Scorpions is not looking for the adventure of yesteryear, but rocks cheerfully and therefore quite tasty ★★★☆☆

Do they still have some energy left after 57 years of rock history? Certainly, the German band Scorpions shouts directly in the opening track of the nineteenth album, just to be sure. Gas in the Tank, that song is called, and it rocks neatly around a boogie-like riff from the guitar dino Rudolf Schenker. Not exactly a surprising track from the ancestors of German rock and metal, but both fans and band members will not have been waiting for that either. No, the Scorpions are going up Rock Believerthe title says it all, just having fun again with not too complicated songs full of joie de vivre, and of course that obligatory ballad (When You Know†

The Scorpions became a huge rock band in the 1980s, mostly thanks to power ballads like Still Loving You (1984) and the German liberation song Wind of Change (1990), which seems to be headed in the wrong direction these days. But the band had a wonderful history, of adventurous blues rock and a pretty fresh guitar experiment where the hippie hairs were allowed to flutter in the wind. Given that preliminary stage, it is a pity that the band has not dared to embrace that old sound, unhampered by rock clichés, on a new album. The numbers Shining of Your Soul followed by Seventh Sun are intended as a quieter, perhaps more daring counterbalance to the standard rock work, but the reggae beat and especially the lyrics in these tracks sound a bit tired and unimaginative.

Then let them rock. Fortunately, Klaus Meine still sings well, with that recognizable, somewhat nasal voice, and with cheerfully progressive songs such as When I Lay My Bones to Rest and Hot and Cold you can’t help but have respect for this persistent band, which really should be counted among the important sources of power of rock and the harder music tastes.