1126. Michael Schenker Group / Immortal. 2021. 3/5

If any of you have followed the career of one of the finest axemen ever, the great Michael Schenker, then you’ll know he has rarely stood still over the past fifty years. Starting off with his brother Rudolph in the band Scorpions, through to British legends UFO, and then onto the several projects that bear his own name, Schenker has been releasing music and touring many places in the world – not Australia unfortunately – consistently since he first graced the stages of the world as a teenage guitar prodigy. And while the genre of the music he plays on has tended to gravitate between heavy metal to soft rock, the one saving grace is almost always Schenker’s guitar playing and the riffs and solos he produces that punctuate everything he puts his fingers on. Having spent thirty years in various forms of The Michael Schenker Group and the McAuley Schenker Group, in recent years he has done a supergroup type deal with the Michael Schenker Fest, and those album releases with a multitude of vocalists and other band members have been excellent. Then as Covid-19 gripped the world, as with so many other artists Schenker was forced to change his initial plans, and instead find another project to pass his time. And what came to fruition instead was this album that he brought out once again under the moniker of The Michael Schenker Group, celebrating his 50 years in the music business. Titled Immortal, it is an extension of what he has been doing over the last several years, but it is also a celebration and a chance to not only look back in a way but to mark the anniversary with a release that stands on its own.

Michael Schenker has again utilised several bodies to not only help record the music, but to contribute to the vocals on the songs, something he has made a habit of over the last decade or so. Perhaps it is his method so that he can have several styles of songs on the same album and not be tied to the way one vocalist may interpret it, or maybe he just enjoys having his different style of songs sung by singers who do the most justice to them. Whatever the reason behind it, there are different levels of songs here for fans of the band to listen to, and while there is something here for everyone, it is likely that as a whole package it won’t appeal to everyone’s tastes.

The faster and heavier songs utilise the brutal and electrifying vocal chords of Ralf Scheepers, lead singer of Primal Fear and renowned for his amazing singing style. Scheepers is electrifying alongside the double kick and guitar licks that dominate the songs that he is a part of, “Drilled to Kill” and “Devil’s Daughter”. These are for me the best two songs on the album, partly because of Ralf’s involvement but because they are the fastest songs on the album. Then you have the much more AOR feel that legendary vocalist Joe Lynn Turner brings to his contributions on “Don’t Die on Me Now” and “Sangria Morte”. “Sangria Morte” in particular is a song that is difficult to get your head around. While “Don’t Die on Me Now” is a song you can almost believe could be performed by Rainbow, “Sangria Morte” has a completely different sound and feel to it, and is one that takes some listening to in order to get the most out of it.
As for the remainder (but one) of the songs on the album, they are voiced by Ronnie Romero and Michael Voss. Having already mentioned the Rainbow influence with Joe Lynn Turner’s vocals here, it may come as no surprise to you that Romero has been singing in the reformed touring band of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, and you can hear how he got that gig on his tracks here. On the other hand, Voss has been handed the reigns of the slower tempo and melody songs, the ones that for no other reason than personal taste, I can quite happily skip over. They aren’t bad songs, but for me they are just a tad boring. Schenker finds a way to sneak a couple of these kinds of songs onto almost all of his albums, and for me those albums would be better off without them. But given they always appear you know that Schenker himself must be a fan of them.

The album concludes with a terrific rendition on “In Search of the Peace of Mind”, apparently the first song that Michael Schenker ever wrote – at the kitchen table of his family home when he was 15 years old - and which appeared on the very first Scorpions album “Lonesome Crow” back in 1972. It features vocal contributions from Gary Barden, Robin McAuley and Doogie White, all former lead vocalists for Michael Schenker groups, and also has a new solo written by Schenker for the occasion. It adds to the nostalgia of the occasion of celebrating his 50 years in the industry, and is a nice counterpoint to where it all began for him and where he finds himself now.

On listening to this a few dozen times, there is a lot to enjoy on this album, and Schenker’s ability to draw from so many rock and metal influences over the years has allowed him to remain relevant in an era where similarity can be a curse. What is important is that the songs contain a drive and emotion, that the vocalist, whoever it is, is helping that drive and emotion, and that Schenker himself has his moment on each song to shine, otherwise why are you turning up in the first place? For me it makes songs such as “After the Rain” such a disappointment because they offer none of this, and seem to be here just for the hope that a ballad will draw some fans back again and again. And this is the complete opposite reason why anyone will come to a Schenker-titled album. We are coming for his guitar, to hear his riffing and soloing and enjoying it for the legend that his is. And yet, so often in the past, in on some of the songs here, he is ignorant of that and continues to try and sell up some tripe that is no more than filler material.

The good news here is that on most tracks Michael Schenker dominates, and he is in fine form. He even occasionally duels with the keyboards in a nod to the old Blackmore/Lord days of Deep Purple which is also lots of fun. For those that like me want more guitar from Schenker, the best songs here include “Devil’s Daughter”, “Knight of the Dead”, “Sail the Darkness”, “Come on Over”, and the opening track “Drilled to Kill”.