in all ways. And the entire presentation appeals to something more than

entertainment – it appeals to identity, to belonging, to the warrior ethos that will not

be tamed or broken. For Doro fans, this is clearly paramount.

For collectors and metal aficionados, the novelty packaging and rare material make it 

a necessity. But most of all, for anyone ever trapped in the wrong life, working the

wrong job, little by little forgetting who they truly are – this record is a lifeline, a

reminder that the quest never ends, that the ocean remains beyond the horizon, that

the warrior soul doesn't die just because you're momentarily grounded. Now if I may,

I need to update my CV, start looking for marine engineering work, and perhaps book

a spot on said June 2026 Metal Cruise. This album's set me back on track, and it

damn well isn't behind a desk staring over a car park. Maybe I'll see some of you out

there – out on the sea, where the warriors are supposed to be.

Score: 9/10 — A true vessel of sound, seaworthy, unbreakable, and burning

with the kind of metal heart that never stops moving forward.

P.S. Doro, if you’re looking for a deck hand on the 2026 cruise, I’m available.

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