I could have just as easily attributed today’s song to Doro Pesch as opposed to Warlock, though officially the song was originally released as part of Warlock’s final album Triumph And Agony in 1987. This was the lead single from that album, one recorded in the US after Doro came over from her native Germany after Warlock began gaining an American audience. While Doro would be caught in a years-long legal battle over the rights to Warlock naming and material, she would launch a solo career that saw her become a heavy metal legend and one of women’s biggest influences in metal music.

All We Are is nothing complicated at all – there are a few verses and the chant-along chorus. The music is to the point and everything comes together to make a simple yet very effective metal anthem. It isn’t quite as easy to craft a simple song as many people seem to think, but here Doro and company got the formula down pat.

This one is easy to get into, whether on a home stereo or in a live setting and this has been Doro’s signature song at her many, many concerts over the decades. Doro did her best to break out in America but grunge came along and sent this traditional style of metal to oblivion for awhile. But she found a willing audience throughout Europe in the ’90’s, and by the time traditional metal got on the rise again in the 2000’s, Doro was hailed as one of the genre’s prime performers. She has only further cemented her legacy in the years since, still going strong in 2023.

All We Are would get a new version in the mid 2000’s. Doro performed the song live as entrance music for Regina Halmich, a German boxer considered one of the world’s greatest and who is also one of Doro’s best friends. Doro was joined by Destruction mainman Schmier, After Forever guitarist Bas Maas and drummer Tim Hsung for this performance. The same group would convene to record a new studio version that was released on an EP in 2007.

All We Are is, unsurprisingly, Doro’s most-played live song. I wouldn’t figure she would do a show without it, the song is her calling card and likely the first thing a lot of people heard of hers. A fair bit of Warlock’s final album still resonates through the metal fanbase 35 years later and it’s something Doro commemorates to this day. Just a few weeks ago Doro played a fair portion of the album on the hallowed stage of the Wacken Open Air Festival grounds in a set jam-packed with guests from all across the heavy metal spectrum.

Doro has been one of the most influential women in heavy metal, and she’s done so by simply executing her songs and playing shows – she made her mark without falling into the trap of scantily-clad 1980’s marketing. When the 1980’s faded away, Doro rose to prominence with a traditional heavy metal sound. And All We Are remains as her calling card all these years later, as she still commands the stage and influences new generations.