Scorpions Album: “Blackout [Japan]”

Here we come with our blitzkrieg tanks ready to crush you with red hot crunchy metal.

The Scorpions say hello to my monster with this molten pot of wicked metal.

Matthias Jabs is the savage samurai on lead guitar as he slices and dices with one demonic solo after another.

Just listen to him rip on "No one like you" and "Can't live without you".

Matthias give us melodic speed demon licks hot enough to melt your brain.

"Blackout" just flat out kicks butt and is one of the best metal albums of the 80's.

These guys dish out catchy fist poundin' anthems like the top ten hit "No one like you" then turn around and give us the soul stirring ballad "When the smoke is going down".

This is not only crunchy metal...it's classic rock music.

"Dynamite" is full throttle 20 cups of coffee mind bending head banging metal with demon frenzied solos and vocal wails from Klaus Meine.

"China White" is pure stalking menace with grinding guitars that just drill your brain and a hypnotic vibe that doesn't let go.

"You give me all i need" is a power ballad minus the cheese.

The Scorps take a beautiful melody and make it swoon with heart and soul but they never get wimpy or sappy like Bon jovi.

"You give me all i need" is just pure ballad mastery.

This album is just one bad mutha that i've been jamming out to since i was 14 years old and it still rocks me like a hurricane

17 years later.

Accept no substitutions....The Scorpions "Blackout" is real pure METAL!

O.f.

BLACKOUT from the Scorpions is one of my all-time favorite music CD'S! This one along with Preist's SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE (both 1982 releases!)is what perfect albums sound like, if such things really exist.You have to know how to blend the right amount of power,crunch,melody,emotion and musicianship (as well as some commercial aspects,O.K.?) which these two LP's have done masterfuly.Klaus sings his heart out on this record, i really thing this is his most heartfelt performance! YOU GIVE ME ALL I NEED sends chills down my spine! BLACKOUT sounds as if Meine is losing his mind! and NOW! reminds me of a ADD diagnosed 10 year old kid on a sugar binge! Then the teutonic bulldozer that is ARIZONA will crush you. There is so much good music here, i promise you won't regreat it. While there will be arguments as to weather it is the BEST Scorpions album, it is definatly their most diverse album IMHO.

This is the Scorpions' Off the Wall. When Michael Jackson hit his peak with Thriller, it was interesting to go back and hear the previous album. When the Scorpions hit their peak with Love at First Sting, you could go back and hear this, the album in which they were clearly trying to figure out how to reach the largest possible audience.

On Blackout, even the missteps are pretty good. You Give Me All I Need and No One Like You are prototype power ballads with a little too much power. That makes them more interesting than anything on Love at First Sting. And songs like Blackout and Now! are a lot of fun --- garage versions of Rock You Like a Hurricane.

It helps that this album sounds so good remastered. It's really tight, but too old to be as slick as anything produced today. And they didn't throw in any extra tracks; I just want the original album, sounding good but without weak bonus tracks.

The stand out here is 'China White' has a killer heavy bass, drum intro that'll have you day dreaming of the big 80's. Lot of cool guitar riffing fills the song out.

Arizona is also a blast.

Even Blackout is generally considered a commercial compromise by the band there are some fantastic moments.

Add to your 80's collection and enjoy.

The album has some frantic hard rocking tunes like "Blackout", "Now" and "Dynamite"; some melodic rockers in the shape of "Can't live without you", and softer tracks like "No one like you" and "You give me all I need". You also get a good typical Scorpions ballad in "When the smoke goes down" (a formula the band used several times later). All in all, this is a good rock album and it's not as commercialized or polished as the following "Love at first sting". This reminds of a time long gone by and it's a pleasure re-living the past, when heavy metal was king on the mountain.