During an appearance on yesterday’s (Tuesday, September 12) episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”German metal queen Doro Pesch revealed that her upcoming studio album, “Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud”will include two separate duets with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford: the recently released cover of the PRIEST classic “Living After Midnight” and a version of the 1983 global smash hit “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”written by Jim Steinman and originally performed by the Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler.
“The record has 20 songs on it, and I think they all sound killer,” Doro said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And it has three duets on it, and two duets with my favorite, with Rob Halford of JUDAS PRIESTand I can’t believe it. It’s so awesome to me. I was a big, big PRIEST fan, and it was my very first big tour in 1986. And [Rob and I] met [again] last year in France at Hellfesta great festival. And then we were talking, hanging out. And then we said, ‘Hey, let’s do something together.’ So we did two duets. And the first one is ‘Living After Midnight’. That was my choice, because I loved singing it. It was always a feel-good song. And then Rob Halford said, ‘I have the song I always wanted to do with you. It’s ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’.’ And that came out so great. When you hear it, you can tell Rob loves the song and I’m so happy. Even two duets, man. That’s more than I can ask for. I’m a lucky baby, I tell you.”
Asked if “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”will be a bonus track on the album, since it didn’t appear in the LP’s original track listing, Doro said: “It is on the record, but it just got finished a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I delivered the record and the vinyl is already done. And then I got an e-mail. Rob Halford said, ‘Hey, what about the second song?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, man. That’s too good to be true.’ And then we did the second song. And it just got done a couple of weeks ago. We will do a video for that song, and it will come out — the video and the single will come out the day the record will be released, so on the 27th of October. But it came out so awesome. And oh, man, that was just the icing on the cake. I thought I was done with record. And [PRIEST producer] Andy Snapehe worked on it, and my guys worked on it, and it was a great teamwork. And Rob Halford sounds so great on it. It’s, like, wow. It’s definitely one of my absolute favorite songs of this album, and it sounds really, really special. You have to check it out. But yeah, it’s brand new — just got done; mastering just got done. And video we are doing in a few weeks.”
Pressed by host Eddie Trunk whether her version of “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” is “heavy”, Doro said: “Yes, yes, it is heavy, and it’s, like, wow. It’s very heavy, but it sounds great, I think, yeah. I think it’s a killer version. I always get goosebumps when I hear it. And I think other people who heard it, they thought, ‘Wow.’
“I think all my dreams came true working with all these great people, all my heroes, all people who inspired me so much,” Doro added. “And [PRIEST] was my very first tour in Europe in ’86 when metal was so huge. And it was such a great tour. So [Rob and I] finally did something together. And we always stayed friends. So I think that makes this album even more special to me, and I think many fans will love it.”
“Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud” is described in a press release as “the result of intensive hard work that took the incomparable singer and songwriter back to studios in Miami, New York and Hamburg, amongst others. The album presents Doro at the height of her creative powers.”
This past June, Doro released “Time For Justice”the first single from “Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud”along with a “Mad Max”-style video. The clip was filmed with director Mirko Witzki (CALIBAN, ANY GIVEN DAY, EMIL BULLS).
“Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud” will arrive one day before Doro‘s 40th-anniversary concert at the Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf, Germany.
“Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud” track listing:
CD 1
01. Children Of The Dawn
02. Fire In The Sky
03. Living After Midnight
04. All For You
05. Lean Mean Rock Machine
06. I Will Prevail
07. Bond Unending
08. Time For Justice
09. Rock In The Surf
10. Love Breaks Chains
11. Drive Me Wild
12. Rise
13. Best In Me
14. Heavenly Creatures
15. Total Eclipse Of The Heart
CD 2
16. Warlocks And Witches (Intro) (Bonus Track)
17. Horns Up High (Bonus Track)
18. True Metal Maniacs (Bonus Track)
19. Heart In Pain (Bonus Track)
20. The Four Horsemen (Bonus Track)
Doro‘s last album, 2018’s “Forever Warriors, Forever United” featured 19 regular tracks and six bonus songs.
In September 2022, Doro released a very unique single — a soulful adaptation of her classic metal anthem “Raise Your Fist In The Air”. The track was made possible by the new ZDF (national German TV channel) music show “Music Impossible”.
In celebration of 35 years of the “Triumph And Agony” album from her former band WARLOCK, Doro released “Triumph And Agony Live” in various formats, including CD, vinyl, cassette, DVD, Blu-ray, and a huge box set, in September 2021 through her own label, Rare Diamonds Productions. The “Triumph And Agony” artwork centered on Geoffrey Gillespie‘s famous original drawing of the “Warlock” embracing the blonde rock star.
Doro Pesch photo credit: Jochen Rolfes for Nuclear Blast
