Last year, the Scorpions waved farewell and released their final album, “Sting In the Tail”. Now, I am quite surprised to find them on the new releases list. Their latest, “Comeblack” is a compilation of re-recorded versions of their hits and other classic rock songs. Featured on the album is Scorpions hits like “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Wind of Change”. Some of their covers include “Tainted Love” and “Across the Universe”.

“Rock You Like A Hurricane” is possibly the most famous Scorpions song in existence. This newly recorded version is really fresh. Like, walking into a subway fresh. The recording quality is simply flawless. However, despite this awesome and sleek sound, it is just not the same as the classic song recorded in 1984. The original version has such a raw and powerful force, it just obliterates the new version. Another downfall to the new version is the phasing effect on Meine’s voice. This is indeed used on the original, but subtly, it’s barely detectable. On the version, it is highly evident.

I didn’t expect “Tainted Love” to be any good, but, that was a big mistake. The song begins with two huge kicks of the drum, and then just explodes with a hard rockin’ rendition of this Gloria Jones classic.

Yes, “Across the Universe” is covered on this album. Though it is a nice thought, this is just an odd choice. It’s very hard to pull off a good cover of a Beatles song, and if I got to pick who should be the first to try and attempt it, the Scorps wouldn’t even be an alternate for the massive list of people I would pick first. Honestly, what were they thinking on this one?

“All Day and All of the Night” is definitely covered correctly. The classic from ‘64 is beautifully strummed out with all of intensity the original must’ve contained when first played back in the day. The song is energetic, fast, and brutal. It’s one of my favorites from this album.

Comeblack was incredibly unexpected and strangely awesome. Though the re-recorded versions of their songs failed to capture the same magic, the covers were a hard rocking tribute to the original artists, apart from that weird “Across the Universe” cover. This album gets a three out of five.