I have been avoiding listening to a Scorpions my requisite three times for a long time, every time an anniversary of theirs has come up, because every experience of them I’ve had has told me I do not like them. From their biggest hit (heard here) to any of their records I’ve begun to listen to, I’ve been turned off by various aspects of their sound. But this record has their biggest hit, and it’s considered by some to be their best, so here goes.

This is not my kind of metal. It is full of big choruses and other forms of unsubtle excess without most of what I like about metal (musical violence, etc.). The Scorpions may have been on the cutting edge, relatively speaking, when they debuted but, by this time, this sound was already somewhat passe. (I must point out it’s still better than hair metal!) This is a band that hit upon a combination of hooks and technique that was very innovative (if unappealing) in the late 1970s but sounds like basically a more sophisticated, harder version of that awful American “metal” stuff at this point.

I don’t like any of the songs and many of them sound too similar to each other. The lyrics are not great, as you might imagine given that they are not native English speakers.

Like many bands who sing in their non-native language, the accent sometimes creeps through and reminds you that this is not a British band (though the lyrics do that too). They clearly have musical talent – that lead guitarist can shred – but it’s only on display on occasion, I guess as some kind of proof that this is actually metal and not something posing as metal.

Anyway, this is totally not for me. Bring on the thrash revolution, please.

5/10