MetalJazz

We asked some tough questions of the German metal queen Doro Pesch and answered them via AI.
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MJ: The leadoff tune has good heft and hooks. Why are we/you the "Children of the Dawn"?
SubstiDoro: Because even though we're veteran metal warriors, we feel like we're just getting started. This should be obvious. Do you wish to taste my steel?
MJ: I hesitate to ask, but given the whole Dawn thing, if you were going to team up with Rob Halford and wanted to do a Judas Priest Song, why did you pick "Living After Midnight"?
SD: What part of "rocking to the dawn, loving to the morning" do you not understand?
MJ: Well, you also did a duet with Halford on the Jim Steinman song "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which was a hit for Bonnie Tyler in 1983. It's a fantastic performance, and you two made an even more over-the-top video for it, with Halford shooting lasers out of his fingernails. But don't the "total eclipse" thing and the bits about being "always in the dark" contradict the "dawn" metaphor and your consistent message about strength?
SD: Let me femsplain it to you. Our duet version of "Total Eclipse" brings out the inner conflicts you'll find in many Steinman songs. In this one, someone is having the kind of doubts we all do, but reaches out to that one true love, and "We'll never be wrong together." My fans and Rob's know who we're talking to.
MJ: Your fans certainly know what to expect from you, which is straight-ahead rocking metal and emotional rock balladry, of the kind you've even explored with Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. Most of "Conqueress" does not stray from those paths, with "Love Breaks Chains," written with Zoe-Nova Bruhn, standing as a breakout example of dynamic songcraft and guitar-vocal conversation.
SD: (sounding suspicious) Danke.
MJ: You wait until the end for "Total Eclipse," and right before that, "Heavenly Creatures," a whole different kind of rock melody within a structure that even modulates at the fade; you wrote it with Henry Staroste, keyboardist in your former band Warlock. Being about animals, it even has outlier subject matter. The expanded version of "Conqueress," which comes out a month from now, includes a 7-minute cover of Metallica's prog-thrash classic "The Four Horsemen." Are you thinking about changes in direction?
SD: In metal, we are all brothers and sisters.
MJ: And conquerors. The cover of "Conqueress" features skulls that look like the Danzig symbol. Do you want to conquer demons?
SD: Demons can be enemies or allies. And there are some who are only pests.


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Watch the Doro & Halford "Total Eclipse of the Heart" video here.