Kev Rowland When I was 16, Scorpions released the album ‘Lovedrive’ and I immediately fell in love with their music, and not only sought out both ‘Animal Magnetism’ and ‘Blackout’ when they were released but went back to some of their earlier material and was especially a fan of the ‘Tokyo Tapes’ live release. However, “Winds of Change” left me decidedly cold and I have missed all their studio albums since ‘Love At First Sting’ until this one turned up in my in box. I must admit, I nearly filed the email but instead decided I owed it to myself to see what they were doing now, even though it wasn’t going to be any good. How wrong I was.

Guitarist Rudolf Schenker must be one of the longest-running members of any hard rock band, having been there since he formed the group in 1965 while singer Klaus Meine has performed on every album even though he joined four years later. Lead guitarist Matthias Jabs has been there since 1978, filling the shoes of the legends Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, while bassist Paweł Mąciwoda has been there since 2003 and even drummer Mikkey Dee has been there since 2016 (joining after the end of Motörhead). This is not what I expected Scorpions to sound like whatsoever, as while there are some slower numbers, such as “When You Know” they still have plenty of balls and power, while there are also quicker songs such as the belting “When I Lay My Bones To Rest” which has something about it which reminds me of “Speedy’s Coming” which they released all the way back in 1976. Both Klaus and Rudolf were born in 1948, so at the time of release they were both 74, but this does not sound like the work of septuagenarians but instead of a group of guys who are hungry for life. That song stands up against anything they have ever recorded, and the album as a whole is causing me to have a rethink of the band and their legacy.

Forget you ever heard them whistling, and instead discover a hard rock band who are being true to their roots and combining that with polish and experience to produce something which is very special indeed.

voila_la_scorie This album was a pleasant surprise. Ever since my disappointment with Savage Amusement (which was also partly due to my changing musical preferences in the late eighties), I never bought a new Scorpions album. It was only after listening to a review of Rock Believer and a review of the Scorpions post eighties output on YouTube that I thought I should just get this one and hear if it's as good as the reviewer said it was.

And it is!

For this album, I think the Scorpions did what a lot of the old bands have been doing recently, and that is go back to their classic period and try to recreate what the were doing back then. Rock Believer is like listening to Love Drive, Animal Magnetism, and Blackout recorded in 2022. The album is exactly as though the band never missed a beat after Love at First Sting. I haven't heard anything after Crazy World, which my friend had, but reviews online of the nineties albums especially have not been particularly favourable. But here is an album worthy of the Scorpions name!

In fact, whether it's meant to be a deliberate nod to the old albums or simply a wink, there are lyrical references to the classic years. The album title and title track harken back to 1977's Taken by Force album and the song Steamrock Fever. The chorus of that old song goes, "Steamrock fever / Screaming rock believer", while Rock Believer's chorus goes, "Scream for me screamer / I'm a rock believer / Just like you". You'll also notice in the opening track, "Gas in the Tank" the line, "Black me in and black me out," which seems to direct our attention quite intentionally to 1982's Blackout album.

While there are surely more Easter eggs in the lyrics, at least two of the songs also derive from those older albums. Shining of Your Soul has a reggae-like riff that sounds like Is There Anybody There? from Lovedrive. And the slow, ominous bass and drum pounding of Seventh Sun sound like China White.

Thankfully, the entire album isn't totally a walk down memory lane. Some of these new songs have a driving energy and heaviness that wouldn't have been found back in the 1979-1984 period. There are also a couple of tracks that remind me of Van Halen, at least for the guitar sound and riffs.

Basically, fans of the classic, Matthias Jabs era Scorpions should really dig this album. This is also a great album for anyone who likes energetic hard rock. Are there are ballads? Actually, not really. When You Know (Where You Come From) is the closest, but it's no Still Loving You or Holiday. If you get the acoustic version as a bonus track, it's a little closer. However, I think the Scorpions were just really ready to rock it out for this album.

My version includes six bonus tracks, so the album does feel rather long. Had this been released in the early eighties, we'd likely have gotten the best eight or nine tracks. It could be fun to make a playlist trimming the running time down to 38 minutes or so for that album feel.

Highly recommended if you enjoy that classic Scorpions sound!

siLLy puPPy Having formed as far back as 1965, Germany’s most successful metal band of all time SCORPIONS may very well be the longest living band that exists within the greater metal universe even though the only member to have been there from the beginning is Rudolf Shenker and the band certainly didn’t start out as a hard rock or metal band. The current calendar year of 2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the band’s debut release “Lonesome Crow” which is the early oddball in the band’s discography that was a bizarre hybrid of early 70s hard rock and kosmische German Krautrock. The band didn’t really get a hold on its famous hard rock sound until the second release “Fly To The Rainbow” but once that album hit the scene in 1974, the SCORPS set out to conquer the world and have to date sold well over 100 million albums.

The band’s classic years were roughly from 1978 when Mathias Jabs replaced Uli Roth on guitar and then the hits started rolling with one classic album after another racing up the charts. The SCORPS were one of the 1980s biggest heavy metal bands and this success lasted all the way into the 1990s but like most established bands was displaced by the alternative everything 90s and the band flailed around trying to reinvent itself with one pathetic attempt after another culminating in the ill-conceived “Eye II Eye” which found the band taking on a more electronic infused pop rock approach. That album remains the absolute nadir of the band’s career and despite a consistent flow of albums throughout the 21st century, the world passed the SCORPS by making them a relic of the past. A living fossil of sorts.

Despite it all the SCORPIONS love what they do and despite all the rumors of breaking up continue to bounce back and release new material. Although the band hasn’t been heard from since 2015’s lackluster “Return To Forever,” the SCORPS have re-emerged from the studios in Austria to drop their latest slab of classic molten metal onto the world. ROCK BELIEVER is the 21st studio album and follows in the footsteps of other legendary 80s bands like Judas Priest in the sense of getting back to the basics and stop trying to tackle experimental musical styles that they are not capable of crafting. ROCK BELIEVER, like Priest’s “Firepower” sounds like it could’ve been released in the 1980s, in this case somewhere between “Blackout” and “Crazy World.”

The album features three of the golden year SCORPS with Klause Meine retaining his spot on vocals (he has been on every album since 1972), Rudolf Schenker on guitars and Matthias Jabs handling lead guitars. The newer members include bassist Paweł Mąciwoda who has been in the band since 2004 and newest member drummer Mikkey Dee who has placed with King Diamond and Motörhead. Despite the main guys being in their 60s, ROCK BELIEVER keeps the faith and that 80s metal candle burning with 11 classic sounding SCORPIONS tracks. There’s also a deluxe edition that features 5 extra tracks and a Japanese edition that features yet one additional bonus track. Despite the seven year gap between albums, the SCORPS have been true ROCK BELIEVERS by having toured many of the years prior to this album’s release. Of course the pandemic put a kink in the album’s release but now in February 2022, here it is!

For anyone familiar withe the band’s classic 80s years, this album will sound very familiar. It’s obvious the band was trying to replicate those classic album sounds and they have done so with great success. Everyone is still on top of their game even lead singer Meine’s karaoke unfriendly singing style. Jabs still has his classic lead guitar tricks in tact and the majority of the tracks sound as if they may have been culled from the sessions that yielded albums like “Animal Magnetism,” “Blackout” and “Love At First Sting.” Everything really does sound like you’ve taken a time machine back to the 1980s where this album emerged in some parallel universe.

As good and convincing as ROCK BELIEVER is as an 80s retro experience, the problem is that the world has moved on and for a band to reinterpret its most successful period of its career it has to craft some mighty fine material to woo the fanbase back to those years four decades ago. In many ways ROCK BELIEVER achieves this but at the same time none of the material is as strong as those super catchy tunes from the classic 80s albums. In fact some of the riffs sound borrowed from those very tracks. This has been true for bands like Iron Maiden and other bands trying to stay relevant in the modern era. I have mixed feelings about this as i love these bands at their peak but am not really keen on these relive the classic years moments but all in all SCORPIONS do a decent job at rekindling the flames of those peak 80s moments including a stellar ballad “When You Know (Where You Come From)” which ends the non-deluxe album. I have to admit that this is much better than i was expecting and therefore i can highly recommend this album for those who have always wanted more SCORPS albums from the 80s but have been disappointed by the feeble attempts that graced the 90s and beyond.

The Spotlight Kid The moment you hear that jackhammer you know Scorpions are back with another killer metal attack. The Riffs are rock solid, Herman's drumming is great and of course scorpions unmatched sense of melody is on display throughout as well. That cheering crowd sound in the background of "Steamrock Fever" sums up how I feel when I hear that kickin' opening track and actually it's how I feel when I hear any of the Uli Jon Roth era albums. Uli's guitar playing is nothing short of explosive and add's the depth, darkness, edge and magic to everything. The Band is super tight too, playing with laser precision but also unending feel and groove. Klaus is the man. The guy is one of the great singers of his time.

Each song on this album has its own special character. Songs like "Steamrock Fever" and "Sails of Charon" are just all out rockers but then you also get the more reflective track of We'll Burn The Sky, written about Jimi Hendrix with Uli's girlfriend who also happened to be Hendrix's girlfriend at the time of his death. An Epic and beautiful track that Uli still plays regularly in his live sets. Then you get the funny rocker "He's a woman - She's a Man" with the lyrics provided by Herman. Again another mood shift. But unlike many bands who change direction as much as these guys do here it never feels forced or jarring, on the contrary it's seamless and just makes the album all the more interesting and fantastic.

I find it hard to pick favorites from the Uli era but "In Trance" was my first love and I think I like the songs a touch more, but the heaviness, sharpness and shred attack by Uli on this album make it another favorite and one I would highly recommend.

siLLy puPPy Hannover, Germany based SCORPIONS has had a few distinct phases in its multi-decade career beginning with its rather uncertain Krautrock meets hard rock beginnings on the debut “Lonesome Crow.” The Uli Roth years developed the band’s distinct mix of catchy pop hooks infused with heavy bluesy rock and early heavy metal but the crystalline lineup didn’t come to fruition until guitarist Matthias Jabs joined the band thus cementing the distinct brash bravado that would propel SCORPIONS to the top of the heavy metal heap where they experienced international success all throughout the 80s.

While albums like “Lovedrive” and “Animal Magnetism” got this particular lineup warmed up and even became the band’s first gold records, it was the 1982 release of the band’s eighth album BLACKOUT that coincided with the mainstream success of heavy metal that SCORPIONS became one of the biggest bands in the entire genre. Part of this sudden ascent to international stardom resulted from MTV shuffling videos 24 / 7. The addictive hooks of “No One Like You,” one of the band’s most famous singles coupled with the bad boy bravado antics at Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay on the video which was enough to drive a metal crazed public bonkers!

This was a do or die era for the SCORPIONS perched to ascend to greater stardom or totally fall as lead singer Klaus Meine had to undergo surgery on his vocal cords and the uncertainty of the outcome haunted the band’s very existence however Don Dokken was picked as a replacement singer if for any reason Meine was unable to continue his duties as vox box in chief. Luckily not only did Meine come through the experience with no complications but his voice actually smoothed out a bit taking some of the grit off which began the era of the more pop crossover SCORPIONS.

BLACKOUT established a much more accessible sound after the more experimental “Animal Magnetism” fortified with infectious pop hooks and the sizzling twin guitar attack of Matthias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker. With drummer Herman Rarebell and bassist Francis Buchholz, this was also the band’s most famous and successful lineup. The band was extremely popular live with its energetic performances. The album with its nine tracks starts out with the distinct high-octane title track and doesn’t let up until the closing “When The Smoke Is Going Down” with the by then established signature ballad in the form of “You Give Me All I Need.” Don Dokken who recorded the demo songs for the album was kept as a backup singer on some of the tracks.

While most of the tracks are full steam ahead with fast tempos and Meine’s vocal gymnastics hitting ridiculously high octaves, the closing “China White” and “When The Smoke Is Going Down” slow things down a bit, the latter of which is another excellent ballad that showcases Meine’s uncanny multi-octave vocal abilities. While it was uncertain whether or not BLACKOUT would ever even come to be due to Meine’s vocal woes after countless delays, as things turned out it was just the beginning of the SCORPIONS most successful phase of its career that would last the entire 80s.

Personally BLACKOUT isn’t my favorite pick for best SCORPIONS album as i much prefer “Animal Magnetism” which came before and even “Love At First Sting” which came after but as far as quality heavy rock / metal from the early 80s is concerned, BLACKOUT is excellent 80s metal with addictive melodies, outstanding musicianship and fiery delivered in every possible way. Although i find the cover artwork to be quite cheesy i can only assume that dude is screaming so loud to break glass so that he can warn us about the coming BLACKOUT. Get your survival gear now!