On the heels of various Internet reports stating that the
\nScorpions were set to release an album that would take them back to
\ntheir rocking roots, I decided to do the same thing in purchasing
\nUnbreakable<\/i>. While I have always done everything possible to
\ncatch the Scorpions on tour in recent years, the same can’t be said
\nin me having the same inclination in buying their recent albums.
\nAnd yes, it has a lot to do with the band recently experimenting
\nwith everything from the acoustic works found on
\nAcoustica<\/i>, to teaming with the Berlin Philharmonic on
\nMoment Of Glory<\/i>, to their failed foray into the techno world
\nwith
\nEye II Eye<\/i>, as I feel the band could and should have been
\nputting out hard rock albums.<\/p>\n
Well, I’ve got to say that it sure does feel good to pigeonhole
\nmyself, in this instance, as being one of those fans that any
\nserious band probably despises. I can hear the band saying, “that
\nguy is nothing more than a half-cracked music journalist to not be
\nable to expand his horizons!”<\/p>\n
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll just say that if it weren’t for the sheer
\npower of the Scorpions guiding me through my adolescence by giving
\nme the
\nAnimal Magnetism<\/i>,
\nBlackout<\/i> and
\nLove at First Sting<\/i> albums to listen to, I would probably be
\nreviewing god-awful Dexy’s Midnight Runners albums and the like.
\nSince that is fortunately not the case, I’m going to remain selfish
\nin my expectations of what the Scorpions should sound like.<\/p>\n
With that being said, I am finding Unbreakable to be an
\ninteresting listen. On one hand, I’m not really surprised to hear
\nthat vocalist Klaus Meine hasn’t lost his chops, considering the
\nfact that I’ve seen him perform in stellar live fashion recently.
\nIf I were to report any disappointment, it would be in that the
\nguitar work of Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, while tight, is
\nrather pedestrian-sounding. These guys in the past had undeniable
\npenchants for breaking off some of the most wicked lead breaks
\nfound in rock n’ roll. By and large, that energy is gone. “This
\nTime,” which is buried deep in the track order, is about the only
\nsong I can find on the album which attempts such fury.<\/p>\n
Interestingly though, there are still several tracks that border
\non the “killer” status I would have given them had this been the
\n’80s and I were still in my early teens. “Through My Eyes” is a
\ndark track with an opening that gets precariously close to making
\nme want to spin “Still Loving You” again. The song resonates the
\nsame purpose reminiscent of songs from the era of the Scorpions
\nascent into their peak recording years. “Love ‘Em Or Leave ‘Em” is
\na more modern track as the guitars replicate the chord-driven
\nnu-metal trends that are fashionable today while “Deep and Dark”
\ngives Meine the platform to showcase his vocals with full range
\nallowing for a few melancholy backing overdubs.<\/p>\n
For nostalgia’s sake, the opening riffs to “Someday Is Now”
\nremind me of the track “Arizona” found on the
\nBlackout<\/i> album. Unfortunately, the track spirals into an
\neven fluffier song than the aforementioned deterring further
\ncuriosity. Otherwise, the rest of the songs on
\nUnbreakable<\/i> are listenable but not all that memorable to
\nthese ears.
\nUnbreakable<\/i> also comes with several enhanced video features
\nthat are interesting enough in their own right but not equipped
\nwith enough revolutionary material to make a purchasing decision
\nalone.<\/p>\n
Maybe my expectation for a band that has been recording albums
\nfor over thirty years is a bit harsh. But when I find that the
\nScorpions can still churn out worthy rockers amid some admittedly
\nforgettable tunes, it gives me reason to further anticipate
\ninvesting time in seeing them the next time they come through town.
\nAnd that’s not a bad thing, eh?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6173],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38035","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-scorpions","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38035"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}