The artist: Ending off early metal month, we have Scorpions. Scorpions are one of the most well known hard rock/heavy metal bands in Germany. Despite owning only three albums so far, if you consider the whole career of this band, you can easily tell they've taken a few directions over the years. They formed in 1965 which predates even Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin but didn't release an album until 7 years later with Lonesome Crow which was rather experimental but had some metal elements present. This is the same band that would release hits such as Rock You Like a Hurricane and Winds of Change. These songs overshadow a lot of great stuff Scorpions must have to offer, especially the great stuff from Taken By Force. After spawning 17 albums for 45 years, Scorpions have declared retirement once they finish off their current tour.
The album: Taken By Force is the last Scorpions album to feature Ulrich Roth and this man did quite a lot for Scorpions in the earlier days. He certainly went out with a bang for his time with Scorpions to play with Steamrock Fever, We'll Burn the Sky, Born to Touch Your Feelings and the song of the week The Sails of Charon. Any Scorpions fan who may have missed out on this album should give this one a try.
The song: The Sails of Charon is a true highlight in Taken By Force. The moment you hear it, your attention is attacted to a riff that you'd never hear before in any other song. The sheer awesomeness of the song doesn't stop right there as the song is then focused on Ulrich Roth's fantastic solo. They manage to squeeze all of that great material within a minute and a half. Once the intro is over, Klaus Meine comes in and shouts out some very dark and mean lyrics obviously based on the Charon mythology alongside with another fantastic riff for the song. The ending is also a highlight for its mysterious feel. All of this together makes this song a great definition for metal. Too bad it's heavily overshadowed by other songs Scorpions have.
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