Scorpions-Humanity Hour I Review
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 08.30.2007
A concept album about the epic battle between humanity and androids? Wonder who wins that one...
The Band:
Klaus Meine-Lead Vocals
Matthias Jabs-Lead and Rhythm Guitars
Rudolf Schenker-Rhythm and Lead Guitars, Backing Vocals
Pawel Maciwoda-Bass, Backing Vocals
James Kottak-Drums, Backing Vocals
The Track Listing:
1.Hour I-3:26
2.The Game Of Life-4:04
3.We Were Born To Fly-3:59
4.The Future Never Dies-4:03
5.You’re Lovin’ Me To Death-3:15
6.321-3:53
7.Love Will Keep Us Alive-4:32
8.We Will Rise Again-3:49
9.Your Last Song-3:44
10.Love Is War-4:20
11.The Cross-4:28
12.Humanity-5:26
The Review:
It was 35 years ago that the Scorpions released their first album Lonesome Crow. After all this time, and 15 studio albums later, the Scorpions are still cranking out hard rock/heavy metal music to the masses. With their new release, Humanity Hour I, the band tried something different. After the surprising success of Unbreakable, and a long world tour, the Scorpions returned with a concept album in mind. With help from producer Desmond Child, who recently produced Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell 3, the band put together a story of lost love and the destruction of the human race.
The Scorpions’s new album goes through many twists and turns, not only lyrically, but musically as well. The first two tracks, “Hour I” and “The Game of Life”, are powerful blasts of metal. Both songs have some great guitar work and, while modern sounding, still have the trademark Scorpions sound. “The Game Of Life,” especially, will remind Scorpion fans of their classic 80’s sound. The verses have a “Big City Nights” feel to them.
“We Were Born To Fly” takes the album in a different direction. The song is slower the first two tracks, and has a darker and moodier sound to it. This direction continues in “The Future Never Dies,” the first of two ballads on the album. Of course, since this is the Scorpions, having a few ballads on the album isn't too surprising. “The Future Never Dies” is driven by a single piano melody with the band chiming in at a few points. It is a beautiful song, helped by Klaus’s wonderful vocal work. The song is cheesy, but it works considering it is the Scorpions we are talking about here. A special mention has to be made to Jabs’s solo. It is so 1980’s sounding, which is awesome.
The next two tracks bring the heaviness back to the album. Both of these tracks are modern sounding with some industrial influences (“321”), but they are still pure Scorpions, with melodic leads and catchy choruses. “Love Will Keep Us Alive” is the second ballad on the album, and is acoustic driven. This song would’ve been perfect on their 2001 live album Acoustica. It’s catchy, with the same old cheesy lyrics, but solid musically.
The next three tracks are not too special. None of them really stand out, as all of them are slower tracks in the vein of “We Were Born To Fly.” The heaviness returns with “The Cross,” which has a special appearance by Billy Corgan. Corgan contributes a few spoken lines, but that’s about it. He really doesn’t do anything special. The song is definitely a head banger and has one of the best solos of the album at the end of the song.
“Humanity” is the last song, and one of the Scorpions best ending tracks, definitely on par with "Still Loving You". Starting with an acoustic guitar, Klaus pours his heart out vocally and the song slowly builds up with a snare drum beat. The song gets heavier in the pre-chorus and the chorus will definitely be a crowd favorite. The song sounds a bit similar to Meat Loaf’s “The Monster Is Loose” in the pre-chorus, but “Humanity” is much better than that song. The bass stands out in the end with a nice driving melody and Jabs gets in a jazzy solo that fits the song’s mood perfectly.
Klaus Meine’s vocals are one of the highpoints of Humanity Hour I. Who knew that a 59 year old man could sing like that? He has gotten better with age and his vocal work throughout the album is phenomenal.
Matthias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker make for a powerful and flashy guitar duo. Jabs gets some nice lead work in and really shows why he is one of the most unappreciated guitarists in heavy metal. Pawel Maciwoda is clearly audible, but doesn’t stand out too much, with the exception of “Humanity.” James Kottak’s performance is one of his best so far as a member of the Scorpions, with driving beats and even a few drum leads here and there.
Humanity Hour I is definitely the Scorpions best album since 1990’s Crazy World and shows the band reenergized and ready to show that they can still kick some ass. I really enjoyed this record, with its solid mix of ballads and heavy tracks. My only complaints towards the record is that some of the lyrics, especially in the ballads, are cheesy as hell and the album suffers from too many slower tracks in the second half. Other than these minor details, Humanity Hour I is a solid record that shows the Scorpions as melodic and powerful as ever.
The 411: This album really shows the band on fire and as powerful as they were 35 years ago. The album is worth the price for the first two tracks, "The Future Never Dies" and "Humanity." These three songs show Meine at his finest vocally and the band firing on all cylinders. Pick Humanity Hour I if you are a Scorpions fan or a fan of hard rock/heavy metal with a modern edge to it.
