The past few years have seen a glut of successful rock comebacks – in fact, acts like Judas Priest, Kiss and Saxon are rocking as hard now as they ever did. Unfortunately, for every group that has defied the years, there’s another who should have hung up the Spandex years ago. Scorpions, it would seem, are one such band. As a fan of euro-rock it gives me no pleasure to say it, but this return to the studio adds nothing to their back-catalogue.
Ironically, the album came about while the band members were making plans for their retirement. As a final "thank-you" to their fans they'd been planning to record some long-discarded tunes for a low-key LP. Then they ran into old Swedish producer friends Mikael Andersson and Martin Hansen, and the project took on new life. For those who are really interested it’s all chronicled in a new documentary, Forever and a Day.
The film will, no doubt, be more interesting than the album. Return to Forever, however, sounds like it's running on autopilot driven by clapped-out riffs. The single nugget in this stodgy pile is “House of Cards”, a pretty ballad, which, if it had been attached to a "best-of" complilation might have made a fitting tribute to an enduring and entertaining career. Instead though, there was the fateful meeting with the Swedes and, apparently, a renewed sense of optimism after a successful tour to the Far East. All very Spinal Tap.
Overleaf: a taster of the new Scorpions documentary Forever and a Day
