Unknown Soldier

Overview
After the disappointment of their previous album Animal Magnetism (it still made my 1980 list) the Scorpions were back to their very best for their eighth studio album Blackout and it would be an album which almost reached the seminal heights of 1979s Lovedrive imo one of the greatest metal albums ever recorded. The album recordings were far from straightforward as Klaus Meine lost his voice and had to undergo emergency surgery on his vocal chords, and it’s therefore amazing that he managed to quickly recover and continue on the album. Vocalist Don Dokken prior to his Dokken albums had been waiting in the wings just in case Klaus Meine hadn’t recovered and in fact had recorded some unreleased demos of the album’s tracks……interesting! This was also the first in quite some time as well, where the band shied away from their overtly sexually flavoured album covers that always tested the censors, to a far more acceptable metal album cover which features Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein on the cover in full cry from the looks of it! The album was another big seller for the band, where it reached the higher ranks of its two most important markets in the US and UK album charts where it went platinum and set the stall for their massive next release Love at First Sting. It also contained three hit singles for the band in “No One Like You” “Can’t Live Without You” and “Dynamite” with the first being one of the bands best known singles. The Scorpions were by this time very much a veteran metal band, that were covering similar metal territory to their even better known rivals Judas Priest in what could now be referred to as centric metal. Both bands had untouchable vocalists, dream guitarists and a metal that balanced itself admirably between the commercial material and the stronger stuff, as Priest would of course prove this year to startling effect on Screaming for Vengeance (further up this year’s list). Both bands would also tow the centric metal line in a period where metal would soon be polarized by its more sonic and visual extremities, which would have the decadent and pleasure seeking glam metal acts on one side and the hardcore metal extremists on the other. Finally much like Def Leppard were proving at this time, the only way to truly crack the golden nugget of the US market was to play a huge amount of shows to the widest fanbase possible and the Scorpions were doing just that and none came any bigger at this time than the San Bernardino Festival where they played in front of 375,000 fans.

Verdict
Blackout is often regarded as the band’s best album (even though I prefer both Lovedrive and Love at First Sting over it) it achieves this accolade as far as critics go, largely due to its position as being the bands most complete record in terms of encompassing all the elements that made the Scorpions such a complete metal band and laid the roots for Love at First Sting. Even though I would dispute this and say that this was done on Lovedrive and even before that in some instances as well. Blackout as an album consists of the catchy pop metal that was so en-vogue around this time, with stellar tracks like the album’s second single “Can’t Live Without You” and its even more famous lead single “No One Like You” the archetypal Scorps commercial issue, with a sound that was often reverberated throughout their commercial stuff from this period (just think Rock You Like a Hurricane) and it came with a video that was shot at the infamous Alcatraz prison. “You Give Me All I Need” comes straight after the previous two tracks and is in much the same vein, but this time Klaus Meine’s remarkable voice is employed in that ever so recognizable melancholic style of his and and finally of this style, the b-side track “Arizona” probably ranks as the happiest sounding song on the whole album. The album also contains in “When the Smoke is Going Down” the classic power ballad again so typical of 1980s heavy metal, an area where the Scorpions usually excelled. Most importantly though the band manage to keep the metal aspect of their sound intact as well, such as on the title track “Blackout” where Klaus Meine gives us one of his great vocal deliveries and in fact he sounds so pissed off here, that it’s no wonder he shot his vocal chords on the recording of this album. This vein is continued on the track “Now” and it becomes obvious that the album cover is aimed at this kind of effort being put out by the band on these two tracks. “China White” though is the heaviest beast on this album and type of sluggish heavy pounder that the band always did so well. The guitar team of Mathias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker are as dynamic as they ever were on a Scorpions album and here amongst so many stand-out performances on the album “Dynamite” probably stands out as the pick of the bunch. Overall Blackout is another great album from the Hanover metal masters, in what was their golden era as a band and this would continue onto their next release.

Klaus Meine- Vocals
Matthias Jabs- Guitar
Rudolf Schenker- Rhythm
Francis Buchholz- Bass
Hermann Rarebell- Drums

Production- Dieter Dierks

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