Michael Schenker celebrates his 50th anniversary in music by re-enforcing M.S.G. on a hell of an album, his best since a long time. That simple…
First of all, what seemed to be a nightmare to “assemble” because of COVID-19 didn’t lack anything in quality. Actually, the circumstances may have even helped this album to become so good. According to the initial plan Ronnie Romero was going to be the only singer, but because of the pandemic that wasn’t possible leading to the search of special guests to take over the recordings in order to release the album as scheduled. Enter Ralf Scheepers, Joe Lynn Turner and Michael Voss, who was already involved in the project as the producer, who were assigned two songs each.
The drum stool was shared by three amazing players, two familiar collaborators (Bodo Schopf and Simon Phillips) and a brand new one (Brian Tichy), who also brought with him a surprise special guest, Derek Sherinian, who played keyboards on one song.
Honestly, this album is Schenker’s best since “In The Midst Of Beauty”, which was released 13 years ago and actually it was also released under the M.S.G. banner. Why is this the best album since that? Well, simply because the songs are better. Don’t think that there any change in style, the playing etc, it’s the compositions that make the difference and make this album better than any other released by either Michael Schenker Fest, or even Temple Of Rock.
I liked Scheepers’ contribution on the rock’n’roll-y “Devil’s Daughter” much better than the album’s first single “Drilled To Kill”, which however contains one of the highlights of the album, Derek Sherinian’s keyboard solo and the old school duel with Schenker’s Flying-V. I admit that I didn’t recognize at once Joe Lynn Turner on “Don’t Die On Me Now” and “Sangria Morte”, which are great tunes and it wasn’t a surprise that Michael Voss is such a good singer. Just listen to “Queen Of Thorns And Roses”, where he signs…
Romero just proves why he is so much sought after to sing on albums and projects. His performance on the songs he is assigned to, that fit him like a glove, is amazing and puts them among the best stuff of “Immortal”.
The icing on the 50th anniversary cake is the return to the roots with “In Search Of The Peace Of Mind”, the first song Schenker ever composed and was released on the Scorpions’ “Lonesome Crow” album, which becomes an epic with all singers plus Gary Barden surprise opening…
In a nutshell, Michael Schenker kicks off the New Year ideally with a fantastic album that is going to make his fans proud and very happy, as well as rockers and metalers, witnessing this emblematic figure in such a damn great shape
