Warlock (Band)
Warlock was a German heavy metal band that was founded in late 1982 in Dusseldorf. Stylistically, the band is to be compared for example with Judas Priest or Accept.
History
The foundation stone for the band laid the former singer Doro Pesch Snakebite, guitarist Rudy Graf, bassist Frank Rittel and Stallion drummer Thomas Franke, founded together in 1981 Beast. With the addition of second guitarist Peter Szigeti and new drummer Michael Eurich, who got into the boat for Thomas Franke, they named themselves 1982 in Warlock. Doro Pesch should be one of the first female metal singers, representing the center of the band. With the first demo the band managed to secure a recording contract with the Belgian label Mausoleum Records.
In 1984 the debut album Burning the Witches, which was so well received both in the press and among fans that the band moved to the larger record label Phonogram shortly thereafter. While Burning the Witches was even something raw and speed rather heavy, is the 1985 album "Hell Bound" considerably more massive, slightly sinister and absolutely assigned to the Power Metal. At this time the band was already alongside the greats on the stage. To play on the Metal Hammer Festival at the Loreley along with bands such as Metallica, Venom, Pretty Maids and Running Wild. With their third album True as Steel Warlock showed up again by her powerful, but much more modern side, which Rudy Graf did not like what he was in 1986 left the band and was replaced by Niko Arvanitis. With the band it went uphill. They opened not only for W.A.S.P. on their UK tour and traveled with the heavy metal giants Judas Priest through Europe, Doro was also the first woman ever on stage at the legendary British mega- festival " Monsters of Rock" at Donington.
After another line-up change ( Frank Rittel and Peter Szigeti left Warlock and founded, together with the previous Accept singer Udo Dirk Schneider, the band UDO, later ( 1991), and without Dirk Schneider, the group Coracko ) appeared in 1987, the album Triumph and Agony on which the band remembered back to their strengths, namely traditional Heavy Metal. With this album, the band now also managed the international break, followed by major tours among others with Dio and Megadeth, to Doro Pesch decided to start a solo career, and broke up the band.
2004 came as part of a "Special Reunion Show", the band once again in an old cast under the name Warlock part of the Wacken Open Air, which was objected to by the band co-founder legally Rudy Graf, since the naming rights were claimed by his side. At the same time Rudy Graf worked with a new line -up at a Rebirth in the sense of the old approach and asked the prospect of production with Rail Rudnik ( Hoehner, Zeltinger, Ute Freudenberg) as producers was discarded because no satisfactory agreement for all parties involved regarding the naming rights could be achieved.
Style
With Doro Pesch as a singer, which was in the early 1980s in heavy metal segment is still very unusual, the band from other bands of the genre, which usually had male singers differed. Although there were in the field Hardrock already bands with female lead vocals (for example, Suzi Quatro, Heart, Pat Benatar, The Runaways, Lita Ford, Toronto, Tantrum ), but except for the Canadian singer Lee Aaron, the band Girlschool, Rock Goddess, Chastain and Wendy O. Williams existed worldwide little like it on the musical overall, harder heavy metal sector. This circumstance also meant that the band due to Doro could awaken from the outset a larger media and also Faninteresse than the musically comparable newcomer band competition this time.
Others
The cover of the Picture Disc LP of the last Warlock Triumph and Agony studio album received an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest album covers in the world. Folded to stand it comes down to a size of about 85 × 60 cm.
Discography
Studio albums
Compilations
Singles
Bootlegs
Demo recordings
Tribute album
- 2008: Tribute to Steel