Humanity: Hour 1

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The return of the German Hard Rock superstars! Selling 70-million albums worldwide in their 35 years together, the Scorpions present their first full-length album of all new material since 2004's Unbreakable. A stunning surprise package is boxed and tied and ready for unwrapping: Scorpions, Germany's most-successful international music export, are poised to sting once again and are planning a frontal attack on the musical artery of rock fans all over the globe with their new album Humanity-Hour 1. Thirty-five years after the release of their debut album Lonesome Crow, Scorpions believe they have reached a new creative high in their impressive career. And they plan to prove it with the release of album number 21. Even though they have already made music history with hits like Wind Of Change, Rock You Like A Hurricane and Send Me An Angel there is still nothing more exciting than a new challenge, than adding another milestone to the band's history. Recorded in the band's hometown of Hannover and in Los Angeles with co-producers James Michael and veteran songwriter Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, KISS). .com ---- Humanity Hour I, the latest Scorpions outing, has some sort of concept at the heart of it, but you needn't worry about the plot-–suffice it to say that the venerable Teutonic rock quintet has delivered a collection of highly melodic and semi-energetic hard pop. The record's short on hard rockers, though what is here--the title cut, "You're Lovin' Me to Death," "321"--serve as noble attempts at updating the group's sound and keeping its reputation as a heavy metal band intact. But the collection as a whole mires in midtempo melancholy: at least half of the record is occupied by ballads or ballads in a rocker's pleather pants, rendering this record closer to Michael Bolton than Metallica. True, few hard pop acts have written as many ballads that have reached aural permanence ("No One Like You" and "Holiday") but this is also the band that wrote its share of raucous rockers ("Rock You Like a Hurricane," "Blackout," "The Zoo"), which are in short supply here. Humanity Hour I isn't necessarily a bad record for that trade but it may be a sign that Klaus Meine and Co. are aging gracefully and keenly aware that they're making music for people who prefer to sway--rather than bang--their heads. ––Jedd Beaudoin