Scorpions

It seems that the veteran German machine known as the Scorpions will soon be kaput. The band is calling it quits after 40 years, yet will tour in support of their 17th studio album, Sting in the Tail. The tour could take them into 2012 or possibly 2013, so they're not done just yet.

I've been a fan of the Scorps since their debut album, 1972's Lonesome Crow. In their formative years, the band had more jazz-like influences and blues-based guitar solos, thanks to Michael Schenker, and later, Uli Jon Roth. In the early '80s, first with the Blackout album, then especially on Love at First Sting, the band gained U.S. commercial success. With their trademark Scorpions riffs abundant, the band wrote some excellent songs, albeit it radio-friendly, but they went on to be a huge arena rock band that loved the stage.

The Scorps have been churning out albums on a consistent basis throughout their illustrious career, which brings us to 2010, and their latest effort. After several listens to Sting in the Tail, I must say, I was a little half-hearted on the direction the songs have taken on their latest and final effort. The trademark riffs are there, but the solo's seem like paint-by-numbers. Sting in the Tail is less heavier than 2007's Humanity: Hour I, but still retains their catchy and memorable choruses.

The production on Sting in the Tail is very polished and was handled by Mikael Nord Anderson and Martin Hansen, who have song writing credits on the album as well. Guitarists Matthias Jabs and Rudolph Schenker still create their traditional twin lead harmonies, and even though Klaus Meine has aged a bit, his vocal delivery is still deadly.

Opener "Raised On Rock," "Sting in the Tail" and "Turn You On" are all later-era definitive Scorps songs. It wouldn't be a Scorpions album without a ballad, and there are three here. "Lorelei, "SLY" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" won't be as huge or chart-topping as "Wind Of Change" or "Still Loving You," but it's what the Scorpions do. "The Good Die Young" is a duet with Tarja Turunen, but could almost be categorized as a ballad as well.

Sting in the Tail has that familiar formula and sound we have all come to know and love from the Scorpions. It's not a bad album, but it's just not the hard-rocking finale I was expecting. There are too many ballads and there is nothing groundbreaking about any of the songs. But if you like the Scorpions and their Savage Amusement period and beyond, then you will like Sting in the Tail.