290. Scorpions / Face The Heat. 1993. 3/5.

Climbing out of the growing commercial success the band had enjoyed through the mid-1980's, Scorpions had gone one better with their first album of the new decade, 1990’s “Crazy World” which in particular had spawned the single “Wind of Change” that had topped the charts globally and brought them to the attention of a new fan base who would barely have known that they existed before that time. The Scorpions ballad, of which there were generally one or two produced on most albums during that decade, had finally worked, with the political motivations of the track combining with the sweet melodies to create a monster hit. The world tour to support the album was huge (though once again failed to appear on Australian shores), and at its conclusion the band must have felt that it was riding a tidal wave that was never going to stop.
Following the tour, long time bass guitarist Francis Buchholz left the band, meaning for the first time in 12 years a new member would come on board. For the album, the band hired Ralph Rieckermann to join the band for the recording.
In many ways you would expect the album following this success should have been one that had a lot of credits, and despite the pressure of following a successful release would be one where the band was confident in what they would produce. But 1993 was a different world musically than 1990, and such were the musical changes that were still in progress, a band of Scorpions style and genre were the ones who were under the most pressure to conform or change completely in order to move with the times.
To help produce their follow up, the band brought in the renown Bruce Fairbairn, whose fingers had been all over the successful late 1980’s charge of Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” and “New Jersey”, along with Aerosmith’s return to form with “Pump” and AC/DC’s “The Razor’s Edge”, just to name a few. His modus operandi was to make sure that the hard rock songs were hard rock, and the ballads were radio friendly, two things that 1993 was not particularly in favour of. It immediately gave the album a sense of going against the current, and perhaps looking to produce something that was not what their contemporaries were looking to create at that time. But then, Scorpions as a band had always marched to the beat of their own drum, and this was just another example of that occurring.

This album has divided fans and critics since its release, and I’ve never really understood if it is just because of the difference in the music on this album and the music the world had flooded to over the previous two years, or if the subtle change in Scorpions style here is what they are reacting to. In either case you can make a case for either depending on whether or not you enjoy the album yourself.
The opening tracks are at a slower tempo than you expect most Scorpions great songs come at, but they are no less effective, and they are certainly on the heavy side of the register. The opening track “Alien Nation” is a beauty, a slow crunching monster that creeps up on you the more you listen to it. On first reflections it seems like a strange way to start the album, but it ends up being quite effective by giving the album a powerful base with that heavy sound that the band doesn’t always utilise enough. The second track “No Pain No Gain” follows along the same path, with another great mutual riff from Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs and a punchy chorus and bridge to sing along to. Then we have the first perfect Scorpions sounding track, “Someone to Touch”, with a more melodic guitar sound punctuated with Klaus Meine’s perfect vocal lines. This could have come from any album of the band’s golden era and is still a terrific track today. The opening three songs to this album signify a defining moment for the band, in that they are not only sticking to their guns in regards to their songwriting, but actually moving it up a notch to set themselves apart from their contemporaries.
The first of three definable ballads comes next. “Under the Same Sun” is typical of the Scorpions motions of this genre, and while they are habitually more enjoyable than the ballads of other rock bands, that doesn’t make it any less cumbersome when it comes to halting the momentum the album had built up to this point of the track list. “Unholy Alliance” moves in the same circles of the opening two tracks with a heavier feel and slower tempo, but still with the anthemic vocals especially through the chorus. “Woman” on the other hand is difficult to love. A slower paced, blues-based ballad that probably does all the right things for such a track to be enjoyable but is an acquired taste. It doesn’t grab me. “Hate to Be Nice”, “Taxman Woman” and “Ship of Fools” all travel down that line of great solid Scorpions tracks with lots of energy from Klaus’s vocals, Mathias’s awesome soloing and Rudolph’s terrific riffing. They are all easy to sing along to and come at a pace with solid core drumming from Herman Rarebell that have you tapping away in time as well. Then we have “Nightmare Avenue”, a terrific song that goes up a level again, arguably the heaviest song on the album, and extremely enjoyable.
Then we come to the closing track of the album, the third and final ballad on “Face the Heat”. Now we know Scorpions have a habit of closing out their albums with the ballad, allowing Klaus’s vocals to soar over the quiet harmonies and take everyone’s breath away. But once again, for me, it just depreciates everything that has come before it. It doesn’t surprise me that they have done it, because they do it so often, but they could have left this song off, and the album would have finished perfectly well. Indeed, if it was me, I would have none of those three ballads on this album and I think it would have been better because of it. It is performed amazingly well, like all their ballads are. But it’s no “Still Loving You” or “Holiday” or “Send Me an Angel”. If it was, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. It’s OK but for me makes the end of the album much less good than the rest of the album.

It was a number of years after “Face the Heat” was released that I first heard the album. Several reasons contributed to this, but certainly lack of disposable income had started to mean that I had to pick and choose what albums I could buy at the time, and what I had to forego. So it wasn’t until over a decade later that I actually listened to the album for the first time, and at that time I was suddenly inundated with so many albums that I had never heard that it got lost in the deluge. I listened to it a few times, and then it got lost in the avalanche of other albums. So much so that it really wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I actually sat down and gave this album the time it was due.
What did I discover? Well let’s check the list. I certainly missed something at the time that the album was released, that seems a certainty. Firstly, given the other music I was listening to around this time, I think this album would have slotted in very nicely. Secondly, the heavier songs here, such as “Alien Nation”, “No Pain No Gain” and “Nightmare Avenue” are particularly excellent, and are a step up in that grade when it comes to Scorpions tracks. Thirdly, the three ballads, which were probably the highest held songs by most fans on this album’s release, for me just hold the album back from what it could have been.
We all know what was dominating music at the time this came out in 1993, and it isn’t what was on this album. The band’s major writing duo of Meine and Schenker, had a different vision for what they wanted this album to be that what much of the rest of the world was doing, and I admire that immensely. In the US and other territories, it was grunge and alternative that was sweeping the music scene, while in Europe the growing influence of power metal and rock was amping up. Here, Scorpions went in their own directions under their own power, and the album stands alone as a result. Does that make it a brilliant album? Not necessarily. Does it make it an average album? Same answer. It makes it a Scorpions album, with the Scorpions sound basically unaltered, and tweaked ever so slightly here and there to add to the ambiance of the album. Overall despite a couple of reservations, I think this is a terrific album, and one I am sorry I didn’t have 30 years ago. At least, the great thing about music is, I can enjoy it now for the same reasons.