Metal Reviews

Michael Schenker, the legendary guitar virtuoso returns with one of his most imaginatively aggressive rock albums in years with “The Unforgiven.”

Schenker, known for his revolving door policy with musicians almost as much as his skills wielding the white “Flying V,” has created a truly masterful work with a completely new band, that blends the best of his budding influential years with UFO, Scorpions and MSG.

Taking the classically musical sound and bringing it into today, “The Unforgiven” is expectedly guitar-oriented, played with reckless fervor, and feverish picking, yet not something that stands out for its aggressive nature.

Perhaps due to the type of stripped down clean production that’s featured, the music itself is very low key, allowing latest vocalist Kelly Keeling’s rough-around-the-edges singing to take much of the focus.

But make no mistake, the songs all jam fiercely from top to bottom possessing a specific rock persona best drawn back from the best of the classic rock seventies.

Fans of the Schenker of old will enjoy material like “The Mess I’ve Made,” “In and Out of Time,” and “Fat City N.O.” for starters, while those who’re more in tune with Schenker’s more recently commercial sounding second stage when the sweet-voiced Robin McAuley fronted the band, might find more sorrow than delight.

Most of the glitz and glam that accompanied their past collaborations for three successful late eighties / early nineties albums are sparsely available on only two of “The Unforgiven’s” lighter moments, “Forever and More,” and “The Storm,” which rounds out this latest collection.

Well played throughout, Schenker’s latest piece of work is another example of fine musicianship in the mold of classic guitar-driven hard rock mingled with brief moments of commercial flavor without locking into anything specific.

For reinforcement purposes, closely follow tracks like “Tower,” “Pilot of Your Soul,” “Turning off the Emotion,” and “Live for Today.”

Easily and freely “The Unforgiven” plots and follows its own path to glory and will be a welcome addition to any fans collection.

MSG is back again, and yes, it does seem for the time being anyway, the lights are indeed out in London.

Released in Europe by SteamHammer
Distributed by SPV GmbH, P.O. Box 72 1147, 30531 Hannover, Germany
Website : http://www.spv.de
Released in the U.S. by Shrapnel Records, P. O. Box 1928, Novato, CA 94948

Website : http://www2.shrapnelrecords.com/Shrapnel/index.htm

Review By Vinnie Apicella

Unforgiven World Tour
MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP

Musicians:
Michael Schenker: Lead Guitar
Keith Slack: Vocals
Kelly Keeling: Vocals*
Wayne Findlay: Guitars and Keyboards
Shane Gaalaas: Drums
Barry Sparks: Bass

Tracklisting:
1. Armed and Ready
2. Only You Can Rock Me
3. Natural Thing
4. Pushed To The Limit
5. Written In The Sand
6. Captain Nemo
7. Into The Arena
8. Essence
9. Pilot Of Your Soul*
10. The Mess I've Made*
11. Fat City*
12. On and On*
13. Attack Of The Mad Axeman*
14. Assault Attack*
15. Another Piece Of Meat*
16. Love To Love
17. Too Hot Too Handle
18. Lights Out
19. Bijou Pleasurette/Positive Forward
20. Doctor, Doctor
21. Rock Bottom

It's 11:30, on another cold damp December evening and after spending the best part of 2 and a half hours listening to the new Michael Schenker double CD, I began to wonder what exactly makes a guitar hero?

Well, obviously the ability to play the guitar helps, but it takes much more than that, try originality, stage presence and if you can claim to have recorded over 2 classics along the way, I's sure that would help as well!

Regardless of who your favourite axe hero is, I doubt anyone would disagree that Michael Schenker should be somewhere near the top of everyone's list.

Now hang on a moment, isn't Herr Schenker back with his old pals in UFO?

Well, yes he is, but the mad axeman himself couldn't help packing himself off to the States earlier this year with a mobile studio in tow and recorded 3 sold out shows at The Edge, Palo Alto, California.

'The Unforgiven World Tour 1999', contains a colourful cross section of songs drawn from across Schenker's entire illustrious career. Classic hits such as 'Doctor, Doctor', 'Rock Bottom', 'Lights Out', 'Love To Love', 'Too Hot To Handle' and 'Only You Can Rock me' are all drawn from his early days with UFO (without doubt one of the finest Rock bands England has ever produced).

Undisputed MSG classics like 'Armed and Ready', 'Into The Arena', 'Attack of the Mad Axeman' and 'Assault Attack' have a raw new life breathed into them and while most of you will think that his output of late has been somewhat erratic 'Pilot Of Your Soul, 'The Mess I've Made' and 'Fat City' from this years "The Unforgiven" studio album sound much better as part of this live set.

As I've said earlier, true guitar heroes are becoming something of a rarity these days, in fact you'll find you've fingers to spare if you count the number of practising axemasters whose riffing reputation is their absolute Raison d'être, but with his Flying V in tow Michael Schenker has been wooing audiences for over two decades and listening to this live album, it's not hard to figure out why.

"Only you an rock me". Indeed!

Released in Europe by SteamHammer
Distributed by SPV GmbH, P.O. Box 72 1147, 30531 Hannover, Germany
Website : http://www.spv.de

Michael Schenker has managed to re-start his MSG machine again enabling him to turn out records on a regular basis with whatever musicians he finds within arms reach.

As always, you know what you are getting from the outset, fret-fests constrained only by a Rock song structure.

There are no holdovers from the last record, save Schenker, in terms of musicians but there is an amazing consistency to the songs on “UNFORGIVEN” and “BE AWARE OF SCORPIONS.”

Both records are pure Schenker creations with the players allowed to wander in a relatively limited framework.

It is almost as if the structure of a song is a box for guitar solos and by the end it leaves you wondering what the other musicians can really do particularly vocalist Chris Logan, if only given some room to move.

Jeff Martin (BADLANDS) joins in on drums and is pretty buried in the mix though his syncopation with bassist “Reverend Jones” is spot on. Still, I would bet money that neither musician recorded their bits with the other in the same room.

Despite the completely ordinary feel of this record when held up to other MSG discs there are a few hot spots.

“No Turning Back” rocks hard and has a hair-Metal glory day feel to it that probably exceeds any composition of the MacAuley/Schenker era.

“Blinded by Technology” is a winner as well with a bow to the power ballad formula that amazingly avoids the usual syrupy delivery. It is almost schizophrenic at times making it the most progressive track on the album and my personal favorite.

With the exception of the worst title for a record imaginable this disc is standard MSG, not to be suggested as a first stop for a prospective fan but enough to carry on the old crowd until the next band/next disc cycle.

Released by SPV: http://www.spv.de/

Review by David Lee