Music This week

Questions are raised as to why the band has decided to hang up its boots when the energy and creative sting is still alive and kicking in its latest record that has crunchy guitar works by Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs and the piercing croons of Klaus Meine.

The opening track “Raised on rock”,with its power chord intro over the familiar turf of Schenker’s resounding riffs,thumps its way through old-school rock complete with Meine’s wails and howls,talk box tweaks by Jabs and a hammering rhythm section by bassist Pawel Maciwoda and drummer James Kottak.

The quintet race through the album,as the volatile title track is followed by hard melodies like “Slave me” trying to scale the ultra-energetic trips that once defined classics such as “The zoo” and “Rock you like a hurricane”.

And what’s Scorpions without their captivating arpeggio licks? The album has its soft power rock moments with some airy ringing-in-the-head harmonies such as the vintage-sounding “Lorelei” and “Sly” which sound like a cross-breed of “Send me an angel” and “Holiday”.

So is this the end of Scorpions? Given that the final track is called “The best is yet to come” where the band muses “How can we grow old/ when the soundtrack of our lives is Rock ‘N’ Roll”,there’s room for doubt. The verdict: a stinging hard rock record.

mohan.kumar@expressindia.com