While the ’80s sent a lot of metal bands into the sphere of
\nsuperstardom, one band that sticks out in my mind is the German
\ngroup Scorpions. I vaguely remember them appearing on “American
\nBandstand” playing “Blackout,” something that had to have had Dick
\nClark writhing in convulsions. I remember the popularity of their
\nLove At First Sting<\/i> album (as well as the flap over the
\ncover art, where you could see the side profile of a woman’s
\nbreast), as well as the popularity of the ensuing concert album
\nWorld Wide Live<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Then, as quickly as their star rose, they seemed to drop off the
\nface of the earth, following the popularity of their song “Winds Of
\nChange”. They spent a few years label-hopping, while several
\n“best-of” packages were put out to satisfy the diehard fans that
\nremained. I’ll admit, I wasn’t one of them; while I’ve spent some
\ntime acquiring the older albums lately, I hadn’t made an attempt to
\ncomplete my Scorpions collection in some time.<\/p>\n
Now, Klaus Meine and crew are back with
\nEye II Eye<\/i>, an album that embraces a newer, electronic sound
\nas the backbone, instead of the dual guitar crunch of Rudolf
\nSchenker and Matthias Jabs. It takes some time to get used to, but
\none listen to this album leaves no doubt that the Scorpions still
\nknow how to kick ass.<\/p>\n
Meine sounds as good today with his vocals as he did on albums
\nlike
\nLovedrive<\/i> all those years ago, and while I do occasionally
\nlong for the barre-chord crunch from Schenker and Jabs, they show
\noften that they still know how to pump electricity through their
\nguitar necks. Bassist Ralph Rieckermann and drummer James Kottak
\nround out the crew.<\/p>\n
Enlisting the assistance of producer Peter Wolf (ex-Frank Zappa
\nkeyboardist), the band sounds like they have new life breathed into
\nthem. Tracks like “Mysterious,” the first single, is proof enough
\nof that. Granted, if it’s been a few years since you’ve really sat
\ndown to listen to the band, you’re going to jump at first and yell,
\n“What the hell’s THAT?!?” Once you’ve reconciled the band’s past to
\nthe present, though, the transition seems a lot more natural.<\/p>\n
And, frankly, the Scorpions might understand something about
\nmetal’s future by going to a more digital sound to the drums and
\nthe music – namely, that this could be a wave of the future. Kids,
\nit’s not a bad wave to catch. Songs like “Skywriter,” “10 Light
\nYears Away” and “Priscilla” (the latter the love-hate story about a
\nman and the cockroach in his home) grab you with their catchiness
\nand refuse to let go until the last note has faded from the
\nspeakers.<\/p>\n
\nEye II Eye<\/i> still features some of the sexual braggadoccio
\nthat made up the ’80s; as songs like “Freshly Squeezed” prove, some
\nhabits die hard. Even when the band resorts to singing in German
\n(but for a few English raps) on “Du Bist So Schmutzig,” it doesn’t
\nmatter that you might not understand what Meine is singing, but
\nthat this song is incredibly catchy.<\/p>\n
It took a lot of guts for a band whose metal roots were so
\ndeveloped to record and release an album like
\nEye II Eye<\/i> – and for that, the fans of the Scorpions should
\nbe eternally grateful. This album proves that the group still has a
\nlot of life in them musically, and I sincerely hope this is the
\nspringboard for a return to greatness for the Scorpions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6173],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39198","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-scorpions","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39198","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39198"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}