Scorpions Album: “Blackout”

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.

THE BAND: Rudolf Schenker (guitars), Klause Meine (vocals), Matthias Jabs (guitars), Francis Buchholz (bass), Herman Rarebell (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1982) 9 songs clocking in at approximately 37 minutes. Digitally remastered and reissued in 1997. Included with the disc is a 3-page foldout containing song credits and lyrics, one band picture, and thank you's. All music written by Rudolf Schenker. All lyrics written by Meine and Rarebell. Label - Mercury/Polygram.

COMMENTS: As far as I'm concerned (like so many reviewers here as well), this is the Scorpions at their peak. This is the band's break-through album. The Scorpions' enjoyed mild success in their native Germany with hits from earlier albums from the 1970's ("The Zoo", "Loving You Sunday Morning", "Holiday", etc), but the album "Blackout" made them global superstars. The song "No One Like You" was their first worldwide smash hit - and with good reason. It still sounds fresh decades later. Some awesome deep album cuts like the rocking "Dynamite", "Now!" and "Blackout"; as well as the slower songs like "When The Smoke Is Going Down" or "You Give Me What I Need". The Scorpion's next album "Love At First Sting" (1984) might have sold more records, but it was because of it's predecessor "Blackout". Note - check out any of their compilations or 'live' albums, and "Blackout" is the best represented on each. Though "Blackout" is short at only 9 songs and just under 37 minutes - there is absolutely no filler here. "Blackout" is the band's heaviest and most solid album ever produced. The 24-bit digitally remastered disc has crisp sound production. Classic disc.

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.

I must admit, I was wrong to judge the Scorpions by their 1979 album Lovedrive and assume *everything* they did after that album was automatically cheesy and typical hair metal. It's not. At least, not this album.

"Blackout" has a catchy verse melody and solid chorus. What more does it need? It's a classic. It never got the recognition that some of the other Scorpions songs continue to receive on radio airwaves which is unfortunate. "Can't Live Without You" opens with a memorable chugging rhythm and a guitar riff that screams "It's party time!" Good enough chorus, though sort of mindless but I won't fault it since I enjoy it.

I honestly never got the appeal of "No One Like You" the same way as everyone else. It's not that I hate it necessarily, and the opening riff is downright *awesome* but the chorus basically takes that same riff and adds vocals over top and eh... not a writing style I'm especially fond of (at least not in this particular case). "You Give Me All I Need" contains a solid guitar line leading into a romantic-style verse and a straight forward chorus. Normally simplicity to THIS extent would drive me mad but... the Scorpions are different I suppose.

"Now" just plain *rocks*. Klaus Meine's screaming abilities are questionable though- he's not *that* great of a singer and it's kind of revealed here. "Dynamite" contains a simple chorus and what's especially simple and borderline mindless is the way Klaus screams "DYNAMIIIIITE!". At least I can forgive this example of clumsiness thanks to the fast-paced rocking nature of the song. "Arizona" is a winner by default- I'm a sucker for laidback, California vibes in the verse melody. Another example is "California Nights" by Sweet and several other 70's and 80's songs that aren't coming to mind right now. These type of warm environment-type vocal melodies always win me over (especially in the middle of February!).

"China White" gets my vote for heaviest and BEST guitar riff on the entire album. This guitar riff is a monster and stands out high and tall among the pack. Klaus' vocals are definitely on the overbearingly obnoxious side since the song mainly showcases his skills as a singer, which are, as you know, questionable in my book. His screaming power just doesn't WOW me. I also question whether the guitar riff -despite how strong and memorable it is- really blends well with his voice, but who cares, I love the song anyway. "When the Smoke Is Going Down" is a nicely sung, easily written ballad that the Scorpions like to include on every one of their albums in some shape or form. I don't mind it, but if someone said they hated these type of power ballads because they sound bland, I couldn't argue.

Overall not a bad album at all. In fact I will temporarily let go of my stubbornness and admit that it's actually fantastic.

A breakthrough-record for Scorpions on multiple-levels, 1982's BLACKOUT was for many fans, their first proper introduction to the greatest metal export to ever emerge from Germany. Their eighth-studio LP, BLACKOUT is brimming with a fiery energy and harnessed with an unsurpassed passion - perhaps due to the near-disastrous affliction which befell lead-vocalist Klaue Meine during writing sessions for the record.

As the writing process began that harsh winter on the follow-up to 1980's ANIMAL MAGNETISM, Klaus experienced unexpected difficulty when singing. He was diagnosed shortly thereafter with polyps on his vocal-chords which rendered him unable to sing. During this time of uncertainty, vocalist Don Dokken was enlisted to help demo the material that they had been working on whilst Klaus opted to pursue surgery to remove the polyps. Luckily for all parties involved, the surgery was a success and after a short recovery, Klaus was ready and eager to re-enter the studio and plow head-first into the sessions. (The demos with Dokken were never used and remained shrouded in mystery; as to this day, they've never been released).

The resultant album which was the culmination of these arduous sessions was BLACKOUT; a torrid, hook-laden nine-track affair which sees the Teutonic Terrors eclipsing all previous studio efforts and primed for world domination.

Launching with the unstoppable blitzkrieg which is the title track, "Blackout" blasts forth like a tempestuous cluster-bomb. A jagged, manic Rudolf Schenker-riff ignites the band as the growl that is Matthias Jabs' Gibson Explorer envelopes the main riff and the formidable rhythm section of bassist Francis Buccholz and drummer Herman Rarebell lay the foundation for heavy metal nirvana. When Klaus "vocal-polyps-be-damned" Meine enters the fray with the frenetic lyric "I realize I missed a day/But I'm to wrecked to care anyway" we're off to the races. "Blackout" reaches and maintains a fevered pitch throughout it's entire 3:48 and arrives at an urgent crescendo come solo-time as Matthias UNLEASHES with some incendiary and crystalline lead-guitar playing.

The shattered glass and anguished scream at the song's conclusion segues nicely into the in-concert fave "Can't Live Without You," a vintage call-and-response song arranged for maximum effect. This particular selection showcases all the trademarks from which the Scorpions were now forging their brand of metal. A melodic Klaus Meine vocal duals with some catchy riffing and the rousing chorus celebrates the connection between band and fan. Lead guitarist Matthias Jabs seems to be having the most fun here as he interjects furious runs, squeals and hammer-ons at every available opportunity before opening up a can of metal whoop-ass with a blistering solo. Good stuff.

The classic ballad "No One Like You" follows next and what more can be said here that hasn't already been documented countless time elsewhere? Anchored by an iceberg-like towering riff, "No One' blew the doors wide-open for the boys in the U.S. in a MAJOR way (helping the album ascend to #10 on the then all-important Billboard charts) and finally established Scorpions as the true international act they had been threatening to become since the late-seventies. A vintage power ballad that is made all the more remarkable by Klaus' earnest, yearning vocal and punctuated by Matthias Jabs' blazing solo. CLASSIC does not do this song justice. "You Give Me All I Need" and the frenzied, almost speed-metal "NOW!" bring side one to a close.

Not content to allow the juggernaut of sound to dissipate just yet, "Dynamite" springs to life from a still-deep well of creativity and threatens to burst into flames before it reaches its conclusion. Built around a percussive assault from kit-basher Rarebell, "Dynamite" snarls and bites with ridiculously provocative sexual innuendos and swirls amid a maelstrom of buzzsaw guitars and a typically aggressive Meine vocal. Heavy yet still tantalizingly commercial, "Dynamite" finds Scorpions treading familiar lyrical-water whilst dipping their fingers mischievously into a tempting sea of lust and metal. The remainder of side two is encompassed by the poppish "Arizona" (which foretold the group's impending evolution to mid-80's melodic hard rock), the sinister "China White" and the melancholy ode-to-after-concert-low-spirits "When The Smoke Is Going Down."

Upon in it's release 29-years ago, SCORPIONS were on the precipice of massive worldwide acclaim. Produced in conjunction with long-time producer Dieter Dierks (who bestowed upon the record it's potent, stinging sheen), BLACKOUT captures the band in their absolute savage prime and shows them bravely revitalized and newly-focused. It is a classic of the genre and one of Scorpions finest moments. - Ronnie Jimenez